iSign
New Member
By now, many here have heard me mention my plans to add a router.
Things are in full swing now, and while I feel I have done a fair amount of homework, nothing takes the place of experience. For that reason, I want to outline my intentions, as they stand today, and see what considerations I may have overlooked, or that may be interpreted differently by those ahead of me on this path.
First, some background information. For 11 years now, my shop has occupied a 750 sq. ft. unit, that I lease, in a multi-tenant commercial building. I have 24 ft. ceilings & have made improvements steadily over 11 years. I now have 3 floors, and 2 of the three are partitioned into well finished, well lit, comfortable and functional workspaces. The 3rd is a large open top floor for painting and storage.
I looked into buying commercial real estate, and it is not within my means at this point. Although it won't build equity, the lease gives me the space I need at a much lower cost. Once purchasing was ruled out, I leased another unit in my building. I had waited patiently for an adjacent neighbour to move out, but after 5 years, I settled for a 750 sq. ft. unit 50 feet away in the 1-story section, resulting in a 10' ceiling.
Once the new unit was acquired, and leases on both units were extended out to 4 years... I began negotiations with my neighbour to trade his ideal space, for my less desirable new space, plus a substantial cash incentive to reimburse them for very well built improvements & for their sacrifices to make the move and put up with less bang for the buck in the smaller single story unit.
Upon agreeing to the higher terms of their counter offer, made after about 90 days of gentle prodding... it still took another 6 weeks to complete the deal. Once I got the keys, I sent in a 50% deposit on a 5x10 Multicam. That was 10 days ago. I have removed the carpet from the 175 sq. ft. office, and had VCT tile put down, along with a fresh coat of paint on the walls & a locking door connecting to the existing office.
In the back half of the ground floor, where the router will go, I have had a secondary metal stud wall built inside the existing single thickness of corrugated steel siding between myself and a recording studio occupying the commercial space behind me. For some sound-proofing, I have insulated within this wall, and sheeted with drywall. The side wall opposite my old shop has also been insulated and sheeted. I'm also tempted to insulate and sheet the ceiling, instead of leaving the exposed 2x12's. I really want to do enough preparations to the space now, so that once the machine moves in, there will be no regrets or needs to build out much else.
I will be bringing in a 7.5 HP compressor, and have considered the need to vent the hot exhaust. I think I'd like it in the back insulated corner, venting straight out through the roof 24' up. I would also consider building a little room to add additional soundproofing in my router work area, even though the router noise will be a common part of life in that room. I also plan to invest in a high end dust collection system, which may also need to be somewhat silenced, so it is drawn into that same little soundproof room as of now.
I will also have a 20HP vacuum pump. I wonder if this too should be installed in my "soundproof" corner room.
That's enough "background" for anyone to digest, in one serving, so I'll add a few pics, and then ask some specific questions in another post below.
Things are in full swing now, and while I feel I have done a fair amount of homework, nothing takes the place of experience. For that reason, I want to outline my intentions, as they stand today, and see what considerations I may have overlooked, or that may be interpreted differently by those ahead of me on this path.
First, some background information. For 11 years now, my shop has occupied a 750 sq. ft. unit, that I lease, in a multi-tenant commercial building. I have 24 ft. ceilings & have made improvements steadily over 11 years. I now have 3 floors, and 2 of the three are partitioned into well finished, well lit, comfortable and functional workspaces. The 3rd is a large open top floor for painting and storage.
I looked into buying commercial real estate, and it is not within my means at this point. Although it won't build equity, the lease gives me the space I need at a much lower cost. Once purchasing was ruled out, I leased another unit in my building. I had waited patiently for an adjacent neighbour to move out, but after 5 years, I settled for a 750 sq. ft. unit 50 feet away in the 1-story section, resulting in a 10' ceiling.
Once the new unit was acquired, and leases on both units were extended out to 4 years... I began negotiations with my neighbour to trade his ideal space, for my less desirable new space, plus a substantial cash incentive to reimburse them for very well built improvements & for their sacrifices to make the move and put up with less bang for the buck in the smaller single story unit.
Upon agreeing to the higher terms of their counter offer, made after about 90 days of gentle prodding... it still took another 6 weeks to complete the deal. Once I got the keys, I sent in a 50% deposit on a 5x10 Multicam. That was 10 days ago. I have removed the carpet from the 175 sq. ft. office, and had VCT tile put down, along with a fresh coat of paint on the walls & a locking door connecting to the existing office.
In the back half of the ground floor, where the router will go, I have had a secondary metal stud wall built inside the existing single thickness of corrugated steel siding between myself and a recording studio occupying the commercial space behind me. For some sound-proofing, I have insulated within this wall, and sheeted with drywall. The side wall opposite my old shop has also been insulated and sheeted. I'm also tempted to insulate and sheet the ceiling, instead of leaving the exposed 2x12's. I really want to do enough preparations to the space now, so that once the machine moves in, there will be no regrets or needs to build out much else.
I will be bringing in a 7.5 HP compressor, and have considered the need to vent the hot exhaust. I think I'd like it in the back insulated corner, venting straight out through the roof 24' up. I would also consider building a little room to add additional soundproofing in my router work area, even though the router noise will be a common part of life in that room. I also plan to invest in a high end dust collection system, which may also need to be somewhat silenced, so it is drawn into that same little soundproof room as of now.
I will also have a 20HP vacuum pump. I wonder if this too should be installed in my "soundproof" corner room.
That's enough "background" for anyone to digest, in one serving, so I'll add a few pics, and then ask some specific questions in another post below.
