Garage or basement

[jeff begin]

I keep going back and forth about whether I want to outfit my garage or basement as my shop.

Garage:
Three car garage with 14' ceilings but I only get 2/3rds of it since the wife insists on parking inside it (the nerve!). However, I also have to share it with our lawn tractor, snow blower, two motorcycles, and other misc household stuff. It also has stairs that lead to a 400 sq. "bonus room" above the garage that would make an ideal finishing and storage room. It currently has no heat and uninsulated garage doors, but that can easily be fixed. It also only has a single outlet in the whole garage, so I would need to install a 100A subpanel about 70' away from my service entrance. It would be nice to be able to open the garage door when working on nice, summer evenings.

Basement:
Our 1,700 sf basement has 9' ceilings and is completely unfinished. It gives me more than enough room to make a sizable shop. However, I was hoping to eventually finish it off to add more living space. It would more usable to the rest of the family that way, plus if/when we do eventually sell, I'm not sure a huge woodshop in the basement would do much for resale value. I would also have to contend with carrying projects/stock/equipment up and down some rather awkward stairs. Finally, the master bedroom and great room is immediately above the basement. I would be concerned about the possible noise level.

Any thoughts?

[John Keeton]

Jeff, not sure where you live, but I vote for the garage. Dust and noise in the basement are not good things. However, I am betting the outside walls of the garage are not insulated, so if you have a cold climate heating the garage may be difficult.

Still, the accessibility, lack of stairs, open air access, etc., all lead me to the garage. 1700' is a HUGE shop. Mine is 24x24 and while one never has enough room, it is adequate for all I do. That sounds like about 2/3 of the garage. I would partition it if possible to hold down on dust on the wife's car - and to give more wall space for "stuff."

[David G Baker]

I would go for the basement. You didn't list where you live but you did mention snow blower so if you go with the garage you are probably going to have to do some wiring, insulating, heating, protecting your other items from sawdust, etc.
In the cold weather the incentive to work in a cold shop is generally less but going down to the warm basement will possibly be much more comfortable. My basement has the water heater and furnace in it, it is quite warm. There is 1 inch foam board glued to the outside walls for insulation. Humidity is a problem and I do get some rust on some things I store there.
My shops are over 100 feet from the house and so far this Winter I haven't spent hardly any time in them. One of them is heated.

[Jamie Buxton]

Unquestionably, the garage. The access issue with the basement is a big problem, and the noise issue is another. The only problem with the garage is the other stuff which you think needs to live inside. Lawn tractors and snow blowers can live outside. Motorcycles can live outside, given a little weather protection -- a fabric cover, for instance. Or maybe you can build a shed for them.

[Don Bullock]

Unquestionably, the garage. The access issue with the basement is a big problem, and the noise issue is another. The only problem with the garage is the other stuff which you think needs to live inside. Lawn tractors and snow blowers can live outside. Motorcycles can live outside, given a little weather protection -- a fabric cover, for instance. Or maybe you can build a shed for them.

I'm with Jamie on this one. When I was a kid my dad's shop took up most of our basement. I remember going to my cousin's house house where there was a "finished" basement that was super for entertainment and always wondered why we didn't have one of those. In those days in both Maryland and Virginia where we lived few houses had garages, so my dad had no choice for his shop.

I'd suggest that your first woodworking projects could be centered around finishing the basement for your family to enjoy and perhaps building some sheds for all that "stuff" that is taking up shop space in the garage. Perhaps some day your wife may even "understand" why you need the whole garage.

[jeff begin]

I live in Michigan, where it is 12 degrees at the moment with 2' of snow on the ground. Which is why I'm talking about building a shop, not actually doing it yet. :-)

We're on an acre of land, so it is possible that I could build a shed out back. It's something I had planned on eventually doing, but more of a potting shed/greenhouse for the wife. I imagine I could put the yard equipment there too, but I don't really want to build a monster of a structure due to the time and expense.

The bikes have to stay in the garage though. Which also brings up the point that another hobby of mine is wrenching on old motorcycles. That doesn't take up nearly as much room (or time) as woodworking though, since I don't go over-the-top by rebuilding engines or anything similar. If I stuck the woodshop out in the garage, I figure that with mobile bases on almost everything, I could also use the space for the bikes (even if the wife has to temporarily park on the driveway).

If I took the basement, I wouldn't use the whole thing as a woodshop. Though when I eventually purchase a "real" TS (or other large equipment), how difficult would it be to get the pieces down basement stairs? We have 4 treads, a small landing that leads to 90 degree turn to the right, and then 10 more treads to reach the bottom. 8' of vertical clearance and 39" across.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Jeff, those stairs sound great, for a family area. Not so much for trying to get boards and sheet goods down. Go for the garage. Access is absolutly critical to a working woodshop. What if you want to built some kitchen cabinets, or a large cased piece of furniture? Getting the tablesaw down the stairs would actually be the easy part.

[Doug Shepard]

...In the cold weather the incentive to work in a cold shop is generally less but going down to the warm basement will possibly be much more comfortable....

I can vouch for that. MI has been hovering around 0 for a good month or so and it's probably that long since I've gotten much of anything done. No heat except the space heater which cant keep up when it gets that cold.
So my natural bias was Basement, except that...

... It currently has no heat and uninsulated garage doors, but that can easily be fixed....

It sounds like he's ready to solve that issue, so...
Garage

[John Keeton]

And then there is that all important factor of "lift-gate delivery" for all those big, new Grizzly (or other appropriate branded) tools!! I would not want to wrestle the bed of my 8" jointer down ANY steps, let alone "some rather awkward stairs." Wait till you try a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 ply I don't think it would make it through a 39" wide, small 90* landing with 8' ceiling height - I don't care how you turn it.

Honestly, unless you have a walk out access to the basement, I don't think you have a choice if you intend to have full size machines and do casework. If you are going with smaller machines, hand tools, or going to do mostly lathe work, may be a different story.

[Rob Cunningham]

I vote for the garage also. Having had a shop in the basement for about 15 years, I can tell you it is a real hassle getting machines and lumber down the steps. Not to mention getting finished projects back up. My shop is now in a separate garage. No noise or dust in the house. It's so nice to back up to the garage door and unload a van full of lumber etc.

[Russ Boyd]

I had a basement shop. The worst thing like others have said, is the access. Could you spend the money you save on insulating and wiring the garage to make an outside entrance? I actually prefer the garage myself, but the space in the basement is hard to ignore. Russ

[Mike Wilkins]

Another vote for the garage. Just try to get the basement finished and liveable as soon as possible; good for brownie points with the Mrs.

[Peter Quadarella]

I vote garage. I feel that dust collection in a basement shop has to be almost perfect since you never really get great air flow through the place. With a garage you can leave the doors open, maybe put in a window fan, and it is almost like working outdoors. Just being able to air it out once in a while is great.

The space issue is a difficult one. My plan is to eventually build a workshop in the back yard.

[Carlos Alden]

Garage. You have a lot of room there to play with, and when it comes to dust manufacturing you'll be able to contain it better and not spread it through your house. (Before constructing a new two-car garage to replace our ailing detached shed for our 1911-house, I used to do stuff in our basement, and dust and solvents spread, as if by magic, to all corners of this older house.)

Besides, according to Spousal Law 3284.4 you are not allowed to engage in more than one potentially dangerous hobby. So when you get going on woodworking as a hobby and buy some serious power tools you'll have to be selling the motorcycles. And once you start making things, forget about any extra time to do anything else, so you can ditch the lawn tractor as well.

Voila - more room and extra cash for more tools.

[Bill Huber]

Another vote for the garage.....

I know its cold out there but its not always cold.

I had a shop in my basement at one time and it was a real PITA to get things in and out of it. Then there is the other part of getting tools back and forth when working on cars or other things. You have to go down and get the wrenches and then you always need the one you didn't bring up.

The noise in the house was a little problem also, the wife and kids didn't like to hear of the stuff going on in the basement.