# apartment shop?



## prjavelin (May 16, 2017)

Hi new to the forums and NEW to woodworking. I have completed a board game shelf(bookshelf with board game measurements) pretty successfully. My father was a contractor and he taught me a lot about carpentry. A lot I learned through watching him work rather than he telling me step by step. Either way, Ive gotten divorced and now live in a second floor apartment. 

The owner of the place is very chill and has told me that I can do anything I want on the place if by the time Im leaving I leave everything the way I got it. This means Im Probably painting the room when i leave Im gonna be using for woodworking. Now I dont want to bother my neighbors. They are rarely around but still Im not using a table saw or a circular saw inside. Keep in mind these are concrete buildings and the sound doesnt travel that much. 

Im gonna start with a simple project but will be building a platform bed, a kitchen/game table and a tv stand in the coming weeks. H Depot will be making the bulk of my cuts btw. 

My main worry is dust collection and floor(white ceramic tile) damage. is a shop vac enough to collect what my milter and hand sanding(i have a sander but will only use it if absolutely necessary) will produce??? should I line the floor with those rubber jigsaw pieces that are used for gyms and shops?


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## Brian(J) (Feb 22, 2016)

prjavelin said:


> Hi new to the forums and NEW to woodworking. I have completed a board game shelf(bookshelf with board game measurements) pretty successfully. My father was a contractor and he taught me a lot about carpentry. A lot I learned through watching him work rather than he telling me step by step. Either way, Ive gotten divorced and now live in a second floor apartment.
> 
> The owner of the place is very chill and has told me that I can do anything I want on the place if by the time Im leaving I leave everything the way I got it. This means Im Probably painting the room when i leave Im gonna be using for woodworking. Now I dont want to bother my neighbors. They are rarely around but still Im not using a table saw or a circular saw inside. Keep in mind these are concrete buildings and the sound doesnt travel that much.
> 
> ...


Not sure what you mean by 'miter' but a chop saw is a very difficult machine to dust/chip proof. Some sanders have very good ~100% dust capture. A sander that will take 5" or 6" Abranet or Autonet disks and hooks to a good vac will pretty much eliminate dust.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Most lumber companies sell rolls of a very thick paper you could cover the floor with. A fire/flood company I do work for will go in while a home is being restored and cover every square inch of tile and wood floor with this paper and it holds up to a lot of abuse for a long time. 

When I had an apartment shop the room had carpet so I took the carpet up while I used the room and re-installed it when I moved out.


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

Basic Kraft paper (padfelt) used to manufacture toilet roll tubes etc is available from flooring shops. I used to underlay carpet and vinyl. Also used as base for laying tiles. Excellent for making templates.
johnep


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## woodchux (Jul 6, 2014)

Welcome here to this friendly WW forum, where there is always room for one more. Before you start your "apartment shop" consider the electrical power outlets in the "work" area and power needs for saws, sanders, drills, DV's, etc. Also, does your apartment have a separate electric meter in your name? It would be IMO "shocking" to give the owner and/or the neighbors a sudden increase on their electric service bill. Be safe.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

It sounds like most of the messy work won't be done inside, since you say you're not going to use a table saw, circular saw, or (mostly) a power sander. That sounds to me like you're thinking about drilling or hand sanding inside. If that's the case, here's my advice:

1) Put down rubber floor tiles. If you're going to spend a lot of time standing at a workbench or power tools, your back and knees will thank you for not standing on tile. It will also help protect the floor, and replacing broken tiles is a pain.

2) Get a good shop vac. Look for high airflow, rather than high suction. There's a Ridged 12 gallon model that runs around 150CFM: it's not going to be perfect, but it'll help. Get a good filter for it, too: 1 micron or smaller is what you're probably going to want. It probably won't keep up with a power sander, but it'll do fine for a drill press and hand sanding. It'll probably mostly handle the output from a powered miter saw, too.

3) Look into doing things by hand! It's slower (especially at first), but if you enjoy the process that's not such a big deal. It also creates larger dust and is easier to clean up after.

Good luck!


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