Separate shop and assembly area

[Chad Harrison]

Hello all-

I've been scouring these forums almost daily for a year or so as I set up my modest shop, and I thank you for all of the advice I've been able to extract from the threads.

I set up my shop in one bay of a three-car garage and, though cramped, it's working well. It's uninsulated and unheated in central Ohio, but is tolerable for me.

I'm now debating establishing an assembly/finishing area in my basement (insulated and heated), rather than trying to cram in a mobile assembly bench to my garage.

My questions:

1) Is it wise to have separate shop and assembly/finishing space? My worry is too much temperature/humidity difference between milling operation and glue-ups and assembly.

2) If I were to separate the areas, where should I store and acclimate my lumber - in the shop or the assembly/finishing area?

3) Any other advice?

Thanks in advance...

Chad

[Shawn Buonarosa]

How much distance is there between them?
How many doors are there between them?
What do you build, is it large?
Do you mind trudging through the elements with your lumber, and then carrying the finished piece out?
A lot of factors to figure out if it's a good idea.

[Chad Harrison]

How much distance is there between them?
How many doors are there between them?
What do you build, is it large?
Do you mind trudging through the elements with your lumber, and then carrying the finished piece out?
A lot of factors to figure out if it's a good idea.

Sorry I wasn't clear enough up front...

- Garage is attached, just 2 32" doors between the proposed areas.
- So far, I build mostly small stuff. Shouldn't be a problem either way - I don't expect to build pieces that would be too large to make it up the the basement stairs.
- No elements - garage is attached.

I'm mostly worried if it's a bad idea to cut and mill stock and glue/assemble in areas with completely different environmental situations, and if I do decide to separate the areas, which is best to acclimate/store the lumber in - the shop or the assembly area?

Thanks again.

[Bob Slater]

I like the idea of a separate room, just to keep the dust at bay and isolate toxic chemicals. My shop has four rooms in an 1100 sq foot space. Wood shop is about 400 sq feet, main car area is about 450 sq feet, painting, noxious fumes maybe welding and supplemental car storage is about 250 and tiny office is about 65. ...more or less. I can isolate all of them from dust and bad air. Each room also has an air filter with a DC in the wood shop.

[Thom Sturgill]

A couple of thoughts: Many glues will not work at temperatures much below 70 degrees. Moving assembly to the basement solves that. Since you will only be assembling, the basement *should* remain relatively dust free, so not as much worry about dust getting into the finish. Unless your garage is adequately heated, working for long periods during the winter (and summer if no AC) could be problematic so using the basement extends the WW 'season'.

Since you do need to give the wood time to adjust to the temp/humidity, you could work several projects in advance and store them in the basement until ready. Again, this could allow you to work on days when the garage/shop is not usable.