Brand New Shop - Need Design Help

[JimD]

My shop is in the basement in an extra one car garage of about 400 square feet (oversized for one car). The walls and ceiling are finished (ceiling height is 8 1/2 feet). I have one 20 amp circuit for tools and another 15A for lights and the DC. This isn't enough, the DC needs to be on it's own circuit even though it's only a 1hp delta. It dims the lights when I turn it on. Three 110V circuits is plenty unless you need 220V for something (like a welder). For lights I use three 30W flourescent screw in bulbs in cheap round sockets with large plastic tumblers from Walmart shielding the bulbs from damage. Cheap and works fine. I glued wood rings to the bulb bases to screw the tumblers into.

My family says there is some noise when I'm in the shop but it never bothers me . They just turn up the TV. They can talk over the noise OK - I don't think it's too bad but they can hear the tools.

I used to use the front of a large two car garage in our old house. The biggest issue is my mess got all over the cars, etc.. and I am pretty sloppy. I don't like to clean up. My wife would get overwhelmed by the mess. If you are a lot neater than me you can have more space by using the garage and backing the cars out. I am running out of room for tools which I don't like but am otherwise happier with my current arrangement.

My gas water heater and gas furnace/ac are in a utility room that if off of my shop with no door separating them (until I make or buy one). The other 800 square feet of the basement is finished. I track stuff into the basement sometimes but I also track it upstairs. I would track it in from the garage. I don't see that having the shop in the basement makes the mess worse. The water heater and furnace do not seem to care that my shop is adjacent to their utility room.

For me, basement or garage is a neatness issue. If you regularly tidy up when you finish for the day the garage could be a good way to go. If you are messy like me, having your own space avoids discussions. Three circuits, at least one of which is 20A is enough IMHO unless you have a need for 220V. One for lights (could be shared with other areas of the basement or something since lights are a low draw in practice and by code), one for DC and air cleaner, one for tools (this must be 20A).

Jim

[Copper]

I put up slat wall along one wall of my three car garage. It adds quite a bit of space for hanging stuff. I put in isulation behind them. They're supposedly even stronger if you hang the sections on existing drywall, but I didn't have any plans to hang extremely heavy stuff on them.

One of the only drawbacks is that a little sawdust can settle in the grooves. I usually blow it out the the shop vac once in a while. Also, cost can be a factor. An 8x4 foot section runs about $40 at Menards.

These pictures are a little old and I have hung quite a bit more stuff on them since then.

Before:


After:

[Ken H]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it in all of these long suggestions....

Make sure you can get larger sheet goods in and out of the area you choose. I was reading about a guy who built and designed the perfect shop...we was so proud...until he decided to build a larger piece of furniture. He couldn't get a full or half sheet of ply into his shop! He then realized that if he build the larger cabinet...he wouldn't hve been able to get the cabinet out of his shop either.

I felt bad for the guy. He had all of the bell and whistles. All of this dust control was in buried tubes, had some room to work (inside the shop). Beautiful cabinets in the shop.

He had to clear a car from his garage and build the cabinet he wanted away from his shop!

I looked for the article to attach, but was unable to find it. He did say that most of the work he does is smaller and he has been able to use the shop for all but two projects..."If he had to do it all over again..."