As my readers know, I enjoy many different hobbies and interests. Writing my books, reading and reviewing other authors, submarines, gold prospecting, and, of course, rockhounding and hunting for gemstones are among them. As I’ve accumulated rocks, I need a place to work on them. If you’ve read the blog for any length of time, you’ll recall my post about my rock polishing toys. I decided to build a workbench in my basement to accommodate all of them, plus a little room for more toys. In order to do that, I started with the wall!
Before the Wall:
My basement is partially finished, so I decided to use a portion of the unfinished basement for my rock hobby area. Here is a picture of the unfinished wall I started with:
Wall Construction:
I had to sheetrock the wall, which was a new skill for me. You can see from the picture above that I used a strip of wood to hold the upper sheets in place (since I was doing it myself) while I screwed it to the studs. Worked great!
Getting the lower sheets done was a lot easier and before long, I was ready for tape and mud! I’m glad I did some research about staggering the joints.
Here is the finished wall! I decided to paint it white to reflect as much light as possible. Since I don’t have any windows on that side of the basement, natural light wasn’t an option.
Electrical:
Of course, I had to have power for the equipment. I contracted that part out. I probably could have done it since I have a background (from many years ago) as an electronics tech and a maintenance electrician, but it has been too many years to be up to speed on the electrical code. I laid out where I wanted the outlets, though, and had them installed at four feet above the floor. That way I didn’t have to crawl under the workbench every time I had to plug in a toy. I also made sure I had plenty of outlets on a dedicated circuit. I even made sure to include the GFCI outlet since the toys require water and water and electricity don’t play well together. It pays to plan ahead!
This was only the first step in the project. The next step will be the light fixture. I won’t give away much about it, but it gives me the light I wanted (plus it looks cool)! Stay tuned for it!
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