My previous shop was in a basement, when I moved I set up a shop in a
detached garage. My garage shop is heated and has A/C.

I far prefer the detached garage shop because:
I can make noise any hour of the day or night without disturbing the family
I can paint without vapors reeking through the house and if they bother me,
I leave the garage and come into the house
Dust, welding vapor, carbon monoxide, etc does not get into the house
It is slightly more difficult for the family to interrupt me
It is slightly more difficult to shove household surplus into the garage
I can listen to any music, any time, at any level I wish
I can control moisture better in the above ground garage
I can lock myself into the garage when I need to spend quality time with my
tools!

Don Dando





"Michael Latcha" wrote in message
. ..
What are the cons of a basement shop? Aside from toting stuff up and
down, I can't think of any.


No doubt, a basement shop makes woodworking easy and comfortable
year-round.

If you have forced air heat or A/C, then you will have to carefully and
thoroughly filter the air... or you will blow wood dust all over your
house,
and your mother-in-law's daughter will quickly change her opinion about
where your shop should be. If you have hot water or steam heat (like me)
and no A/C, this is much less of a problem. If you orient towards the
Neander you have another distinct advantage in the basement, since you
make
chips instead of dust, and you drop those chips instead of throw them
around. Normites clean up with vacuums; Neanders clean up with brooms.
Either way, make sure you have good abrasive welcome mat at the bottom of
the stairs so that you don't track wood dust or chips upstairs. For your
own good.

Usually headroom is much lower in the basement, and there is very little
natural light. The headroom is dealt with by bringing in workpieces
already
cut to approximate size, the light with lots of bright fixtures and white
walls. Finishing is limited to those few finishes (which happen to prefer
anyway) which don't emit huge amounts of VOCs and can easily stink up a
two-story colonial... a stink that never, ever clears out before the wife
comes home. Noise from power tools can also be a real problem, one that
can
be dealt with by insulating your basement ceiling and installing good
access
doors... but mostly by running the tools when the extra noise won't be a
problem.

Since you already have the permission to expand and move, think of perhaps
of a two-part shop. A rough garage shop that spends most of its time
stored
away, with sawhorses and big sheets of foam insulation for breaking down
sheets of plywood and drywall on the driveway, for running rough stock
over
the jointer and through the planer, and for heavy sanding and finish
spraying.... and a fine basement shop for the remainder of your
woodworking.
This arrangement has well worked for me for a long time.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI