Starting point

How we got here
One of the things we were looking for in a home near Milwaukee was a place where I could have a woodworking shop.  We didn't care if it was an existing structure or space to put a reasonable size building.  We were blessed to find a place with a large detached garage (29x23 feet).  It is nicely hidden in the trees off the side of the house and was only built a couple of years ago.

When I first saw the place I got the vision.  The building was well lit, insulated, and had finished walls.  It had previously been heated and still had the gas line functional.  (The toys in it in this picture are not ours.)  That was until it came time for the home inspection.  My inspector checked the building and recommended I have an electrician check it (strike 1).  The electrician said he was suprised the building hadn't burnt down and thought the cheapest path to fix it was to take everything out and start over (strike 2).  Thankfully the city of Muskego has a point-of-sale inspection.  The previous owner had not gotten a building permit to install the electrical (which we knew and asked to be provided as part of the closing documents) and the city's inspector spotted the safety issues too and made the owner pull out every last inch of wire (strike 3, the electical was out).  That included the buried power cable between the house and the garage.  Oh yea, the previous owner considered the structure an out-building, which it technically is, but the city inspector considered it a garage.  That means that all of the plywood covering the ceiling and walls all has to come out and be replaced by drywall.

Current State
Fast forward a year and a half.  When you have a large space that isn't being actively used, it's real convenient to put 'stuff' in it.  Especially when that space is fairly secure and stays dry.  There is, of course, no electricity other than the extension cord we run from the house.  More often than not the only light is the flashlight we bring with us to try to find something.  Removing the electrical required that some of the plywood wall covering and insulation be removed.  We did not require that they put it back up because we knew it was just coming down again anyway.

The owner left a workbench (left) made from rectangular steel tubes that is going to weigh a ton once it is removed (it is also up for grabs to anyone who wants it).  It has a massive metal working vise on top of it that I am keeping.  You can see that it has served well as a storage place (right). 

Day one

So today began the transformation from storage space to workshop.  The first step is to get all of the plywood out (Anyone need 3/8 plywood??  It's free but you have to come get it.) and remove some of the insulation.  I am hoping it is okay to remove only the locations that power needs to go through.  I'm skeptical and more or less planning that it will all need to be taken out.

We made really good headway in the 4 hours we got to spend out there today.  About half of the plywood down.  We are pulling the insulation from the ceiling as we go and will take the stuff out of the walls later.  The only question I have is where we are going to put all of this crap when the electricians are working out there.  I quess we will have to move it to the attached garage for a few days.

I learned something too.  The floor in the garage slopes about 3 inches from the back to the front.  I am assuming it is for draining but its sure going to make the cabinets I plan to build a little trickier.  Won't do much for leveling the tools either.

I got the travel on the garage door adjusted so it isn't using the opener's box as the stop block any more.  I also rewired the remote so we can open and close the garage door without running outside all the time.

And the big news . . . no mosquito bites.