Shop set up question

[angboy]

So tell me if I'm making a huge mistake for some reason- My SO and I have been looking to buy a house and decided on a house that only has a two car garage, but is 2975 square feet. So there's actually a bedroom downstairs that I plan to set up as a shop. The thought of having my shop in conditioned air is SO appealing! Since flooring hasn't been selected for the house yet, we'll go with the basic vinyl that doesn't cost any extra, and I can have a shop inside the house. Tom and I have been thinking along those lines the entire time we've looked, but I suddenly realized tonight "what if that's a horrible idea for some reason I didn't think of?" I know it may cause some increased dust in the house, especially near the shop room, but it's the bedroom at the back of the house, right next to the garage and laundry room. I also know I'll probably have to have an electrician wire in some more outlets, but I'd have to do that if the shop was in the garage too. But am I missing anything? Any reason a shop HAS to be in a garage and not in an interior room of the house? We only have 5 days to back out of the contract, so if I'm making a huge mistake, I want to figure that out quickly!

 

[chuckw3]

I have had my shop in the basement for five years now. It shares a wall with the garage so my compressor is out there and just run a hose through the wall/ I use a shop vac for dust and cleanup. SO far the we have not noticed any dust through the rest of the house. If thats any help'

Chuck

 

[navycop]

My only concern would be if you moved onto projects bigger than pens. I mean if you made something large like a dresser or chest of drawers, you might want the extra elbow room on one side of a two car garage. I have about 20x14 feet in the back of my two car garage and it still is not enought room...

 

[chuckw3]

My only concern would be if you moved onto projects bigger than pens. I mean if you made something large like a dresser or chest of drawers, you might want the extra elbow room on one side of a two car garage. I have about 20x14 feet in the back of my two car garage and it still is not enought room...

You have a good point but, when do you ever have enough room LOL

Chuck

 

[paintspill]

with that much square footage you can make the whole main floor your workshop. but seriously, you can seal up that room to keep the dust out of the rest of the house and keep in mind that along with the air ducts coming into that room there is also air returns that will take your dust and smell (i.e. ca glue, smelly acrylics) through out the rest of the house, but that can be solved by simple covering the intakes while you work in there, but i think if that room is next to the garage, that is the perfect scenario, good luck with it.

 

[mredburn]

Put a very fine filter in the return duct and change it often. YOu can even add one of the stand alone air filters like Delta sells to help keep it out of the rest of the house. Its your house, or will be. use it as you see fit. A lot of why we dont work inside our houses instead of a garage is collateral damage. Nasty spills, extra dust, bad smelling stuff and access by children to dangerous things. There is no reason not to, other than having to repair any "oops" before reselling the house.

Edit: and your right there is never enough room.

 

[Lenny]

I love having my turning area in my basement. Besides being about the same temperature all year round, I also have a dehumidifier that keeps it very comfortable. I do think a good dust collection system is important.

 

[GoodTurns]

dust collection will be critical....put good weatherstrip sealers on the door to the room and a sweep on the bottom to seal the room. if you have a common wall with the garage, you could put your cyclone in the garage and run the ducting through the wall to help with shop noise.

 

[alamocdc]

Angie, as others have said, dust collection is key. You will not only need a DC that piped to each tool, you will need an air cleaner hanging from the ceiling of the room for the fine dust. But even this won't keep dust from infiltrating the rest of the house. The doors for most of the rooms of the house will have a pretty good sized gap at the bottom. This ensures good air flow back to the return. If you make this bedroom your shop, that door will need to be full length AND as Jon said, be weather stripped on all sides including the floor. This presents a problem for your air conditioner since you will in effect be blocking the return air from that room. But this problem is relatively small and there is a solution. You can either install a filtered return above the door, in the door, or in the ceiling and directly ducted into the return air (the most expensive of the three).

So yes, Ang, it can be done. I'm not sure the bedroom will be big enough, but people use spare bedrooms for other kinds of studios all the time. Why not one for wood?