Finishing a space in my barn/shop and I've got questions.

When I built my barn/shop a few years ago, I framed up a 10x14 space in the back corner for an office. I am finally thinking about making that space usable but I'm not sure what is required to do it "right".

With all the trades represented here and hundreds of years of collective experience, I thought I'd ask here.

My understanding, assuming I'm starting with a skeleton frame that is again, 10x14 with an 7 to 8 foot ceiling (it's been a minute). Over the office space is a mezzanine that spans the back of the shop that serves as it's ceiling.

1. Put up sheathing on the outside.
2. Run any wiring and install electrical boxes
3. Install insulation
4. Install vapor barrier?
5. Install whatever covering I'm using for the inside of the walls.
6. Finish wiring.

I haven't decided what to do for A/C so I'm open to all suggestions.

One of my biggest unknowns is how much do you seal a room up when trying to condition the environment. Can't seal it up completely I suppose, I'd like to be able to breath after all, but what are the things to consider?

Mini split system would AC / heat the room well.

As for ventilation there are heat exchangers that take the outside air and bring it up to inside air temp and visa versa before entering the room.

I'm assuming you don't need heat as much as AC in TX. But a well insulated room takes minimal AC to condition. Talk to a local HVAC guy about needed BTU For the room size and insulation / construction.


Any local requirements to have an egress window or a door that opens to the outside? Some places don't allow the egress from a room to go into another structure first.


As for vapor barrier.... It should be on the warm in winter side of a wall. In TX that might be hard to determine




Have fun!

Dana67Dart said:

Mini split system would AC / heat the room well.

As for ventilation there are heat exchangers that thank the outside air and bring it up to inside air temp and visa versa before entering the room.

I'm assuming you don't need heat as much as AC in TX. But a well insulated room takes minimal AC to condition. Talk to a local HVAC guy about needed BTU For the room size and insulation / construction.


Any local requirements to have an egress window or a door that opens to the outside? Some places don't allow the egress from a room to go into another structure first.


As for vapor barrier.... It should be on the warm in winter side of a wall. In TX that might be hard to determine




Have fun!

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Good points all. I dind't think about egress but I'm out in the county where nothing gets inspected except for septic systems. Still I'm down with safety and not dying so I'll look into putting another door in it.

Cuda416 said:

Still I'm down with safety and not dying so I'll look into putting another door in it.

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Or at least a window big enough for you to get through

Yeah the vapor barrier thing is going to be confusing.

it's gets hot as hell in that barn in the summer time.

Ideally I want to try to keep it at 70 inside the room when in use, and 80ish when not occupied. Mostly I'm after a "rust free" environment that's comfortable to work in. I'm going to put my CNC router inside as well as store things I don't want exposed to too many elements. Stuff flash rusts pretty quick down near San Antonio.

My goals are

*Low humidity
*Well insulated against heat more than cold (I'm from MN, so most of the "winter" weather is shorts weather for me).
*Sound insulating. I like my peace and quiet so I like to pay that forward for the neighbors. It's bad enough running up an engine in the large "speaker" I call a shop.

As far as insulation goes, are the closed cell diy kits worth doing?

Cuda416 said:

As far as insulation goes, are the closed cell diy kits worth doing

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Hassel factor, and cost would make my decision between diy and professional.

There is one thing that I can recommend on any shop is run the electrical and any plumbing over the walls not in them. Its a garage and future improvements or changes are so much easier. We have my shop 2 stories that went through several transformations with the electrical in the walls. It really sucked adding things

Then we did my sons machine shop , everything is on the walls not in them. Now we are moving the machine shop into the big building and transforming the machine shop into a hobby shop/slot car track. Everything can be changed without tearing into the walls of the building. Even the cranes can be moved. It was a choice we made at the time and so glad we did it that way.

Does your shop have a restroom? If not, maybe you could plum a small one in the office in the corner.

RockinRobin said:

Does your shop have a restroom? If not, maybe you could plum a small one in the office in the corner.

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It does actually but I haven't had the additional septic lines run.