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Well I was really hoping to already be in my new shop but as always things take longer and cost more than expected...

My shop is under my garage and entry way and is all concrete except for a small section that is attached to my house. Two of the walls are earth bermed and one is exposed so it is cool in the summer and somewhat warm in the winter. On 20 degree days it maintains about 50 degrees and stays about 70 in the summer when the temps hit into the high 80's or 90's. I am planning on putting an overhead heater in because I can't seem to get the humidity any lower than about 50% (de-humidifiers don't work well in cool areas).

So I insulated it with 1" foam boards against the cement and then studded the walls and put rolled fiberglass in and because it is a wood shop I put a vapor barrier up before the drywall. The floor has 6mil plastic and then 3/4" underlayment with 1/4" ply undelayment so it will be easy to sweep up and easy on the feet. It is stapled down so in the future it will be easy and cheap to replace.

I currently have all the electric done with plenty of outlets and a 50 amp circuit to run my new Laguna or any other 220 machines I may get in the future. I still have to stud in and drywall the east wall where it attaches to the house but I am planning on running a sprinkler system as well as run a gas line for the heater. I also have to run conduit for the lights so I have been holding off on that wall for now.

The small room you see with the 45 degree angle opening will be my spray booth as well as a service door to bring wood in.

I am still trying to figure out how best to lay things out so ff anyone has any ideas or suggestions I am open to anything at this stage to make it more efficient. My plan is to have wood storage on the west wall (where you see my stash of 4/4 Maple) and the north wall where (where the shop mate is) will be my main bench with all of my tools. Next to the spray booth along that same wall will be a staging table for prepping things for finishing. I also have another room just off of this shop in the house that is 9X17 that was my old shop, that will become my finishing room and were I will probably continue to do setups and fretwork.

It seems so big compared to my old shop but I am sure it is going to seem small when I start filling up up with the tools that still need to go out there. My old shop was actually overflowing into the rest of the downstairs so my wife is quite happy this is coming together.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,
Bob

Nice Bob - it looks like a great space and it's coming along nicely too.

My only suggestion would be lighting related.

When I was building my new shop much as you are now an OLFer made the suggest to me that I put my overhead lighting on a separate circuit from any and all of the power tools. Idea being in a power failure caused by say an accident with one of the tools I would still be able to see which is pretty important to most of us. I wish that I could remember who suggested this idea because I would like to thank them once again and give attribution properly as well.

The other idea that has to do with lighting is that my day shop has T8s and my home shop the old style tubes. The difference is remarkable even to me at my age AND the T8s use less power too so they are less expensive to run. I can't know but if the less power usage scales to less heat produced this is a good thing too for we cellar dwellers with limited ventilation.

Your shop looks like a great space to me - congrats!

Nice!

That's gonna be a sweet space!

A couple things I'd add to the comments from Hesh would be around power. Most of my stationary tools that aren't against a wall are fed from above. I also added receptacles above my work stations. I don't like tripping over extension cords.

I look forward to seeing further updates!

M

Thanks guys,

@ Hesh, Yes I do have my lights on a separate circuit. My power is split in two zones the north side is 15 amp and the south side where my big power tools are is on a separate 20 amp. I actually only have 1/3 the lights up and they are just temporary at the moment. I have 4 other 8' fixtures which are T5 High Output with Daylight bulbs. It is currently quite bright in there now so I think I am only going to put 4 of them in and put the other 2 in my small shop.



I thought about over head outlets but I want to keep from drilling too many holes in the pre-stressed concrete ceiling. I do have all of my outlets at 4 feet so they will all be above any benches.

Thanks for the comments guys,

Bob

As for layout, I can guarantee you that whatever you think is ideal today won't be your ideal next year. So, do yourself a favour and put all cabinets and power tools on good casters right from the get go. That way, you can easily rearrange your shop as needed.

Also, ensure that horizontal surfaces, such as cabinets and benches, are the same surface height so that if they need to, they can work as a common surface.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Thanks Douglas, Good idea since you are probably correct that what will work now, won't after I start using it. I have been searching the Internet for shop pictures to try to get a good idea for cabinets and layouts but putting things on wheels makes a lot of sense.


Cheers,
Bob

Yep, plan on changing your shop layout. I'm getting ready for round 3 in shop #3.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Wow nice shop area Bob. I bet you are truly thrilled. Mine is coming really slow weather and sticker shock, what a great new year your going to have!

That is going to be a beautiful shop !!! Now is something I really need. (My current shop is 10'x17'. I can turn around but that is about it.)

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

All my stuff is on wheels, I can't tell you how many times I've changed shop layout. Its especially useful for temporary changes that some jobs require. Much, much, easier to do it now.

For cabinets, I've recently come to like this one. We picked one up, used, for the kitchen and I've been quite impressed with what you get for the money. As I've been using it, I've been thinking how good it would be for shop cabinets.

And, looking at the US online catalog, I am really annoyed at it being $120 cheaper just because its in the US!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/14631607/

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

@Jfurry, Yea I hear you about sticker shock. You start out with a simple idea and it turns into a monster. I know it will be nice when it is finished but getting there is putting a hurt on my wallet!



Yep. That was my old shop, turn around and bump into something. If you look at the pictures, my old shop is just the other side of the unfinished wall and was way over crowded. The nice thing is it is right off of my new shop so it will be nice to have that area just for fret work and small repair stuff.

BTW, The brown insulation you see in the wood part of the wall is fireproof/soundproof insulation. I decided to test it and took my torch to it and it will not burn or even smolder.. So I feel pretty confident about that wall being fire proof. With the 1 1/2 hour fire door It should contain any fire from the house (God forbid). Any one adding a wood shop to their house should give serious thought to fireproofing.


Thanks again for the comments and suggestions. I still have a lot to do but it is getting there.

Cheers,
Bob

Douglas, Just saw you posted just as I was, Thanks for the suggestion on the cabinets. I will check them out.

I love a blank canvas! Very exciting. A few thoughts:

You haven't mentioned yet your plans for either dust collection or ventilation. While I agree that keeping everything on wheels and flexible is useful, the countervailing consideration is that an installed dust collection system, with mostly hard pipe, will be more efficient than other options. Maybe the best approach is to figure out where to permanently install the dust collector, and then run pipe to a number of workstations around the room from that spot. The final connections to each tool can vary as you move things around over time.

Regarding ventilation: a big, concrete-backed, well insulated, windowless, half underground room that houses a dust and fume generating endeavor is probably going to need some help with air exchange. There is a door to the outside, right? Maybe just opening that door every so often will do the trick, but it is worth mentioning as a consideration.

Finally, when it comes to the lights and building guitars, not having windows is a bit of a disadvantage. I would offset that by using daylight simulating tubes in the lights.

Good luck with the final touches! Again, very exciting.

Funny how we are all so different... I hate setting up a new shop. I prefer that settled in feel of a good worn in shop... like a pair of jeans.

As for dust collection. If funds were no object I would probably go out and buy a Laguna 2 hp unit but that will have to wait. I have a Dayton 2 stage portable unit now with only pulls about 600 cfm so I will be using that until I can get something better.

Ventilation isn't much of a problem, The corner that I have sectioned off has an exhaust fan which has been my makeshift spray booth for quite a while but now I actually have walls! I can open the outside door and turn the fan on and clear the air pretty quickly.

But as for setting my shop up. I get frustrated because I am always second guessing myself and seem to waste a lot of time thinking of all the possibilities and "what if's"

Thanks for the comments,
Bob