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