# My new (in progress) basement shop



## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

My two car garage shop is busting at the seams, not to mention the fact that my wife wants to use the garage as a garage and my twin boys will have all sorts of bikes and stuff in there in a couple years. 
Here's my current shop: 



So, I've been working on converting half of my unfinished basement to a wood shop. The new shop is approximately 25x27' and has an adjacent walkout room that will serve as wood storage. Here's pictures of it before work began:


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Note that my furnace is on the _non-woodshop_ side of the basement!


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

I walled off the stairs:








I also re-framed the stairs to make them safer and more solid.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Looking the other direction from the stairs. The door opens to the remaining basement (same size as the shop) which is just storage.








Lots and lots and lots of electrical receptacles.
The grid ceiling will help a lot with sound transmission to the living space above. It has a noise reduction coefficient of 50, so 50% of the noise that hits it never gets past it.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Framed around the electric subpanel, which is mounted to the foundation. That cleaned up nicely. 

I also insulated the heck out of the ceiling in an effort to reduce sound. 









The stairs are to the right in this picture. The door opening leads to the wood storage room and the basment walkout door.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

My compressor is deafeningly loud, so I am going to keep it in the garage. I plumbed copper air lines to the shop and have couplers down there as well as in the garage so the compressor can be easily connected and disconnected. 
















The line is going to be above my lathe, hence the height. The coil line will be able to reach nearly 25', which will easily cover my assembly table which will be in the middle of the room.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

I bought a JDS air filter to deal with airborne dust. Nice unit...Looking forward to stretching its legs! 

Lots of receptacles along the foundation walls. You can also see my can lights that'll illuminate my lathe and benches. Still going to hang some flourescent troffers.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Here's how it is now. Not done yet, but gaining ground. I'm hoping to start moving tools down and building benches within two weeks.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

Awesome. That's gonna be a great place to work. It looks like a lot of fun putting it together, too!

I don't envy carrying all that sheetrock down there, though. O.O


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## Nate1778 (Mar 10, 2008)

Man that looks great, gives me some encouragement for redoing mine, not looking forward to it at all.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

That will be a nice shop! Do you have a good exit to get big projects out of the shop?


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Mizer I have a walkup/walkout ramp out the back door of the basement. It's a 36" door, and I definitely don't plan on making anything bigger than that! I mostly make duck and turkey calls, they'll fit fine!

Bookemdano, no kidding about the sheetrock. I carried it all by myself, via the side yard to the back door, two 1/2" 4x8' sheets at a time. Damn near killed me. That made the decision to hang a grid ceiling a heck of a lot easier...Carrying two dozen sheets of 5/8" rock for the ceiling actually would have killed me.


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## smitty1967 (Feb 24, 2008)

Termite:
that is one _nice _looking set up. The drywall, the electrical (I always sorta liked the way EMT and galvanized boxes looked when surface mounted...call me crazy), the copper air plumbed in. Even the sound insulation in the ceiling. Looks like you've got it pretty well thought-out and well done so far. 

How are you planning to address dust collection? Any plans or thoughts? You were smart to leave the compressor out of the work space (and the house). Aside from my 2-hp cyclone, the compressor is the single loudest tool in the shop. 

Good looking layout...keep the pics coming.

regards,
smitty


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Thanks for the compliments Smitty1967. I'm with you regarding the look of a nice EMT conduit job. In fact, I'm so anal-retentive that I borrowed a 3/4" box offset bender press that puts perfect box offsets in the conduit...Much easier than a conventional bender!

The JDS air cleaner hanging from the ceiling should really help keep the dust out of the air, or at least get rid of it in fairly short order after I make it. I do intend to buy a dust collector eventually, and will run the pipes above the grid ceiling. I mostly do woodturning, so there's more chips and shavings than dust in my shop. Hopefully I can make due for a couple months without one. Didn't want to install it until I KNOW the need is there and I can more accurately place the pipes and such right where they're needed.


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

Wow what a great job !!! Got any plans for the floor? Call me silly but a light epoxy or VCT floor along with those white walls will brighten the whole shop up. Will make sweeping easier too. I know it's always easy to spend other people's money but just something to ponder. BTW, I too like the exposed emt. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

Very nice. You're doing it right. Starting with an empty space. When I built my house I thought I'd save a little money and frame and drywall the basement at a later date. What a PITA doing it now when full of tools and stuff. Takes 4x as long. But that's me, I gotta do things the hard way:laughing:. Nice drywall joints. I never could get the hang of it, mine looks pretty bad. I hate to tape and mud!


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

djg said:


> Nice drywall joints. I never could get the hang of it, mine looks pretty bad. I hate to tape and mud!


Oh you ought to see it up close! :laughing: It isn't what I'd call bad, but there are little flaws that will bother me until I move out someday.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

JohnK007 said:


> Got any plans for the floor? Call me silly but a light epoxy or VCT floor along with those white walls will brighten the whole shop up. Will make sweeping easier too. I know it's always easy to spend other people's money but just something to ponder.


Yeah, I know. A wiser man would've planned better than I did. The floor has 50 years of dust and stains and crap on it and would benefit from a coat of paint or epoxy. As much as I know it is a great idea I'm not going to do it.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

The secret to good drywall joints is proper lighting! :thumbsup:

:laughing:


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## Itchy Brother (Aug 22, 2008)

Great job Termite.I like the way you put a door at the bottom of the stairs,keeps the dust contained to the basement.As for the sheetrock on those minor things you mentioned.Just say the wife did it!and caution them not to mention it LOL!Itchy P.S. I have the same planer and it work great.


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Great progress pictures! Looks like your new space will work out very well. Can't wait to see pics of the tools moving in.

John


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

b00kemdano said:


> The secret to good drywall joints is proper lighting! :thumbsup:
> 
> :laughing:


No sconce lights that shine down on the wall. That's the key! :thumbsup:


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Looking good. It's gonna be a great work shop.

Gerry


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## smitty1967 (Feb 24, 2008)

thekctermite said:


> I'm so anal-retentive that I borrowed a 3/4" box offset bender press that puts perfect box offsets in the conduit...


Yeah, I noticed the offset. I worked with an electrician once for a local fire alarm installer as one of my (many) second jobs, way back in our salad days. He was the _most_ nit-picky, hard-to-please perfectionist I've ever worked with, but I picked up some good habits and at the end of every job, his installs always looked head and shoulders above the other guys' jobs. 

Well done. Looking forward to seeing finished pics.
smitty


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

I am so jealous of your walls. I wish I had walls, all I have is this. 









Unfinished on the ends, and tin on the sides and ceiling.


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