I moved into our new house about 4 months ago. One of the reasons I liked this property was because along with an oversized 3 car garage next to the house, there is a 32x22 shop in the back. I planned on setting up the shop for pinball restorations along with general mechanic stuff.
Here is what it looks like, still packed with crap from moving in. Luckily there is a large 16'x10' garage door on the front making it easy to get stuff in and out...

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There was a bedroom and living room built in the back that I tore out before I moved in...during removal of the room I found some very suspect electrical wiring, and some "interesting" wall insulation including tarps, cardboard boxes, laundry and trash...
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Once I saw the shoddy electrical work I thought it best to have an electrician take a look, clean it up, and add a 220 circuit ...we opened the wall and the existing panel and....YIKES! Clipped wires, bad connections...total fire hazzard.

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^^^ this is the main power coming into the shop from the house. It is spliced twice before it even gets to the panel! Those splices were barely taped and just sitting behind the drywall, not even in a junction box. Needless to say the small panel and shitty wiring has to go....

All new wiring is in order, but the existing conduit is not large enough to accomodate the heavier wire. So I trenched from the house to the shop and put in some 2" conduit to pull new wire...

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New connection at house and power feeding into shop...

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Also took the oppertunity to run a water supply also, seen next to electrical conduit...

Out with the 60 amp panel, in with the 125amp...

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Plenty of room to expand...Im thinking about adding a mini split AC unit in the future...
After stripping all the drywall I decided to frame out a small seperate work/office area in the back.

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Framed up a couple of walls and set them in place...
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All new wire and plugs...can lights in the smaller room...a 50 amp 220 outlet and some USB outlets. If you dont have any of these they are very convenient...

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Electric is done... next up is insulation..

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Good point.
since it will be awhile before I get to drywall I needed the shop functional, I still have work that I need to get done.
Since it is a small number of switches and plugs I plan on removing them before drywall installation.

My son and I got the perimiter walls done in about 3 hours...a few cavities were not insulated yet so I can install pipe for compressed air.

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Speaking of compressed air pipe...I thought that I would run PVC from my compressor (I moved it outside the shop on a dedicated circuit and switch). I looked into it online and found out PVC is a terrible choice tor air due to shattering and spraying shrapnel. Of course my das used it gor 25 years with no problem but I would like to put it behind the drywall and dont want to have to open up the wall to repair it. Black iron or copper has been the material of choice , but recently some plastic tubing kits have become popular...I however chose to use copper...

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Yes

I considered it but all my tools are on casters and I use them in different places (or outside if possible) so Im going to skip that...

2 AWG

Got back to it this weekend...was able to run cable for the TVs and eathernet for my computer.
Next I started the copper pipe for the compressed air system. I have a lot of construction experience but have never soldered copper pipe before so there was a bit of a learning curve but after a few minutes I picked it up. Although it did take hours it came out ok...im sure a professional could have done it in 30 min

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I put a drop in the ceiling with a water catch and release valve, the way I saw it done on google...

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Then ran it the rest of the way to the front of the shop and dropped it down a wall...stubbing out near the top for a hose reel and at the bottom for a blast cabinet or whatever...

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I put the compressor behind the shop, I will build an enclosure for it when I put my big compressor in...right now im using my small one to test the system...

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Aired it up to 130 psi and let it sit for an hour...no leaks so Im ready to move on...

Compressor system works great, next up is drywall on one side of the interior walls so I can complete the insulation installation. I dislike drywalling, seems like a simple job but sure has a lot of annoying issues.
I moved the TV and arcade sign off the last remaining framework of the old room and temporarily put them where they will eventually stay. I moved a lot of stuff into the smaller work room so I can prepare to hang drywall on the perimeter walls. I need to get some pinball cabibets finished and painted for a few customers before I proceed much farther with the facelift, other than a sheet of drywall here or there in between work. Im trying to set up a trade for someone to come epoxy the concrete floor and footings...

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Something like this...

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Ok, so I dislike drywalling so much that I found a whole lot of other stuff to do around the house that wasnt drywalling...I avoided the shop work for 3 months while I finished a good number of WPC cabinets, did a bunch of landscaping, hung the last remaining pictures,mirrors,shelves etc from the move and so forth but now Im ready to drywall, mud, tape,texture and paint...
I hung 24 twelve foot sheets of drywall, I could have gotten away with less but wanted to avoid as many joints as possible even though I wasted some material.
Next up is mud and tape/mesh, the part I have been avoiding...I have never done this part before so I watched a few youtube vids and gave it a try...here is a few pics at my first attemt at skimming an inside corner and some joints, keep in mind this is a work in progress and there is a learning curve...

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This seems to be my experience so far, but I am getting better...

I took this picture a few days ago when I was repairing a garage door at a customers house. This is what I want, but I dont want the cheap home depot stuff, the guy told me he paid $2500 for a professional to do this 3 car garage...
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Thanks, I might take you up on that if I attempt it myself....I took this pic yesterday, its a perfect example of why I dont want the home depot crap...

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Best. Advice. Ever...

....that I should have listened to, but I didnt...I wish I had. I spent HOURS slinging about 12 gallons of mud and mesh and corner tape, 6" knife 10" knife 12" knife, sand, mud, sand FUCK ME this sucks...but Im done now with the exception of a small amount of sanding...
Never Again!

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As you can see, I did my vertically. I read that it will have "waves" in it compared to horizontally. Since this is a shop and nor a dining room I didnt care. My ceilings are 8'6" high in the smaller room and 10' 4" in the rest of it making it problematic (either a 6" strip in the small room or just over 2' in the main room).
Im sure the pros would have done it differently with better results, but it works for me. Frankly, I think if I would have done it the other way I would have quit.
My son asked me why I am going through all this hassle if I am just going to cover the walls with pictures, banners, neons, displays,signs, old playfields etc...I didnt have a good answer for him...
Here is a pic from before I started this, I guess he has a point since this is just a small portion of the "wall art"

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Moving along at a slow pace still... I rolled on some texture instead of spraying it. Spraying would have been easier and faster but would have required me to remove everything from the shop and put up plastic. I did not have the luxury of doing that so I researched roll on texture, watched some videos and gave it a shot. After a bit of a learning curve, I mastered the skill...

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A quick pass with some sandpaper to knockdown the peaks and it ready for primer...

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Then paint...

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Next up is ripping, painting and installing baseboard and door trim

Some base board and door trim cut, primed and painted...

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Im very happy with the way the texture came out, it sure is a lot of work...

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And still working on it, but getting there....

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Starting to move stuff around and get some signs up...

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Im about 80% done, just need to tackle this area....

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