Jeff’s Basement Workshop

Shop Tour - Submitted by Jeff Marx from Chester Springs
Added on March 27, 2014

We moved into our new house about 3 years ago in part so I could build a “proper” shop in the unfinished basement. I had formerly shared part of my basement between shop and gym equipment, and it really didn’t work.

I carved out about 600 sq ft after much negotiation with my wife. I framed, wired, and sheet-rocked it and put in an oak hardwood floor on T&G ply and on top of foam insulation. I used a combination of recycled and new build cabinets to build a miter saw station and other recycled cabinets for finishing storage/area.
I have a Jet hybrid table saw with an integrated router lift (Porter Cable,) a Rikon band saw, Delta drill press with a custom table I built, a 6″ Rigid jointer, General lathe, Jet dust collector, and Dewalt planer. I just finished building a split-top Roubo workbench leveraging the Wood Whisperer Guild.

I love seeing other shops to learn from them. Eventually I plan to install duct work and blast gates for dust collection vs. moving the hose. I’m most jealous of the guys and gals with bigger jointers. I hope you enjoy! Your thoughts and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Discussion

Alan Hennington March 27, 2014 8:09 pm

Great job! I love the floor. I would just be happy putting down a plywood floor but don’t know if I’ll be able to afford it. Enjoy it.

Reply
- Jeff Marx March 28, 2014 6:04 am
  
  Thanks Alan:
  
  The floor was far less expensive in dollars than time as I used cheap utility grade oak from Lumber Liquidators. Due to my anal retentiveness, I filled all of the knots and other defects with an epoxy, dye, sawdust mixture. Install, fill, and finish was a ton of work, but I’m thrilled with the result. I love the little bit of cushion under foot as I work compared to the concrete. As I have bad ankles, this makes a huge difference in my ability to enjoy time in my shop.
  
  Jeff
  
  Reply
Danny Wells March 28, 2014 4:35 am

Nice Shop! I’m jealous.

Reply
John Fitz March 28, 2014 6:22 am

That’s a nice space! Nice work on the floor.

Reply
Frank March 28, 2014 7:04 am

My question is about your store bought cabinet run, where you have your miter saw. How exactly did you cut down the one that the say is on to achieve the effect you did? More a matter of curiosity, because I don’t see a way that isn’t complicated and time consuming, unless you bought one of a different height of something. Or maybe they are shop built?

Reply
- Jeff Marx March 28, 2014 8:16 am
  
  The miter saw station is a mix of recycled kitchen cabinets from a friend and new shop built ones. The cabinet the saw sits on is custom built to get the height right. I did way better matching the face frames and frame and panel doors than I expected. One is a new cabinet box where I was able to re-use the face frame, doors, and slides.
  
  Thanks for the comments!
  
  Reply
- Mike March 30, 2014 4:59 am
  
  I did something similar in my old house. I just used a base cabinet and cut out the part that holds the drawer. I reinforced the rest of the structure and put some down some plywood and it was fine.
  
  Reply
Ed March 28, 2014 10:18 am

Great looking shop – the floor really sands out. I covered my basement shop floor with an epoxy garage floor treatment – a Quick Crete product – in basic grey, no flakes. Looks great and easy to clean up – very durable.

Question about your grinding wheel work station. I find grinding wheel work to be very dirty, regardless of whether I am using a stone or wire wheel – a cotton wheel with polishing compound is the worse – dirt & dark sticky dust flies all over the place – any suggestions?

Reply
Jeff Marx March 28, 2014 1:04 pm

Sorry, I do very little with the grinding wheel for the reasons you stated plus it really eats up the steel.

Most of my sharpening is by hand on ceramic stones followed by polishing compound on a leather strop. I pine for a Tormek system which I plan to have some day.

The grinding wheel us mostly used for lawn mower blades and other really coarse work. Sometimes as a woodworker, it’s fun to make sparks.

Reply
Gary March 28, 2014 2:21 pm

Fantastic Jeff! Great job on the layout. The space is awesome. I’m jealous. A lot of production room there. As others mentioned, the floor really looks great and functional. Got to be easier on the back too, than concrete (like mine)

Reply
David March 28, 2014 3:00 pm

Hi Jeff,

Man this shop looks great! I am just getting ready to start the same thing in the basement of my new house.

Could you provide more details about the floor, ie, how thick was the foam? did you glue it down? how thick was the t&g ply? Did you use tapcons to attach the ply thru the foam to the floor?

What kind of sound insulating did you do on the ceilings and walls? I would appreciate as much detail as you are willing to share. Whatever sound insulating you did, was it enough or do you wish you did more?

Thanks

David In Kansas City, MO

Reply
Bill Danel March 29, 2014 4:36 am

Great job. As stated by others, the floor is nice! Have fun “breaking” it in! I, too, am curious about your sound insulation and experience so far. My little shop is attached to the house(no basement) and when I have the dust collection and the air filtration system along with a saw or lathe running, the decibels are definitely noticeable. Enjoy your new space…remember, build things for your wife! 42 years experience speaking…

Reply
Gonzalo Plaza March 29, 2014 6:18 am

Hi Jeff,
Thanks so much for sharing this. I’m in a very similar situation as you were (just moved a year ago, and now I have an unfinished basement to turn into a workshop).
Would you mind sharing how you isolated the things that are usually in the basement (in my case, water filter and boiler, furnace) from the workshop? I’m still in my open/unfinished basement and always concerned about dust, specially near the sources of heat.

Thanks!

Gonzalo

Reply
- Jeff Marx March 31, 2014 8:52 am
  
  Thanks for all the comments gang, I appreciate it!
  
  The floor started with a 6 mil plastic sheet vapor barrier, overlapped by ~6″ and taped at the seams. I covered this with 3/8″ pink accordion foam which was butted and taped, then 3/4″ T&G Ply laid at 90 degrees to the foam insulation. The plywood was Tapcon’d to the concrete slab about every 6-9″ before the oak floor was stapled to it.
  
  I tend to overdo things, so here is the response re insulation etc. For the walls, I started by gluing 1 1/2″ foam insulation/vapor barrier to the walls shiny silver side in, and taped the seams with silver vapor seal tape. I framed in front of this, and put 3 1/2″ R-13 fiberglass in the walls around the copious wiring for the shop (installed 100 amp sub-panel for shop and future basement finish project.)
  
  The ceiling got R-13 foam and 5/8″ fire code dry wall. I considered putting rubber spacers for sound proofing, but in the end built a grid of 2×2 orthogonal to the joists to which the drywall got hung. I didn’t do this for soundproofing so much as stand-off for gas line, etc. but it probably helps a little. If you look at the pic’s, you’ll see the soffits around the HVAC were a real Bee-hotch and they also made the grid system appropriate. One of the things I loved about this house which influenced the purchase decision was the 8′ 6″ height so this was all possible.
  
  I can’t hear my equipment upstairs while I’m working :) but I’ve played around with running some combinations of equipment and going upstairs and the noise levels are surprisingly low. My wife only rarely complains [about the noise.] The low frequency of the dust collector seems to get damped out pretty well, but some of the higher pitches (my old shop vac, table saw) seem to still cut through.
  
  Good luck all, and thanks again!
  
  Reply
- Jeff Marx March 31, 2014 8:56 am
  
  Sorry, missed the question about utilities.
  
  I build a partial “room” around my heat pumps and water heater. I used a louvered door to allow some air intake from the shop side, but I think/hope it will minimize dust intrusion. So far it seems to be working OK and the make-up air is coming into the system from upstairs anyway.
  
  The back sides of this “room” are still open framing pending my finishing the rest of the basement which sadly wasn’t allowed to be shop space. I’m still lobbying for a finishing room/assembly space but believe I’ve lost this battle.
  
  Reply
Everett April 8, 2014 5:14 am

Negotiate with the wife? What happened to the good ol’ days!

Reply
Gonzalo Plaza April 9, 2014 5:30 am

Thanks Jeff! This is going to be very helpful for when I get to refinish my basement.

Reply

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Jeff’s Basement Workshop

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