Shop Amenities Poll

[John Hunter]

Does having a bass boat on a trailer count?

[gary]

Need an option "none of those above"

I guess my shop sucks worse that I thought.

[dkerfoot]

Yep - I need a None of the Above option too.

And to think, up until this very moment, I was pretty satisfied with it!

[ragswl4]

Stereo, telephone and laptop computer. I use the computer to hold all the good information files, tool manuals, any plans and most important I record dimensions for items that will be made repeatedly. Really helps save time so I don't need to measure, measure, measure.

[cork58]

Poll

Don't need A/C in Alaska. Do have laptop, on it right now. Great for getting tips from the forum while working on a project or jig! I've picked up quite a few tips like the silcone for the mortise. Just wish I would remember to pick it up. I lived in a 12X16 hobby shop for 15 years and had wood heat! Still had the laptop back then too. New shop is 40X40. Well not really, had to give up 16' for the horses but still have alot of room. Not enought of course to store the wood I need but I'm still putting racks up on the walls. One thing that is really nice is the no windows anywhere so I make my own weather inside. Mind set ya know. Peace of mind is the alarm system, don't think I would ever need it but you never know.

Need another poll that includes the computer and which kind?

[sparkeyjames]

I have just about everything in that list in my shop. Seeing as how it takes up the dinning room of the house I currently live in and am rehabbing. I also live by myself so there is no one b*#&$ing about it which is a big plus. One day I will be able to move the tools out to the 20x20 garage and move all the furniture that is stored out there to it's rightful place inside the house.

[big tim]

My shop is in the basement so I benefit from the AC and furnace in the house.

Tim

[maxparot]

Jones who?

I have both A/C and an evaporative cooler
I used a portable propane heater to get the temperature up fast and then switch over to portable ceramic electric heaters.
I have a survival radio on a shelf that is am/fm/wb, B&W TV, Spot/florescent flood/hazzard light, electronic bug repellant, alarm clock, compass.
I keep a cordless phone in the shop.
I use X-10 modules for the DC, Lights and Evap cooler.
Even the A/C unit has a remote control.
The shops RV entrance has a opener w/ remote.
The lighting surrounding the shop have motion sensors.
I have a air filter built into the ceiling.
I keep a old laptop w/ wireless in the shop for and quick info searches and keep in touch with friends & family on IM while working.
And absolutely the shop is protected by a monitored alarm system and 2 large dogs.
So who is the Jones person? I don't know if he's keeping up.

[dkhoward]

hmmm . . making the list. . .

remote control on the DC and on the window fan.

radio, hijacked from the trash when one of the kids threw it away (the door on the cassette deck is broken off)

the A/C is a 16' garage door. Heat is either a propane forced air heater or an electric oil filled radiator.

The beer .. eerrr. . . beverage box, is on the patio across the yard right next to the grill and the hot tub.

no furniture in the shop, except for the unfinished pieces I am working on.

used to have a telephone but found it was a distraction.

I have wireless so I can carry the laptop out to the shop and it works fine.

no TV

and I do have valet parking. LOML yells and I go get the car and put it where she tells me too.

[mpc]

Shop is:
* 2-car garage with 2 of my 3 cars in it each night. Forces me to keep things put away.
* garage also has to serve as the car repair shop since those 3 cars are all older cars. That means several big tools that won't fit in cabinets... they just line the back wall. And several shelves of spare parts from the pick-your-part yards since few new parts exist for these cars.
* laundry room too. No other place to put the washer & dryer.
* water heater lives out there too. Again, no room in the house. (basement? What's that? We aint got no underfloor rooms in slab-based California houses!)

Shop heater = drive one or two of the cars for an hour or so, then park it in the garage for another hour before starting work. Raises the temps enough to deal with SoCal "winters" most of the time. Auxilliary heater = sweatshirt.

Air Conditioner = opening the garage door. And running a small fan recently picked up from the Borg's clearance pile.

Besides the stupid washer, dryer, and water heater gobbling up half of one wall, I have an ancient all-in-one stereo (it has a record player and 8-track... that's how old it is... from my elementary school days) out there plus an almost-as-ancient TV with the old style mechanical/barrel tuner. At least for another few months until the digital broadcast format takes over. phone = remembering to bring out the house cordless phone and the cell phone. That's the sum total of the amenities.

My garage is almost as packed as a moving van... sometimes it feels that crowded. Big woodworking projects require an hour of setup time moving things around in the garage - getting the cars out of the way, getting the BT3000 un-buried of wood scraps & other detritus and rolled out from the back wall, cleaning the one workbench that has to do both woodworking and car work (metal topped so grease cleans up easily, clean wood plate to cover it for woodworking), rolling out the Ridgid shop vac for dust collection duties... The one good thing I can say about the garage is the electrical power seems plenty adequate. My house was built during the Vietnam days and doesn't have copper wiring - too hard to obtain - so it has aluminum wiring. The garage has three circuits: a 220 volt dryer outlet (that feeds my welder) and 2 regular 120 volt circuits with 15 amp breakers... either circuit though handles my BT3000 (orig 13 amp model) PLUS the shop vac together amazingly enough. (maybe those 15 amp breakers are stuck???) One of those circuits is also "all" overhead lighting (all = 2 flourescent fixtures plus an old 2-bulb track light from my previous apartment) so I use that for most of the power tools. If something goes haywire I can flip the light switch to cut power to the tools; the circuit breaker box is about as far away as it could possibly be on the outside of the house.

mpc

[jziegler]

What if we don't have any of the above?

The shop is still in progress, and currently has no lighting even. Or power, except by a 75' extension cord that I plug in in the house when I need it. Some tools are still in the basement where there is power and lighting, but very few outlets.

Jim

[scorrpio]

As my shop is a shed about 10 paces away from the kitchen entrance, I have quick access to all the amenities it provides. A couple massive trees provide enough shade to never need A/C but I do have a heater, and I got one of the handsets for our phone system in the shop. For couch... does a plastic folding chair count?

[ironhat]

The phone is a great safety tool. I'm not wired but thank heaven for cell phone technology. Prior to that all we had was one of those old Radio Shack intercoms. Better than nothing but not by much. At least I could keep paging the wife until she was tired of hearing it -LOL! I'd love to have innenet availability.

[norrodb]

I added to the poll....

Ethernet with a cheapo desktop that I remote back to my mainframe, err... I mean back to my desktop in my office.

[vaking]

I squattered the basement of my house for the shop. It is a part of the house, so it has central heat/AC. The telephone was there before the shop. So was 1/2 bathroom along with the laundry room - if there is anything there I have in abundance - it's plumbing. I checked the refrigerator but in reality it is an extra freezer my wife could not fit into the kitchen. Stereo is very important: I put up a drop-ceiling to add to the sound insulation between the shop and house. The space between the floor of the first level and drop-ceiling makes a very nice rezonating chamber. I mounted a couple of auto speakers there and when I turn the stereo on - the whole house gets good ambient music. I use it when I want background music for parties and to help fight sound when I work in the shop.
My office is also in the basement but it is separate from the rest of the basement, it has its own door. This way I can say I have computer in the shop yet it is not subject to any dust. DC does not have remote control but has Sears auto-switch, so it comes on by itself with the saw or router. The only disadvantage to this setup - ceiling height is 6'2, I am 6'0, so no jumping.