Hi all,

You ever have one of those moments when you wonder how you ever developed
the ability to walk and chew bubble-gum at the same time? You know, one of
those forehead slapping moments when you think, "What a dumbass I am, why
didn't I think of that before?!?!"

I had one of those tonight, and I doubt I'm going to sleep very well whilst
coping with the paradigm shift that an innocent comment from (of all people)
my visiting mother-in-law catapulted me into. She saw me working on a
space-saving mobile bench out in the cold-as-hell third bay of the garage
and said "Why don't you have the shop in the basement?" To add insult to
injury, her daughter agreed, saying "I've always thought it should be in the
basement." Having never even considered this in my new house, my immediate
puffed-up-chest response (it's too hard to take sheet stock down there) was
immediately suppressed by the total sense that it suddenly seemed to make.
I could use just half the unfinished basement for the shop and have about
five times the space as the third bay.

I'm just coming to grips with taking the TS3650 apart and toting it down
there in less than 100 lb chunks, taking down the conduit and electrical I
spent 2 days running to the garage (it's all salvageable), and figuring out
what to do with all that BIG SPACE. I've seen pics in ABPW and other places
of both garage and basement shops, but I have had neither. I don't really
know the pros or cons of either, either.

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has 9'
ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.

--Hedley

"Hedley" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all,
Snip

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.


I think it would be great BUT. Air quality control will have to be
addressed and you will not get as much natural lighting.

I have a basement shop with a setup much like you're describing. I had
to frame in the room (21 x 20 .... coulda shoulda made it bigger). Also
had to wire it, but that I did right, more or less ... outlets every 6
ft around the perimeter, 8 outlets for shoplights & whatnot spaced
evenly around the ceiling, and a 220 outlet on the support post in the
middle of the room.

Dust collection is a must, and I'm working on an air cleaner (when I
was working in my garage, I'd just open the doors and fire up the leaf
blower once in a while). Noise is occasionally a problem--less so now
that the walls are up, and the floor (house floor, shop ceiling) is
well-insulated, so that helps a little.

The main problem I have is the absence of a door to the outside. I put
a new door from the garage to the stairwell so I have a straight shot
down the stairs (essential for plywood or drywall), but dang, I'm
dreading carrying my daughter's brand-new computer desk up those
stairs. And God help us when/if we move ... those boxes from Grizzly
slid down the stairs quite smoothly, but the jointer and table saw are
going to be difficult going back up.

I actually contemplated putting in a bulkhead door, but the expense was
too great, and the way our house is laid out, it would have involved
putting it in a very visible place. I'll make do with the basement
stairs for now.

I also wish I had running water in the basement ... I know it wouldn't
be hard to do, but drainage would be a problem. I'd like to be able to
rinse out brushes and wash my hands without having to traipse through
the house. I also intend to run an air line from the garage to the
woodshop so that I can quick-connect to the compressor without having
to run an air hose down the stairs through an open door.

All of that said, I'm glad to be working inside rather than in the
garage ... cool in the summer, tolerable in the winter. Good luck
getting your shop set up.

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

There are two significant problems that I can think of about having your
shop in your basement. The first one is humidity. When my shop was in my
basement I was always fighting with tool rust and excessive moisture in my
wood. If your basement is in Arizona or someplace like that then you
probably won't need to worry about this. Mine was in NY state. The second
problem that you will have to deal with is that everything that you make
will have to fit through a 3 ft door and be light enough to get back up the
stairway. Of course, if you plan your projects so you can build them in
modules and then take them to your garage for the final assembly you can
work around this.

I gave up on trying to have a shop in my basement and now have it in a small
barn style outbuilding which has an 8 foot door, central heat/air, and is
fully insulated. I can work comfortably out there 365 days a year. Oh,
another plus for having my shop in a separate building is that I never get
sawdust in her (our) house, and she has to call me on the intercom when she
wants my attention (hence much less often). I enjoy my shop much more since
I made all of these changes to it. It isn't as big as I would like, but are
they ever?

--
Charley



"Hedley" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all,

You ever have one of those moments when you wonder how you ever developed
the ability to walk and chew bubble-gum at the same time? You know, one
of
those forehead slapping moments when you think, "What a dumbass I am, why
didn't I think of that before?!?!"

I had one of those tonight, and I doubt I'm going to sleep very well
whilst
coping with the paradigm shift that an innocent comment from (of all
people)
my visiting mother-in-law catapulted me into. She saw me working on a
space-saving mobile bench out in the cold-as-hell third bay of the garage
and said "Why don't you have the shop in the basement?" To add insult to
injury, her daughter agreed, saying "I've always thought it should be in
the
basement." Having never even considered this in my new house, my
immediate
puffed-up-chest response (it's too hard to take sheet stock down there)
was
immediately suppressed by the total sense that it suddenly seemed to make.
I could use just half the unfinished basement for the shop and have about
five times the space as the third bay.

I'm just coming to grips with taking the TS3650 apart and toting it down
there in less than 100 lb chunks, taking down the conduit and electrical I
spent 2 days running to the garage (it's all salvageable), and figuring
out
what to do with all that BIG SPACE. I've seen pics in ABPW and other
places
of both garage and basement shops, but I have had neither. I don't really
know the pros or cons of either, either.

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has
9'
ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.

--Hedley

"Hedley" writes:

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

Depending on the configuration of your basement stairs, it might be really
hard to get sheet goods in and projects out. My basement stairs has a
landing half way down so I can't carry 4x8 anything into the shop. I have
to remove the two sections from the egress window to get sheet goods in.

I am building a seperate shop building mostly because of the access issues
in the basement. The garage really isn't an option here in Minnesota.

Brian Elfert

Sounds like you have already overcome one possible hurdle - your wife seems
supportive. Nevertheless the two of you should plan this one together. As
some have pointed out, dust is a very big concern. You will have to pretty
much isolate your workshop from any air handling equipment that might be in
the basement. You will probably have to seal your workspace from adjoining
areas to keep dust at bay. You can do a lot of this with sheetrock and wall
frame sealing at floor and ceiling. Needless to say, dust collection will
be a must.

I have tried to bridge this with my spouse for consideration in planning our
next house. She keeps raising the drawbridge. She is not unreasonable
because she has had to endure two pretty major additions - a room addition
and a complete basement finish. No matter how much plastic we taped up, we
still got dust throughout the house. On the other hand I have seen a couple
of pretty successful basement shops that operate as sealed and
dust-controlled units. I will note that both of these still rely on the
garage for heavier duty finishing.

Gotta do your planning and include her.

RonB

I guess I'm a Normite and I didn't think about DC much or air quality at
all.

The basement "seems" dry as a bone. New construction on a well drained lot
in Chi-town. I know the new concrete has water, but as long as no direct
contact, it should be OK.

I'd love an outbuilding that I could use for this, but it's not allowed in
my sub (not that I could afford it right now). Maybe when I retire in
another 28 years (if I don't die at my desk as I fear).

I've thought a lot about carrying the feed and product down and up the
stairwell. At least there is no kink in the strairs (landing). I could
easily get a 4 ft x 20 ft board down there, assuming I could carry it.

Getting the wife involved, or at least trying to, is a great idea. The good
news is that noise should not be a problem except for late at night.
Bedrooms are on the second floor, well away from the area under
consideration for the shop. I'll probably have to "dust" the house a time
or two whilst sanding to get permission for air quality control purchases.

Again, thank you all.





"Hedley" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all,

You ever have one of those moments when you wonder how you ever developed
the ability to walk and chew bubble-gum at the same time? You know, one
of those forehead slapping moments when you think, "What a dumbass I am,
why didn't I think of that before?!?!"

I had one of those tonight, and I doubt I'm going to sleep very well
whilst coping with the paradigm shift that an innocent comment from (of
all people) my visiting mother-in-law catapulted me into. She saw me
working on a space-saving mobile bench out in the cold-as-hell third bay
of the garage and said "Why don't you have the shop in the basement?" To
add insult to injury, her daughter agreed, saying "I've always thought it
should be in the basement." Having never even considered this in my new
house, my immediate puffed-up-chest response (it's too hard to take sheet
stock down there) was immediately suppressed by the total sense that it
suddenly seemed to make. I could use just half the unfinished basement for
the shop and have about five times the space as the third bay.

I'm just coming to grips with taking the TS3650 apart and toting it down
there in less than 100 lb chunks, taking down the conduit and electrical I
spent 2 days running to the garage (it's all salvageable), and figuring
out what to do with all that BIG SPACE. I've seen pics in ABPW and other
places of both garage and basement shops, but I have had neither. I don't
really know the pros or cons of either, either.

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has
9' ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.

--Hedley

The basement "seems" dry as a bone. New construction on a well drained
lot
in Chi-town. I know the new concrete has water, but as long as no direct
contact, it should be OK.

Having had a basement shop for a while in N.E. USA, a "dry basement" is not
about necessarily about seepage. It's about relatively moist warm summer air
getting into a cool (ground temperature) basement causing the interior
relative humidity to shoot up.

I had no seepage but plenty of rust issues.

Depending on your climate, a dehuminifier may be required.

-Steve

No matter how much plastic we taped up, we still got dust throughout the house.

I would think that all it would take is an A/C filter over the cold air
return in the basement.

brian

Hedley wrote:

I guess I'm a Normite and I didn't think about DC much or air quality at
all.

The basement "seems" dry as a bone. New construction on a well drained lot
in Chi-town. I know the new concrete has water, but as long as no direct
contact, it should be OK.

I'd love an outbuilding that I could use for this, but it's not allowed in
my sub (not that I could afford it right now). Maybe when I retire in
another 28 years (if I don't die at my desk as I fear).

I've thought a lot about carrying the feed and product down and up the
stairwell. At least there is no kink in the strairs (landing). I could
easily get a 4 ft x 20 ft board down there, assuming I could carry it.

Getting the wife involved, or at least trying to, is a great idea. The good
news is that noise should not be a problem except for late at night.
Bedrooms are on the second floor, well away from the area under
consideration for the shop. I'll probably have to "dust" the house a time
or two whilst sanding to get permission for air quality control purchases.

Again, thank you all.



You might want to place a humidity gauge in the basement to verify the
"seems dry" observation.

Dave

I'd go for an outside entrance if I were you. With a Bilco door preferably.
It's what I had done and it works for me. Have to say though at my age (73)
I try to get sheet goods ripped in two along the length less awkward and
lighter for this old boy. Think on it anyway.\

Tom Cavanagh
"Hedley" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all,

You ever have one of those moments when you wonder how you ever developed
the ability to walk and chew bubble-gum at the same time? You know, one
of those forehead slapping moments when you think, "What a dumbass I am,
why didn't I think of that before?!?!"

I had one of those tonight, and I doubt I'm going to sleep very well
whilst coping with the paradigm shift that an innocent comment from (of
all people) my visiting mother-in-law catapulted me into. She saw me
working on a space-saving mobile bench out in the cold-as-hell third bay
of the garage and said "Why don't you have the shop in the basement?" To
add insult to injury, her daughter agreed, saying "I've always thought it
should be in the basement." Having never even considered this in my new
house, my immediate puffed-up-chest response (it's too hard to take sheet
stock down there) was immediately suppressed by the total sense that it
suddenly seemed to make. I could use just half the unfinished basement for
the shop and have about five times the space as the third bay.

I'm just coming to grips with taking the TS3650 apart and toting it down
there in less than 100 lb chunks, taking down the conduit and electrical I
spent 2 days running to the garage (it's all salvageable), and figuring
out what to do with all that BIG SPACE. I've seen pics in ABPW and other
places of both garage and basement shops, but I have had neither. I don't
really know the pros or cons of either, either.

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has
9' ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.

--Hedley

"Hedley" wrote in message

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has
9' ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

PRO
Closer to the bathroom
Closer to the refrigerator
More even climate
Warmer in winter if you are in a cold climate
Closer to the bathroom (especially important in the winter)
Glue cures year round
Finishes cure year round
No bugs flying into the open garage
Closer to the bathroom
Closer to the refrigerator
In summer, you won't be upset at sight of 300 pound neighbor lady sunbathing
in the nude


CON
Finishes may stink up the house, but in summer, they can be moved outside
When it is 65 to 75 degrees and the sun is shining, I'd rather in in the
garage with the door wide open
Dust control more important


Garage PRO
Closer to the grill and smoker.
Easier to vent stinky finishes
Depending on location, you may be able to ogle the cute neighbor lady
sunbathing while you pretend to be sanding a board.

I have a basement shop. It was heck to get all the equipment down there
with two guys and I know it'll be really hard to get back up. I don't
have my shop in the garage because SWMBO and I hate shoveling snow off
our cars in the morning or running through the rain to get to them. I
would rather have my shop in the garage if all other things were equal
to be honest... just much easier to get stuff in and out. I guess it
depends on whether you build stuff thats easily brought up from the
basement or stuff that'll take an engineer and 4 oxes to get up.

I haven't had much of a dust issue in the house yet, but I dont work
down there every day - it probably averages out to 4 or 5 hours a week.
I have the small Delta Dust Collector that I just connect to the tool
I'm using at the time and it does OK. For finishing I almost always
have to do it in the garage because the fumes move through the house and
I have two small children.

Another thing that sucks for me that sounds like you would have covered
is that since we didnt want to do much to the basement until we plan the
finished layout, we dont have a lot of electric runs down there. I only
have a few outlets that aren't necessarily close to the shop area. So I
have extension cords strung to my shop area from other areas in the
basement.

Long term (a year or two), we want to finish the basement. The way mine
is laid out is we basically have a big stud wall running the width of
the house, about 40 ft. It provides load bearing for the house above
and divides the basement into two secions, one is 13 feet deep and the
other is just over 17 feet. I would like to use it all, but I don't
want to get spoiled. I actually laid out the shop such that it would
fit in a 15'x20' space. That way, I can really just pick it up and move
it into that size of out-building when the time comes that for me to
build one. Then I can finish the basement with no qualms about the
space I was 'losing'.

Good luck.

Mike W.

Hedley wrote:
Hi all,

You ever have one of those moments when you wonder how you ever developed
the ability to walk and chew bubble-gum at the same time? You know, one of
those forehead slapping moments when you think, "What a dumbass I am, why
didn't I think of that before?!?!"

I had one of those tonight, and I doubt I'm going to sleep very well whilst
coping with the paradigm shift that an innocent comment from (of all people)
my visiting mother-in-law catapulted me into. She saw me working on a
space-saving mobile bench out in the cold-as-hell third bay of the garage
and said "Why don't you have the shop in the basement?" To add insult to
injury, her daughter agreed, saying "I've always thought it should be in the
basement." Having never even considered this in my new house, my immediate
puffed-up-chest response (it's too hard to take sheet stock down there) was
immediately suppressed by the total sense that it suddenly seemed to make.
I could use just half the unfinished basement for the shop and have about
five times the space as the third bay.

I'm just coming to grips with taking the TS3650 apart and toting it down
there in less than 100 lb chunks, taking down the conduit and electrical I
spent 2 days running to the garage (it's all salvageable), and figuring out
what to do with all that BIG SPACE. I've seen pics in ABPW and other places
of both garage and basement shops, but I have had neither. I don't really
know the pros or cons of either, either.

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has 9'
ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.

--Hedley

"Hedley"

What are the cons of a basement shop?

I have built at least three "dust zones" barriers for basement shops. And
have inspired a few more. This is a small room that is sealed off from the
rest of the house. Inside is a small vacumm amd various brushes. Often with
a hook to change out of some overalls.

You have to control the dust/sawdust. If this particulate matter does not
invade your house, the wife will be much happier.

Also, strong, stinky finishes can be a problem. I ended up putting in some
industrial type fans to help with this. They made noise but were less
objectionable than the smell.

Having my shop in the basement for the past 35 years, I've encountered
all the usual problems; access to the outside, noise, dust etc. The
dust can be controlled for the most part with a dust collector and an
air filter. The noise and outside access you can work with. The main
benefit is absolutely no rust on ANY TOOLS and since it's heated and
air conditioned as the rest of the house it's ALWAYS very comfortable.

Les Derusha

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

I have a walk out basement, and getting supplies in and projects out is
still a major problem.
I just had to pass up a $300 cabinet saw that I would have loved cause there
aint no way it is getting in my basement.

Still, I would rather have a basement than a garage for all the reasons
everyone else has said. Just understand the problems.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:10:17 -0500, "Stephen M"
wrote:

The basement "seems" dry as a bone. New construction on a well drained
lot
in Chi-town. I know the new concrete has water, but as long as no direct
contact, it should be OK.

Having had a basement shop for a while in N.E. USA, a "dry basement" is not
about necessarily about seepage. It's about relatively moist warm summer air
getting into a cool (ground temperature) basement causing the interior
relative humidity to shoot up.

I had no seepage but plenty of rust issues.

Depending on your climate, a dehuminifier may be required.

I live in NE and moved about an hour north last year. Humidity was
definitely a problem in the old house but wasn't this summer in the
new one. Used to have all kinds of problems with condensation on the
copper pipes and water tank (Go down to find a pipe has been dripping
on the TS for weeks for example). Course there aren't any copper
pipes in the new house anyway.

If you do move to the basement, paint all the walls and floor white
before anything else.

We have hot air/ac and built a wall to separate the shop from both the
HVAC and the stairs going up. Even if you don't have forced air the
dust still needs to be kept away from the furnace, it'll clog up an
oil furnace to the point where it dies in the middle of a cold spell.
Not that I have any experience with that...


-Leuf

In article , "Charley" wrote:
There are two significant problems that I can think of about having your
shop in your basement. The first one is humidity.

Utter nonsense. This is FAR less of a problem in a basement than in a garage.

When my shop was in my
basement I was always fighting with tool rust and excessive moisture in my
wood.

The problems would have been even worse in the garage.

If your basement is in Arizona or someplace like that then you
probably won't need to worry about this. Mine was in NY state.

My basement's not in Arizona, and I don't need to worry about it either. If I
can find dehumidifiers here in Indiana, I'm sure you could have found them in
NY too.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Hey, relax! By the tone of your response below you'd have thought he
insulted your mother. These are just his opinions. Thats all.



Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "Charley" wrote:

There are two significant problems that I can think of about having your
shop in your basement. The first one is humidity.


Utter nonsense. This is FAR less of a problem in a basement than in a garage.


When my shop was in my
basement I was always fighting with tool rust and excessive moisture in my
wood.


The problems would have been even worse in the garage.


If your basement is in Arizona or someplace like that then you
probably won't need to worry about this. Mine was in NY state.


My basement's not in Arizona, and I don't need to worry about it either. If I
can find dehumidifiers here in Indiana, I'm sure you could have found them in
NY too.


--
Joseph Connors
The New Golden Rule:
Those with the gold, make the rules!

I would make sure you insulate very well for noise. The family may not be so
understanding when their favorite show is on.
Also look at filtering the ac to your shop so you dont send noise into the
rest of the houses electrical system.
Doug


"Hedley" wrote in message
. net...
Hi all,

You ever have one of those moments when you wonder how you ever developed
the ability to walk and chew bubble-gum at the same time? You know, one
of those forehead slapping moments when you think, "What a dumbass I am,
why didn't I think of that before?!?!"

I had one of those tonight, and I doubt I'm going to sleep very well
whilst coping with the paradigm shift that an innocent comment from (of
all people) my visiting mother-in-law catapulted me into. She saw me
working on a space-saving mobile bench out in the cold-as-hell third bay
of the garage and said "Why don't you have the shop in the basement?" To
add insult to injury, her daughter agreed, saying "I've always thought it
should be in the basement." Having never even considered this in my new
house, my immediate puffed-up-chest response (it's too hard to take sheet
stock down there) was immediately suppressed by the total sense that it
suddenly seemed to make. I could use just half the unfinished basement for
the shop and have about five times the space as the third bay.

I'm just coming to grips with taking the TS3650 apart and toting it down
there in less than 100 lb chunks, taking down the conduit and electrical I
spent 2 days running to the garage (it's all salvageable), and figuring
out what to do with all that BIG SPACE. I've seen pics in ABPW and other
places of both garage and basement shops, but I have had neither. I don't
really know the pros or cons of either, either.

Can some of you help me out? The basement is not walk-out, but there is a
short, straight shot from an external door to the basement door and a
straight flight of stairs down to the basement. I figure the stairwell is
about 3+ feet wide and there is plenty of headroom. And the basement has
9' ceilings. And it's always about 65-75 degrees.

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

As always, I am thankful for your cumulative wisdom.

--Hedley

"Toller" writes:


I have a walk out basement, and getting supplies in and projects out is
still a major problem.
I just had to pass up a $300 cabinet saw that I would have loved cause there
aint no way it is getting in my basement.

I have both a Delta 3HP shaper and a Unisaw in my basement shop. It cost
about $150 each to have a piano moving company bring them down to the
basement.

Brian Elfert

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

"Don Dando" wrote in message

My garage shop is heated and has A/C.

That is the critical difference for most of us. Mine is not and the extremes
are extreme. Even with a portalbe heater, about six weeks in January and
February the shop is just closed down.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
t...

"Don Dando" wrote in message

My garage shop is heated and has A/C.

That is the critical difference for most of us. Mine is not and the
extremes are extreme. Even with a portalbe heater, about six weeks in
January and February the shop is just closed down.

That's why I live in SoCal! Shop open 365.
Dave



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"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
t...

"Don Dando" wrote in message

My garage shop is heated and has A/C.

That is the critical difference for most of us. Mine is not and the
extremes
are extreme. Even with a portalbe heater, about six weeks in January and
February the shop is just closed down.




It's funny how before we install a furnace in the garage, the idea almost
seems extreme. But... after we install one it seems so natural to just
suggest others do the same to deal with the cold. I'm in upstate NY and our
winters are both long and cold. I used just about every half baked method
of putting a little heat in the garage before I came on a 140K BTU forced
air furnace for free and installed it. What a pain it was with all those
other attempts at heating. What a pleasure it is now - just turn up the
thermostat. It's really not all that expensive to run either.

--

-Mike-

"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
t...

"Don Dando" wrote in message

My garage shop is heated and has A/C.

That is the critical difference for most of us. Mine is not and the
extremes
are extreme. Even with a portalbe heater, about six weeks in January
and
February the shop is just closed down.




It's funny how before we install a furnace in the garage, the idea almost
seems extreme. But... after we install one it seems so natural to just
suggest others do the same to deal with the cold. I'm in upstate NY and
our
winters are both long and cold. I used just about every half baked method
of putting a little heat in the garage before I came on a 140K BTU forced
air furnace for free and installed it. What a pain it was with all those
other attempts at heating. What a pleasure it is now - just turn up the
thermostat. It's really not all that expensive to run either.

--

-Mike-



I've had a basement workshop. And, especially with taller basement walls,
it has quite a bit to offer. However, one problem eventually forced me out
of it. SWMBO just couldn't/wouldn't tolerate the various smells and odors
that waffled through the entire house, during any finishing process.

James...

"Amused" wrote in message
...


I've had a basement workshop. And, especially with taller basement walls,
it has quite a bit to offer. However, one problem eventually forced me
out
of it. SWMBO just couldn't/wouldn't tolerate the various smells and odors
that waffled through the entire house, during any finishing process.

James...



Likewise, before I built my garage, I had a corner of the basement for a
shop area. We survived quite well in that confined space, but my son and I
both joke now about the contortions we had to go through to really do
anything. Our space was really quite small, all things considered.

--

-Mike-

The whether is not that extreme around here (Seattle) so working in the shop
year round is possible but finishing can only be done at certain times of
the year. Even so, a garage shop is, to me, a better way to go.
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
t...

"Don Dando" wrote in message

My garage shop is heated and has A/C.

That is the critical difference for most of us. Mine is not and the
extremes
are extreme. Even with a portalbe heater, about six weeks in January and
February the shop is just closed down.

There is nothing that would convince me to live in the PRC.

"TeamCasa" wrote in message
...
That's why I live in SoCal! Shop open 365.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 22:26:09 -0800, "TeamCasa"
wrote:

That's why I live in SoCal! Shop open 365.

Yup, same here. My shop is always open and it's rare when I have to
run either the A/C or heating in the shop.

That's why you live in places with decent climates!

In article , Joseph Connors wrote:
Hey, relax! By the tone of your response below you'd have thought he
insulted your mother. These are just his opinions. Thats all.

Everybody's entitled to his own opinions. Nobody's entitled to his own set of
facts, though, and the idea that humidity is a worse problem in a basement
than a garage is, as I said, utter nonsense.


Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "Charley"
wrote:

There are two significant problems that I can think of about having your
shop in your basement. The first one is humidity.


Utter nonsense. This is FAR less of a problem in a basement than in a garage.


When my shop was in my
basement I was always fighting with tool rust and excessive moisture in my
wood.


The problems would have been even worse in the garage.


If your basement is in Arizona or someplace like that then you
probably won't need to worry about this. Mine was in NY state.


My basement's not in Arizona, and I don't need to worry about it either. If I

can find dehumidifiers here in Indiana, I'm sure you could have found them in

NY too.



--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:

In article , Joseph Connors wrote:

Hey, relax! By the tone of your response below you'd have thought he
insulted your mother. These are just his opinions. Thats all.


Everybody's entitled to his own opinions. Nobody's entitled to his own set of
facts, though, and the idea that humidity is a worse problem in a basement
than a garage is, as I said, utter nonsense.


Doug Miller wrote:



How about when the relative humidity is reasonably low (say under 60%),
but the water table is high and the basement walls and floor are not
100% vapor resistant. THEN, which area will have the higher humidity
level; the garage, or the basement?

Dave

Put a dehumidifier in your basement then----problem solved.


"David" wrote in message
...
Doug Miller wrote:

In article , Joseph Connors
wrote:

Hey, relax! By the tone of your response below you'd have thought he
insulted your mother. These are just his opinions. Thats all.


Everybody's entitled to his own opinions. Nobody's entitled to his own
set of facts, though, and the idea that humidity is a worse problem in a
basement than a garage is, as I said, utter nonsense.


Doug Miller wrote:



How about when the relative humidity is reasonably low (say under 60%),
but the water table is high and the basement walls and floor are not 100%
vapor resistant. THEN, which area will have the higher humidity level;
the garage, or the basement?

Dave

I have a basement shop, I think its about 12x20. It's a little small,
but I can rip a sheet of plywood with no problem. The best thing about
it is heat in winter and cool in summer ,as I have ducts run through
entire basement. AC keeps air cool and dry. I have never had any
problems with rust. I live in Ohio and summers are usually very humid.
I love being able to spend time in shop year round, it's always very
comfortable.