Basement Shop

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FloridaDon

Member
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
35
Location
Brooksville, FL, USA.
HI All,

Currently live in Florida and have a shop in the garage. Planning on moving back up North (Michigan - if we ever sell this place) and hopefully will get a place with a separate work shop. If that doesn't happen, then I will probably have to put a shop in the basement.

So, the question is - how do basement workshops work out?

Dust of course is the big question. I have plenty of dust collection now - Grizzly Dual Bag 3 HP, Jet Air Filtration System and a Delta Air Filtration System.

Actually, my question is how to keep the dust and other junk from going throughout the house? I believe for safety, you have to ground the collector duct work if you have a gas forced air furnace.

I don't turn many pens anymore as I am more into the larger stuff and I create a good amount of chips.

Just wondering if anyone would like to share their thoughts on a basement shop. I am really hoping for a separate shop but just in case, I would like to be prepared.

Thanks for your input.

Florida Don
 
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My shop is in my basement. Unfortunatly, I haven't acquired a DC or filtration yet. The good news is I do not have a problem of sawdust upstairs unless I'm wearing it. but then again my heat/air for the house does not come from there. My main issue is with the humidity as no one "sealed" the entire wall system when built. I not only do pens but flatwork and larger turnings so there is plenty of dust and larger chips.

With a DC and filtration, you should not have a seriousl issue with dust in the furnace.
 
Mine is in the basement (Ohio) and I don't have much problem with dust in the rest of the house (cats and dogs take cause all of that!). I have a dehumidifier for the moisture. I love being able to turn year round and it is always cool even in the middle of summer.
 
Thanks for the replies - at least I will now have a viable option.

I really am going to look for a home with a pole barn and my wife doesn't have a problem with that - it just gets down to the location.

I see the only real disadvantage to a basement shop would be having to carry the chips up the stairs.

We did put a bid in on a house when we were up there last fall - it had a basement with a 10' ceiling. It was a wood basement, which I am told is a premium basement. The temperature was great - same as upstairs. That would have been the ultimate.

Florida Don
 
My dad and I have a basement shop here in North Carolina. It's actually under the garage. This animated GIF is a year old and the shop has changed since then. alex

GeorgeL_Shop.gif
 
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Alex, is that the basement of your house or a commercial building? Those are impressive I-beams supporting the first floor! Nice router table too. Did you guys build that?
 
I have mine in the basement up here in Michigan and it works ok. I have a 2 hp Grizzly and a air filtration on the ceiling. I still get some dust. The next thing I did was seal all of the cold air return duct work. This has helped a lot. I also have no cold air return coming out of the basement. I sealed up the edge of the duct work going upstairs. I like the basement especially in the winter. It has heat. Just hot air coming out of ceiling vents.
 
jeff said:
Alex, is that the basement of your house or a commercial building? Those are impressive I-beams supporting the first floor! Nice router table too. Did you guys build that?
Click to expand...

This is the basement of our house. The shop in under a 3 car garage. The beams support the cement garage floor and the cars. The ceiling is metal pan for the cement. The router table was built by my grandfather. He left it to my dad when he died. The original top was destroyed in a flood back in Indiana and the router went to my uncle. My dad replaced the top and fence with jessem parts, added a jessem lift and 3hp porter cable router motor. alex
 
I'm following this thread with interest. My shop is currently in the garage. Unfortunately the garage is not insulated and unheated. When the temperature drops to -40 it becomes impossible to work in there.

I was originally looking at insulating the garage but it has already been dry walled and whoever did it didn't bother using vapour barrier. Then various owners (myself included) have put up shelves etc. Tearing all that out to insulate would be expensive and time consuming.

The simpler solution would be to turn one of the unused bedrooms downstairs into an indoor shop. One of the problems is that my wife is asthmatic. So I have to be very careful about the dust control.
 
My shop has been in the basement for the last 20+ years. I do have dust collection, so dust isn't a problem. Wood chips on the other hand is another story.

BTW - Do you remember the Munsters on TV?
Remember Grandpa Munster?
He had his shop (laboratory) in the basement (dungeon).

My family joking calls me Grandpa.
 
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