Anyone with a shop in a living space?

[Dennis Ryan]

I'm about to move to a new house without a great space for a shop. I could make do with the basement, but... It's not great; it has no natural light, a gravel floor, a low ceiling and is a bit small. There is no garage or other outbuilding and not a lot a lot of extra land to put one. I use mostly alcohol/caffeine powered tools and am lucky enough to be finally free of wife. I know what you're thinking: Why didn't you get a place that you can put a shop? Because life is complicated, and you do the best you can.

On the other hand there is an extra bedroom which might do nicely, or even the dining room. I mean really, who uses dining rooms nowadays?

I am interested to find out if anyone out there works in a shop in the 'living' part of their house; near kids' bedrooms, kitchens and all that boring stuff. I'm happy to keep whatever machines I use in the basement, but we all know that even handsaws produce a lot of dust, never mind sandpaper. Then there's finishing, which can be planned around. What have you done to keep the place livable and safe? How have you changed the way you work to mitigate the negative effects? Who gave up on the idea and found a better solution?

[Dan Hahr]

Absolutely. But not anymore. In my first home I built a ton of stuff in my living room. I was single and living in an area devoid of available women. Things went great until I actually met my wife. Apparently wood dust was not any better than regular dust.

But it as long as it's just shavings I still litter the house ocassionaly.

Dan

[Steve Voigt]

First, can I just say that

I use mostly alcohol/caffeine powered tools and am lucky enough to be finally free of wife.

is one of the all time great sentences I've read on the Creek?

Now, to your question. I'm in your situation (except I'm happily married). My basement is a dank, leaky hellscape that you need an ATV to navigate. So, my collection of ancient, underpowered power tools lives down there. My bench and all my hand tools are in a lovely, sunlit room on the 2nd floor, off the back staircase. It's awesome. It has worked out great. My wife is pretty tolerant, but most of the time she doesn't need to be. Planes don't make dust or painful noise. Yes, hand saws make dust, but not the kind that is airborne for long--it pretty much just falls to the floor. The only thing I need to really avoid is mortising or chopping dovetails when LOML is on the same floor, and that's not a problem for you at the moment.
How has it changed my work? In a totally positive way. It forces, or at least prods me, to do stuff by hand. If I have to carry my work down to the basement to make a cut on the TS, that's a pain, so I'll usually stay put and do it with the handsaw. That just makes me a better sawyer.
Two things you brought up--sanding and finishing. Yes, sandpaper is bad. It makes airborne dust in a way that planing and scraping don't. So, my situation has helped me to eliminate most sanding from my routine. It's been a while since I had to sand a flat surface, and I am getting better at scraping curved surfaces. I'll do a little sanding upstairs, but if I need to do more and can't avoid it, I'll go to the basement or outside.
Finishing--if you can stick to simple stuff like oil or shellac, it will work if you can close the door and stick an exhaust fan in the window. Otherwise, you should finish somewhere else, but that can be worked around.
To sum up, it works; go for it!

[Winton Applegate]

am lucky enough to be finally free of wife.

Oh that was a mistake . . . now who is going to help you resaw ? ? ? ?
Get her back. Tell her how much you need her. (But not why)
It may not be too late.

For the rest you are on your own.


Just kidding. I used to have my girl friend's bandsaw in my kitchen.

Different girl friend now but she has a full on artist studio in the spare bed room (actually her studio is in the main bed room; we sleep in the small one).

First two photos are of a "Gents" work bench/tool chest for use in the living space. I didn't make one but I like these old books with stuff like this in them. They are so optimistic .

Third photo; I always sharpen in the kitchen. All the stones are stored there for easy access.

I still glue up in the house when the shop is tooooo cold. See photos : short stack is in hall way and tall stack is in the laundry room that doubles as my tool crib.

The three hundred pound babbinga dining table top I FINISH planed and applied finish (oil under french polish with all the house windows open) (don't try that with lacquer) in situ so any abrasions would be removed after hauling it up a flight of stairs from the garage work shop to the dining room roped on a hand truck (think need wife's help here).

We aren't supposed to use the dining room for dining ? ? ?
Now you tell me !

Seriously : DO NOT USE lacquer. Fan in the window = detonator. (I know Steve said oil and shellac. I'm just saying that so there is absolutely no question about the lacquer being out of bounds).

Kids ? ? ? that could be a problem. Sharp tools and all.
Any body show a tendency to throw things when they get in a vigorous discussion ?
Lock up the chisels.

[Jim Koepke]

lucky enough to be finally free of wife.

Was it Willie Nelson who said, "The reason divorces are so expensive is because they are worth it."?

I do some glue up in the house, but it gets in the way of LOML's glass workshop she has set up in the dining area.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

This is the shop I had in an apartment. I now have a separate space, but it is still a room in the house. I am trying to buy the house next door (21x34) to make into a shop.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uKdJkejiYP0

In the video when I show the bandsaw in the kitchen my wife says, "All the ladies are jealous." She is a saint for putting up with my hobbies.

[Richard Hutchings]

I had one in an upstairs bedroom. I loved it because I could get out of bed and go into the shop in my pajamas and do stuff before going work. Then when my brother lost his job, I took him and his wife in. No more shop in the house. I really hate having to go outside to my detached shop in the winter. Oh well, they're moving out next year and I won't hesitate to do it again.

[Dennis Ryan]

Ok then, "Just do it"! I'm realizing that people find ways to do things, even with small spaces. Who needs a basement?

Steve, Now that I think of it, I really don't sand much except the last couple days I've been dealing with some tricky figured white oak. My plane is sharp and finely set, but I was still tearing out, even a scraper wasn't completely helping.

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Winton, Thanks for the photos. I love the second "gent's" one, it looks like something borrowed from a NICU or biohazard lab. The last shot is making me think I should put in a laundry shoot to deal with the shavings (or maybe a dumb waiter for lumber). As for resawing... isn't that what kids are for?

Jim, I think the Churchill quote you use is exactly right. Moving is opening up many opportunities. I have had grand plans to build as much new furniture in my place as I can. If I am putting a shop in a living space, I will have new challenges keeping things clean and tidy. The tool cabinet I've been thinking of building is suddenly high up the todo list.

I have a feeling all my friends will suddenly be real busy come moving day when they find out a non-disassembleable bench needs to go up a flight of stairs.

Thanks all!

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[Shawn Pixley]

I don't have my shop in a living space right now.

My father was a biologist. I grew up disecting critters on the kitchen table. My mother was an artist and furniture restorer. We did most of that in the basement. They've been married for 50+ years.

When I was single, I had a "shop" on an unheated sunporch.

Today, my wife's jewelry shop and sewing room are in the spare bedroom. My shop is the garage (cars park there most of the time). However, I sharpen on the coffee table. We do wax painting or various guitar repair activities on the dining table. Carve wax for casting on the coffee table, etc... I finished a piece of furniture upstairs because of too little room elsewhere.

What you do and where you do it are up to you and your partner. If you are partner-less, do it where you want. If a date complains, then I would view it as worthy of a discussion with the prospective maiden. I would not be very interested in a young lass who wasn't interested in making something. There is always room for compromise and boundaries established, but if they were totally opposed to any mess, that might be a deal breaker for me. When you did home renovation, they'd become an impossible partner. But that is just me. You, do what you like...

[george wilson]

For about 12 years my home shop was a small porch that had been converted into a little room about 6 feet by 10 feet,or so. Too small to make anything large in. But,I started making infill planes,flintlock pistols,and things like the bronze drill I have previously posted.

At that time I was the musical instrument maker,and it was a break from doing that kind of work. And,it was good for my future too. Eventually the boss begged me to open a tool making shop and make whatever was needed in the historic area. In 1986 I decided to do it,and worked as the tool maker till 2009. We were not open to the public,which was a good break after 16 years of being open.

[Dennis Ryan]

My father was a biologist. I grew up disecting critters on the kitchen table.

Mine was an OBGYN and he took calls at the dinner table...

[Tony Wilkins]

Mine was an OBGYN and he took calls at the dinner table...

That should make for interesting dinners.

[Stanley Covington]

I used the living room and kitchen when I was a college student. I have had workshops in various places of my homes, from basements to attics. In Tokyo now, I have a spare upstairs bedroom I use. My wife nags me mercilessly when she finds dust and mortise chips and shavings scattered around the house. The following are some things that have helped to keep her from turning into a fanged ravening beast.

1. Lay down 2x4's at the perimeter of the work space to help contain shavings and dust. If you work in a closed room, tape down or wedge in a 2x4 across the door opening so the door closes against it tightly. Simple, but it makes a big difference.

2. Wear sandles, flip flops, or other slip-on footwear when working in the workshop area. Take them off and leave them inside the work area (delineated by walls and threshold or 2x4's) when stepping out of the work area. Be careful to not drop boards on your toes. Don't wear socks inside the work area.

3. Wear an apron, one that covers you from chest to well below the knees, to keep sawdust, shaving, wood chips, and finishing products from getting on your clothes. Always remove this apron when leaving the work area and hang it up inside. A lot of stuff can get unintentionally distributed around the house as it falls from your clothes, but an apron prevents a lot of it from getting on your clothes in the first place.

4. Lay down a long rubber-backed carpet with stiff bristly fibers of the kind intended for exterior use in front of the workbench where you will walk the most. Three purposes. First, it is a good non-slip surface, which can improve safety and cushion your feet and knees if only a little bit. Second, it protects the floor from scratches, dings and dust. Third, dust and shavings tend to cling to it instead of getting spread all over the place, and can easily be vacuumed up. The thick, commercial rubber mats intended to cushion the feet in industrial workplaces are good, but sawdust, chips and shavings won't stick to them.

5. Keep a shop vac handy and use it after every session to clean up. A broom alone won't cut it. Also, the shop vac should ALWAYS be used for dust collection when running power tools.

6. Sanding indoors is always bad news, and can cause health problems for some family members if thorough dust collection is neglected. If you must use hand power tools inside the house, buy and use only those that have excellent dust collection systems, and use those systems diligently (all it takes is a shop vac with an adapter). Although expensive, the Festool power tools I own have superb dust collection systems, justifying the extra sheckels in my mind.

7. Put a box on the floor at one end of your bench, and train yourself to automatically place plane shavings into it with every pass, and wipe mortise chips and other debris directly into the box instead of the letting them all fall to the floor to be swept or vacuumed up later. The box should have a wider opening than a typical round trash can, so shavings and chips can be dropped in while working without really eyeballing the trashbox.

Two cents.

[Tony Shea]

My current shop is in a large bedroom in the front of my apartment. I live on the second and third floor of a large building in which we share with a beauty salon downstairs. My shop is on the second floor of this building in a bedroom that comes off of the living room kitchen area. It is only about 8' wide but is around 15 to 20' long. This is what turned me into a 97% handtool guy which before this I did about 50/50 hand and power tools. I used to use a table saw more than any other tool I had. I miss the table saw a little bit but for the most part my bandsaw fills the void very nicely. I do use a power planer when I have a lot of boards to thickness but when I have 4 or less smallish boards (6"W x 3'L) to thickness I will use handplanes because I don't want to haul the planer outside in the cold and make a bunch of noise and dust. For the most part I LOVE being right off the living room/kitchen area as I am still very much able to communicate with LOML while I am working. I personally am deeply in love with my girlfriend therefore love being close to her while I woodwork. She really tolerates my woodworking mess like no one I know would, she is so good to me.

Ive posted these pictures here before but here they are again anyway. Hard to tell exactly how big the shop is but this is what I got for pics right now. It can be a little cramped at times when building something large but for the most part is very cozy.

Shop resize.jpgBench vise resize.jpgBench side resize.jpg

[Brian Ashton]

I'm about to move to a new house without a great space for a shop. I could make do with the basement, but... It's not great; it has no natural light, a gravel floor, a low ceiling and is a bit small. There is no garage or other outbuilding and not a lot a lot of extra land to put one. I use mostly alcohol/caffeine powered tools and am lucky enough to be finally free of wife. I know what you're thinking: Why didn't you get a place that you can put a shop? Because life is complicated, and you do the best you can.

On the other hand there is an extra bedroom which might do nicely, or even the dining room. I mean really, who uses dining rooms nowadays?

I am interested to find out if anyone out there works in a shop in the 'living' part of their house; near kids' bedrooms, kitchens and all that boring stuff. I'm happy to keep whatever machines I use in the basement, but we all know that even handsaws produce a lot of dust, never mind sandpaper. Then there's finishing, which can be planned around. What have you done to keep the place livable and safe? How have you changed the way you work to mitigate the negative effects? Who gave up on the idea and found a better solution?

Well lets just say I have a man crush… You had me at "alcohol/caffeine powered"… Being hyperactive I much prefer the depressant over the stimulant though… If you're going strictly hand tools then pretty much anywhere will suffice, as long as you have the lighting and head room.