@WP posted:
Building a shed is the idea my wife thought of. We had a 12’ by 16’ shed built for us by a local lumber supply company. It is not huge, but it is large enough for us. Our layout is an around the wall plan and has two levels. It has a concrete floor, and we had the contractor put in plenty of electrical plugs. For us, this was a good solution.
I hope you find a solution that will work well for you. Good luck and have fun railroading!
Very nice ... especially for southern markets or the west coast (isn't that a palm tree in the background?). For colder climates, you need insulated walls, a roof and a heat source. But you could build it on a slab. And I like that you can open it up in the summer months.
If you connect a structure to your house, you then need a trench foundation for the floor and the cost goes up significantly. I built a sunroom attached to my detached garage in my old house for my train room and loved it. The garage was on a slab so my attached room was on a slab. I ran a subpanel out there to power it and it served me well. I added an electric toilet because I had no plumbing.
Basements for layouts need to be dry and have the best sump pump and back up you can find. 20-30 year old or newer basements typically have taller ceilings and are built with modern techniques -- have square and plumb construction with relatively smoothly poured concrete floors -- so they are easier to finish. I would want a toilet or a basement plumbed for one as mentioned. Building a new home is best, but I found it significantly more costly overall when you consider landscaping and driveway and all.
I put wall outlets in my current basement 24 inches high, skipped the drywall, used wall board instead with 2 x 4 horizontal backers between vertical studs, insulation, acoustic ceiling tiles and sound insulation between the drop ceiling and the upstairs. I hung the ceiling lights before I built my tables so that I had good build lighting and good layout lighting. I like dimmer switches. Used floor tiles with water resistant glue and then put rugs on them for comfort and cushion if I drop anything. I had 1 slight freak flood of 1 1/2 inches or so on the entire basement floor and even though it ruined some stuff I had on the floor, it did not require any reconstruction, no drywall got ruined (because I had none), and no water touched anything electrical. All my train stuff now is either above the floor or in plastic bins.
Good luck. It's an exciting time for you. You'll have a new canvas to paint your masterpiece.
Mike
