We were supposed to have started work on the workshop over the Christmas break, but never seemed to get round to starting.  However, with New Year well out of the way and a little bit of settled weather, we got going.

First in were the uprights. They  are bolted to the roof beams at the top and the wall at the bottom. With not a single flat or straight surface, all we had to work on was gravity.

With the uprights up, next came the front and back supports for the workbench. These were supported at the front by supports bolted to the sidewalls at both ends. The 4.8 metre lengths of timber were not quite long enough, so we had to splice in a section.

With the 20mm OSB worktop in, we fitted some 50mm x 150mm at the back of the work surface. This gives us a nice straight edge and also stops tools rolling off and down the back.

The uprights also serve as a support for the shelf brackets.

The shelves at the other end. At this stage we decided to make the bench L shaped to add an area for a bench machine vice as well as lots of storage for small odds and sods.

Four of these bits and bobs bins are screwed to battens. I suspect we’ll end up adding a second tier soon, to double up on storage capacity.

The last major job was to add lots of power sockets. To protect them another later of 50mm x 150mm was screwed to the front bench support. The whole structure is strong enough to stand on.

Now just need to add an area for things like screwdrivers and chisels etc. Some kind of magnetic strip mounted to some cross pieces in the middle span between the uprights should give enough space.

The last big purchases here are the major power tools like a pillar drill, a router and a grinder.