Building My Basement Shop

[JayStPeter]

Prelude

I had a half of a two car garage shop. It wasn’t insulated and I would heat it with a kerosene heater during the winter. An impending layoff forced me to find a job. After some discussion, my wife and I agreed that getting out of the DC suburbs would make our life much better, even if it meant a pay cut. I eventually found a decent job in Southern MD and we sold the house. We contracted a new house to be built and most of our stuff (including my shop) went into storage for 6 months.
I spec’ed the house with 9’ basement ceiling height so part of it could be used as a shop. I also had a 7’ wide stairway built with 6’ French doors into the basement. We moved into the house in early October ’03. By Christmas time, I had done all the stuff necessary to keep the family happy (hanging curtains, painting etc.). So, it was time to start on the shop. I knew I would want to use some nail guns, so I picked up a 60 gal air compressor and installed it into the garage. No worries, it would be reinstalled later.
My priorities were to have a decent sized shop, but still leave enough room to have some storage, a rec room, and maybe a small office in the basement. I wanted to be sure that there would be no dust penetration from the shop into the rest of the basement. That meant my construction had to ensure a good seal, and I needed a good dust collection system. After some discussion with Oneida, I ordered a 2HP commercial cyclone.
I decided to use an ‘L’ shaped portion of the basement that included the French doors and another window. There is a 32’ wall and a 24’ wall, but a cutout about 10’x17’. Total finished space would be around 580 sqft. In the corner near the doors is the sump. I decided to make a closet there that would contain the sump area plus my cyclone. My theory being that noise in the shop would be reduced. I also wanted to put in some sort of noise barrier so my work wouldn’t bother those upstairs. While the house was being built, I researched soundproofing and how to apply it to my application.
These two pictures show the space before construction. You can see the insulated concrete walls with a 1’ knee wall above to make up the 9’ basement. I do have a beam across the ‘L’ area and large ductwork along the 32’ wall. I mounted some 2x6’s to the cement wall and attached the cyclone brackets. That allowed me to put the insulation back between the cyclone and the wall. I figured mounting the cyclone to the cement would keep it from vibrating the wall. Wound up working well.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3978&stc=1

[JayStPeter]

Phase 1, Framing

I started framing in early December. The first time I fired up the miter saw, I woke up the baby sleeping two floors above. Yep, I definitely would need some sort of soundproofing. I soon got the FWW tools and shops issue which detailed the process I had determined I was going to use. Hmm, I guess my research was good.
Most of the framing is typical 2x4 studs. I built them over top of the already insulated concrete to save some money. For noise reduction, I knew I needed to keep sound out of the other part of the basement. Otherwise it would travel from there right on upstairs. I built a 6” wall with staggered studs to split the basement. I also had part of my shop that runs along the stairway. The way the stairway was framed made it such that I built another wall butted against that one. That helped both with some framing details and soundproofing.
Framing went pretty quickly. Boy, I thought I was ahead of schedule.

[JayStPeter]

Phase 2, Electrical

Outlets:
I wired the shop with 3 20A 110V circuits. I put an outlet every 3 studs on the walls. Every other outlet is a different circuit. I also put in 2 30A 220V circuits. A total of 6 220V outlets around the shop for large tools.

Lighting:
I decided that I wanted a flexible overhead lighting system. So, I wired switched outlets into the ceiling and used plug in fixtures. That way, if I need to re-route my dust collection ducting or get better lighting over a particular bench or machine, I can simply move the lights around on the ceiling. I don’t have to worry about installed wiring.
Under the duct work buildout, I wanted some lights. But, I was worried because the ceiling height was just shy of 8’ and didn’t want lights sticking down. So, I decided to use recessed lights. I used the kind that can touch insulation so I could put a piece of insulation over it for soundproofing.

Dust collector and air compressor:
I ran a dedicated 30A 220V circuit to the DC. I had already run one to the garage for the air compressor.
I decided I wanted to be able to be able to turn on the air compressor from either the garage or basement. So, I ran a 3-way switch to an outlet in the garage. Each switch has a small light to show if the compressor is on. I bought 2 110V switched relays to control the compressor and DC. The 3-way circuit controls the relay for the compressor.

PIC - Air Compressor Switch showing my 3-way lit compressor switch

For the DC, I decided to use the Long Ranger I already owned. The Long Ranger now controls the relay to start the DC. I had some problems with my old DC turning itself on during the day or in the middle of the night. Something about the Long Ranger got false signals every so often. So, I connected it to an outlet controlled by the main shop lighting switch. When the lights are off, the DC can’t go on.

PIC2 – DC Circuitry

The wiring took me about another month of weekends. The main wiring went quick. It was rerouting the current basement wiring and fishing the compressor wiring that added lots of time. I spent an entire weekend on the slick (if I say so myself) 3-way air compressor switching mechanism. Pulling the wires into the finished garage walls was painful.

[JayStPeter]

Phase 3 – Soundproofing

I actually don’t call what I did soundproofing. I call it noise reduction. I didn’t really use the practices that a studio would use as it would be ridiculously expensive. My goal is to keep the noise upstairs such that someone directly above can reasonably watch TV. The noise should also be quiet enough that my family can sleep two floors up no matter what I’m doing downstairs. Soundproofing would have involved keeping noise from going outside the house also. I wasn’t worried about that at all.
I installed 6” insulation in the joists overhead. I installed resilient channel (RC) to mount the drywall. Since the joists are 8”, that leaves some airspace, which is important. The RC keeps the vibrations in the drywall from getting to the joists.
I insulated all the walls that lead to other areas of the basement. I also put some insulation in the closet to keep DC noise down both upstairs and in the shop.
I wrapped all ductwork with insulation to keep the thin sheet metal from vibrating and transmitting the sound upstairs through the vents.

PIC – Resilient Channel Overhead
PIC2- Insulation in Staggered Stud Wall

[JayStPeter]

Phase 4 – Drywall/Tile

It was now pushing into March. I was getting tired of spending all my weekends working in the shop. So, I hired out the drywall. Boy, that was nice. No drywall one weekend, painting the next. They did a good job. They knew about RC and soundproofing and did everything properly. 7 gallons of paint/primer later, and the whole place was satin white. The following weekend I cleaned the floor and installed around 600 sqft. of VCT.

[JayStPeter]

Phase 5 – Finish

I started to have other things to do on the weekends and wasn’t able to dedicate the time to the shop that I was. I wanted to be able to access the duct run so I could run additional wiring to the garage in the future and be able to add bigger circuits to the shop if necessary. Since I didn’t have it drywalled, I used ½” MDF. That gave me some soundproofing. I cut 4’ panels and screwed them into place. They can be removed with some hassle. I put in additional insulation and built little insulation teepees over the recessed lights.
I ran ¾” copper from the garage for the air compressor. So far, I have put in 2 drops with filter/regulators.
I used 6” PVC for my DC ducting. I built my own blast gates using a combination of designs from Bill Penz and Terry Hatfield. They work quite well and also serve to support the drops from the wall. The PVC was a bit frustrating. Figuring out how to transition from 7” metal and then to various other sizes took some creativity and effort. It’s also pretty heavy. I couldn’t hang it into studs as the soundproofing would be compromised. The quick screw in drywall anchors are not capable of supporting weight that attempts to pull them out. So, good drywall anchors were a must. Plenty of cursing occurred when hanging the pipe. 6” PVC is also difficult to cut. My miter saw was much too small. The sawzall would just spin it around. I finally built a little fixture out of 2x4s to clamp the pipe into for cutting.

[JayStPeter]

Results/Tour

Just over a year after disassembling my old shop, I now have a functional shop again. The noise suppression works great. You can tell the planer is running from upstairs, but it isn’t loud at all. It’s not much louder than a buzzing bee in the room. When the DC system is on there is a slight hum. But nothing is annoying … exactly as I hoped.
The layout of the shop didn’t work out as I had originally planned. I had to move it around some, but it should work out OK. I am unhappy with the inexpensive light fixtures I used. The noise suppression sort of ate up the budget that was allocated there, so I’m happy with the compromise. But, they buzz and don’t work as well as they could. Two of 18 fixtures were DOA.

The first two pictures are of a shop overview.

PIC – Shop from Door
PIC2 – Shop from TS location

[JayStPeter]

Starting near the door, you see my Unisaw and bench. This bench was free and is starting to show its inadequacy as I do a little more hand tool work. I need to build a new one soon. The shelf with the receiver is cut off from an old router table top. Beware of Rousseau inserts. That’s one expensive stereo shelf .
For safety, I have a removable splitter from Delta, and an overhead guard from Excalibur (although it is the old model that became the Exaktor). I was hoping for better DC from the overhead guard. But, the saw still spits plenty of sawdust at me.

[JayStPeter]

Heading around to my router table and super accurate miter station. This miter station was used for the construction. I am currently working on a new 14’ one with storage underneath to go in this space. The router table is usable, but incomplete. I need to build some drawers and connect the top to the carcase. I used it this way for around 6 months before I moved. I wonder how long I’ll use it before finishing it. At this point, it’s already looking to be a 2 yr. project. Because my old shop was so small, it was originally planned to be a multi-use table. It has a spot to mount a small vice. There are plenty of stains from it also being a finishing area. I don’t quite need a 30”x48” router table anymore. Ahhh, what the heck, I guess I’ll just build another one … NOT (this is table #4).
The router table uses a Woodpeck plungelift with a dedicated Hitachi M12V. I have a Jointech cabinetmakers system attached to a sliding platform. While the Jointech only has 12” of travel. I can move that 12” wherever I want, up to 38” away from the bit center (don’t know what I’d use that capability for, but I’ve got it).

[JayStPeter]

This picture shows the drill press and cyclone closet. That’s the 2HP Commercial Oneida cyclone with the big filter. The closet has peg board along the inside to help with hanging storage. I kind of wish I had put the DC elsewhere. This would be a great area to fit a nice bench near some natural light. I could’ve put it outside the current shop near the door. It’s kind of a wasted corner on the other side. Maybe someday, but for now I’m done. The drill press is a 14” Delta with a drill press table made from the Peachtree kit.

[JayStPeter]

Continuing around to the “L” shows my Grizzly 17” bandsaw and panel sizing table. This area will be reworked eventually. I want to put a lathe in the corner and rework the panel sizing table to fold away. I left a dead-end in the DC plumbing planning on more equipment in this area eventually.

PIC – Bandsaw/Panel Sizing table

Working back around toward the door, you see my Grizzly 8” jointer, Ridgid planer and some shelves. Those shelves were my old lumber storage. They will be that again for current project lumber. I have some additional lumber storage in the shed and will expand into the garage. Sheet good storage is still a problem. Something else to eventually work on.

PIC2 – jointer/planer/shelves

Overall, this was a good project. It took a little too long and my cost estimating was pathetic. I wish I could’ve fit the cabinets and Miter Station into the moving truck at the old house. I’d have much less to do here. But, I’m very happy to have this much more space and some fun projects to look forward to.

[Bob Marino]

Jay,

That's a heck of a lot of progress you've made. I am simply amazed at people who can get all that done. My lamp went out in my bedroom and for the life of me can't figure which wire got shorted :o ! Kudos to you. Great job on deadening the sound. It should be one real nice shop when done.

Bob

[Frank Pellow]

Hey Jay, your shop looks even cleaner than Terry Hatfield's.

I have browsed through your text and pictures and will go back and read things more thoroughly -I am certain to learn things that I can apply to my shop.

If I had done anywhere near as good a job when I built my basement shop about 30 years ago as you are doing now, I am sure that my wife would not be evicting me to my back yard.

Jay, how big is the closet for your dust control unit? I will be getting the same unit and would, if I can afford the space, like to put it into a closet.

[Michael Ballent]

Very nicely done... I am still in the garage for my woodworking... For me is it not heating that is a problem... it's cooling and the monsoons are starting to roll into Arizona *UGH* Congrats, ( I probably missed it ) what is the final dimension of your shop?

[JayStPeter]

Bob,

Thanks. I doubt it'll ever actually be done. But, the construction part is done.

Frank,
My closet is around 5.5' wide by just under 4' deep. The cyclone is pretty streched out in there and includes the first 2' of pipe to get to the outside of the closet. I also have the sump in there, plus around 2'x4' of open floor space in the front for a shop vac. If I was you, I would get the unit and build the closet around it. That's what I did. I reconfigured the intake vs. filter relation a bunch of times before ultimately deciding on the final layout. I would say that 3x4+ would be the smallest closet it could fit in. BTW, if you saw my shop today you would know that I'm not in the running for cleanest shop :eek:

Michael,
It's 580 sqft. including the closet. It's L-shaped overall 32'x24' with a 10'x17' cutout.

Jay

[Bruce Page]

Jay, great write-up! All your hard work clearly shows in your beautiful shop! http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon14.gif

Let me know when you come up with a good solution to sheet storage, it the bane of my shop! :mad:

[Frank Pellow]

Jay, thanks for the information and advise re the closet. I do plan to do as you suggest and install the dust controller first, then build a closet around it (if there is room -3 x 4 would be about the maximum I could accomodate and that is more than I would like to use).

[Nathan Hoffman]

I appreciate the time you took to explain everything you did to make your basement shop, as I am in the process of doing the same. We moved into our new house in April and right now my machines are scattered around the basement making plenty of noise and dust. I did have our electrician give me 3 110V and 2 220v circuits in the section of basement where my shop will be. Have you had any trouble running 2 big machines on one 220V circuit? Right now my TS and DC are my only 220v machines and I have them on different circuits, but my panel is about maxed out and I could get 2 110v circuits for the price of a 220v...
What would you reccommend for lighitng since you are unhappy with what you have? I do have 2 large windows in the east side of my shop are, since we have a walk out basement. Again, thanks for the timely information!

[JayStPeter]

Bruce,
Thanks. Let me know if YOU come up with a good idea for plywood storage as well :D . My current thought is to build a fake wall of sorts behind the planer where I can stash some sheet goods. Cutoffs are also going to be a problem.

Frank,
The 2HP Commercial is bigger than I expected. Even after looking at the diagrams and holding my arms out. The smaller filter they now offer may help. Building the closet definitely helps regarding noise. But, I have to admit that I could probably live without it. The ducting provides enough noise to drown out the stereo at all but ear-bleeding levels.
I enjoy following your shop progress. Even with this shop, I still dream of a separate shop building. Your comprehensive planning is impressive. I am enjoying watching it come to life.

Nathan,
I have no electrical issues. My DC and air compressor are 220, as are my table saw, bandsaw, and jointer. The DC, air compressor and one of the others are the max load. I don't think I'll ever have to deal with more than 1 of the machines running at the same time.
As far as lighting goes. Just don't get the cheap fixtures. As I said, I don't really regret it because I would just be further in debt now. As it stands, I have over $700 in lights and bulbs in the shop. I used T-8 fixtures with 91CRI 6000 K bulbs. That, I'm happy with. The fixtures themselves buzz and one bulb tends to be brighter than the other in some of them. That's the part I don't like.
Anyone that plans on using 8' T-8 should locate a source of bulbs before going that direction. All of the electric/borg places within 45 minutes of me sell Sylvania bulbs exclusively. They don't have a >90 CRI 8' t-8 bulb. They do have a 4 footer though, and a t-12. As it stands, I still have to order bulbs to get the closer to daylight versions. Getting eight footers would've allowed me to buy nicer fixtures for the same money.

Jay

[Rob Russell]

I appreciate the time you took to explain everything you did to make your basement shop, as I am in the process of doing the same. We moved into our new house in April and right now my machines are scattered around the basement making plenty of noise and dust. I did have our electrician give me 3 110V and 2 220v circuits in the section of basement where my shop will be. Have you had any trouble running 2 big machines on one 220V circuit? Right now my TS and DC are my only 220v machines and I have them on different circuits, but my panel is about maxed out and I could get 2 110v circuits for the price of a 220v...
What would you reccommend for lighitng since you are unhappy with what you have? I do have 2 large windows in the east side of my shop are, since we have a walk out basement. Again, thanks for the timely information!

Nathan,

If your panel is maxed out, pull out one of the 240v machine circuit breakers and use it to feed a subpanel. That way you can add another 20 to 40 slots for circuits.

Rob

[Rob Russell]

Jay,

Nice job on the shop!! I'd give up a lot to get that sort of ceiling height in the basement. I'm stuck with 6'6" to the bottom of the floor trusses.

Rob

[Todd Burch]

Hey Jay - nice thorough post! That shop sure is clean and uncluttered. :)

Todd

[Gary Whitt]

Awesome details and photos!
Good luck in your new shop!

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi Jay,

It's great to see what you have done; it's an inspiration to all of us. I have a basement shop myself and just love it. It's cool in the summer and warm in the winter and just a stairway away.

You have done a fantastic job; I like the brightness with all the light colors you used.

I'm sure you will enjoy it for years to come. And yes you made a good move getting out of Montgomery Cnty. It's too crowded here! :)

Regards, Alan in Md.



Bob,

Thanks. I doubt it'll ever actually be done. But, the construction part is done.

Frank,
My closet is around 5.5' wide by just under 4' deep. The cyclone is pretty streched out in there and includes the first 2' of pipe to get to the outside of the closet. I also have the sump in there, plus around 2'x4' of open floor space in the front for a shop vac. If I was you, I would get the unit and build the closet around it. That's what I did. I reconfigured the intake vs. filter relation a bunch of times before ultimately deciding on the final layout. I would say that 3x4+ would be the smallest closet it could fit in. BTW, if you saw my shop today you would know that I'm not in the running for cleanest shop :eek:

Michael,
It's 580 sqft. including the closet. It's L-shaped overall 32'x24' with a 10'x17' cutout.

Jay

[Chris Padilla]

Phase 3 – Soundproofing

I actually don’t call what I did soundproofing. I call it noise reduction. I didn’t really use the practices that a studio would use as it would be ridiculously expensive. My goal is to keep the noise upstairs such that someone directly above can reasonably watch TV. The noise should also be quiet enough that my family can sleep two floors up no matter what I’m doing downstairs. Soundproofing would have involved keeping noise from going outside the house also. I wasn’t worried about that at all.
I installed 6” insulation in the joists overhead. I installed resilient channel (RC) to mount the drywall. Since the joists are 8”, that leaves some airspace, which is important. The RC keeps the vibrations in the drywall from getting to the joists.
I insulated all the walls that lead to other areas of the basement. I also put some insulation in the closet to keep DC noise down both upstairs and in the shop.
I wrapped all ductwork with insulation to keep the thin sheet metal from vibrating and transmitting the sound upstairs through the vents.

PIC – Resilient Channel Overhead
PIC2- Insulation in Staggered Stud Wall
Jay,

Fantastic job...you must be quite proud...and relieved! :D As you can see, I just started gutting my garage and I am anxious to hear more detail about the soundproofing steps you did. Where might one pick up some of this resilient channel and how does it work?

Half of my garage's ceiling is the floor for two bedrooms on the second story and I'd like to take steps to minimize sound travel up there. I certainly appreciate any help you can give me in that respect and if you wouldn't mind checking in on my thread as I'm sure I'll post questions in regard to sound travel there.

Once again, very nice job!

[JayStPeter]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Alan,
During construction I took out the one vent that fed that part of the basement (not good for soundproofing). It has been reasonably comfortable down there all winter and summer. I like it.
The stress level is super low compared to when I lived in F'fax and Montgomery counties. I start to tense up as soon as I get north of Waldorf.

Chris,
http://soundproofing.org/infopages/channel.htm
I had found the website for Unimast and searched for a nearby dealer. They sell it in 12' lengths and it was around $0.12/ft if I recall correctly. There's RC1 and RC2. For the walls along your house you would definitely want RC1. You can use either for ceilings. I used RC2 because it was all they had in stock. RC1 is 'Z' shaped and RC2 is 'U' shaped.
I chose to use staggered stud walls instead of RC1 so I could have studs to hang cabinets on. I didn't use multiple layers of drywall. The cost was just getting too high for me. I figured if the soundproofing didn't work out, I could add another layer later. The drywallers did use 4.5'x12' sheets of drywall, so there are very few seams in the ceiling drywall (which is the reason they suggest multiple layers instead of just using thicker drywall). Fortunately, it's OK. The combination of overkill suggested by soundproofing.org and the FWW tools and shops issue should give you all the knowledge you need. I did tons more research, but these two were the best/most useful. There's plenty of misinformation and bogus products out there also, so it took a while to sort out the truth from myth.
Taking a week off to get the construction done is a good idea. The dragging on from month to month was the worst part. Have fun. It's good once you're done. When I'm kicked back having a beer I'll think about you bustin' butt in your garage :D

Jay

Jay

[Christopher Stahl]

Jay,
Excellent write up! I'm actually in a similar position of moving into my new house at the end of July. I bought new equipment last fall and early this year, but have not been able to use them because we were buying a new house. We were to be in early this year, but the sellers backed out of the deal. In June, we found a new house and I'm anxiously awating the closing.

Anyway, the covenants of the neighborhood are going to prevent me from building a workshop, so I must build one in the basement. Luckily, they are 9' ceilings and the basement is 2100sf, so I won't have many problems.

Your article has made more anxious to get my new workshop up and running and I plan to incorporate your ideas for soundproofing.

thanks for the great article,
chris

[Jerry Olexa]

Outstanding work and results AND your write up and reporting was also SUPERIOR! Great work!! Now , build something!! Seriously great job!!:)

[Bob Hovde]

Thanks for the great writeup and pics. It's a great help to those of us in the beginning throes of shop conversion!

Bob

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jay, excellent work and write up! I wished my shop were that far a long! Congrats on a good job!

[Stefan Antwarg]

That's some real nice work. Did the soundproofing work out well?

STefan

[Grant Davis]

Jay, I am very impressed with your progress and your set up. Even though you say the router table is not completely set up I would love to see more information on your cabinet.