Old House Transformed Into A Woodworking Shop

In the Fall of 2009 we visited my wife’s sister and her husband in South Texas. Roger is a craftsman. Spending time with him in his shop gave me the “bug” to build a small shop of my own. Being retired and on a limited budget I knew that I needed to locate some inexpensive material. I advertized on a local radio show for used building materiials or old building to tear down in exchange for the lumber. A man called and offered me an old, old house. It had never had electricity or plumbing, the windows and doors were gone and some of the house had been torn off and removed earlier but I saw that there was sufficient material to do what I wanted.

Over the course of several months, workiing only a day or two a week I got the house torn down, the material hauled home and the shop started. Here are a few photos.

Photo #1 is of the workshop as it neared completion
Photo #2 is of the old house before beginning to tear it down.
Photo #3 shows the floor joists were down.
Photo #4 shows the framework is basically done.
Photo #5 shows the roof is on and the siding is going on. The windows were from an old mobile home that was being torn down. The doors were given to me.
Photo #6 is with the woodworking tools moved in just a few months ago.

Oh, as I said, I was on a budget. My total material cost for the workshop was $590.00. I spent about $250.00 for gasoline for my little truck for the trips I took to work on tearing the old house down, as it was about 25 miles from where I live. So, for under $850.00 I have a 14’ X 16’ workshop with a storage loft above it.