Shop Layout Indecision

[David Clarke WA]

Background – my wife is very sensitive to wood dust, mold, etc. To help combat this, we are looking at adding a buffer space between the garage and the rest of the house.
Our garage is a 3 car tandem, L shaped space. The front area is approximately 20’ x 20’. The back area is approximately 14’ x 9’ (not sure how that could fit a car but that’s another discussion).
I’m currently torn between creating a minimal vestibule and making a larger finishing area in the back of the garage.
Creating a larger room in the back (finishing area) would mean easier climate control in the winter (my garage is not climate controlled) along with easier access from the house for the freezer/fridge and other home storage. That area also has a window for ventilation and natural light.
The vestibule option gives me more space for woodworking (making dust & shavings) overall and a hand tool area with natural light, but it does make access to the fridge/freezer/storage a bit more cumbersome.
I’ve tried to put about 36” of working space at the working areas of each station (see the attached pics). Also some of this equipment is aspirational but it’s my ideal setup.
Would love any thoughts, suggestions, smacks upside the head, etc…!

Finishing Room - shop view
FinishingRoom_shop_view.jpg

Finishing Room - finishing room view
FinishingRoom_view.jpg

Finishing Room - Overhead View
overhead2.png

Vestibule - shop view
VestibuleRoom_new_equipment_view.png

Vestibule - Overhead View
overhead1.png

[andy bessette]

You need to do a lot more thinking about this. The first version, with the bandsaw and drum sander(?) against the wall, should not even be addressed.

[David Clarke WA]

I did ask for smacks upside the head !

I should have mentioned that all machines will be on some type of mobile base. I understand that wall placement isn't ideal for these machines, but I also feel I'll have to make some sacrifices of convenience for a small shop like this. If I'm wrong about this, please let me know what I can do differently.

On the other hand, one of the reasons I'm posting here is because I don't have all the answers and, of the answers I think I do have, likely some of them are wrong. If I had 100% confidence about how all this will work, I likely wouldn't be posting a question for feedback in an online forum.

[Jim Becker]

The second version, regardless of tool position, is what I'd choose of the two. I would not want the water heater in my finishing room, even with only waterborne products. (which is what I use) The location of what I think is the freezer is still inconvenient for your spouse, given her sensitivities, so if that can be relocated into the passageway at the rear, she'd be able to access it without entering the shop.

[Brian Tymchak]

The second version, regardless of tool position, is what I'd choose of the two. I would not want the water heater in my finishing room, even with only waterborne products. (which is what I use)

+1. This was my first thought as well.

[John K Jordan]

Something you might consider is a bit of negative air pressure in the area. There is some cost involved to do it right and some heating/cooling loss, but basically you seal the room and use fans to blow the air out of the area, presumably outside and through filters. This prevents air with fine dust and such in that space from easily entering the living space.

And of course a top-of-the-line cyclone dust collector to capture as much dust as possible as it's being created. I'm amazed at how much mine picks up even at the lathe.

BTW, for playing with shop layout I found nothing better and quicker than making scale cutouts and positioning them on a large drawing of the space. Much quicker to try things than a software program. For walking space I made circle cutouts with the minimum clearance I could tolerate and moved them around the shop. To visualize how much space I needed I stacked up big cardboard boxes and walked between them, carrying imaginary wood and things. For machines with infeed/outfeed needs (saws, jointers), I made addition cutouts representing the largest and longest stock I wanted to handle. This even helped me design door placement to accommodate longer boards if needed. (I was designing and building the shop from scratch so this was easier.) The 3D rendering can be done for visualization after the layout design is done.

[glenn bradley]

Just another point of view on bandsaw positions. I ran my larger bandsaw with the spine against the wall for years. It was on a mediocre mobile base but, this allowed me to roll it 10" or so out from the wall and then back on the very few occasions this was required.

ST-2018 (7).jpgGnG Low CoD (15).jpgBS light-(3).jpg

[David Clarke WA]

Thanks Jim. Finishing was probably the wrong term for the room - I was thinking of it more as a room where stuff might actually cure in the winter Currently I tend to use wipe/brush on finishes like pre-polymerized linseed oil and shellac and I hadn't considered what spraying would be like in that area. There's a good chance that I'd give it a try at some point and would do it in that room without thinking about possible consequences (both from the water heater in the space and from the fumes getting back into the house). Definitely gives me more to think about.

[David Clarke WA]

Thanks Glenn! That's exactly what I was thinking with the bandsaw & drum sander. A quick roll out from the wall, attach dust collection and there would be a good runway for longer pieces when necessary.

[David Clarke WA]

Thanks John for the great tips on layout process and suggestions for the space! I'm guessing the smaller volume of the vestibule would make it easier to create either negative or positive pressure in that space? I had been toying with the idea of a fan pushing filtered air into the vestibule from the shop to create positive pressure. A switch could be turned on prior to opening the door to the shop area to help keep the air from the shop from entering. Would love to hear any thoughts you or anyone else might have on that.

A good dust collector is high on my list as well. I put in a place holder in the drawing for the Harvey Gyro primarily because of its small footprint. I'm still researching options there though.

[andy bessette]

...for playing with shop layout I found nothing better and quicker than making scale cutouts and positioning them on a large drawing of the space. Much quicker to try things than a software program...

... I had been toying with the idea of a fan pushing filtered air into the vestibule from the shop to create positive pressure. A switch could be turned on prior to opening the door to the shop area to help keep the air from the shop from entering. Would love to hear any thoughts you or anyone else might have on that...

Filtered, or not, you don't want to pressurize the vestibule with shop air. Better to lower the pressure in the shop.

And having to flip a switch and wait for the blower to do its job before opening the door each time will get tiresome.

[David Clarke WA]

Filtered, or not, you don't want to pressurize the vestibule with shop air. Better to lower the pressure in the shop.

Could you explain what you mean?

As I understand it, it is much easier to depressurize or pressurize a smaller space due to the lower volume of the space. If that is indeed the case, depressurizing the shop would take much longer than depressurizing the vestibule. I would either have to wait longer for that to happen or keep it in a constant lower pressure state which seems like it would wreak havoc on my utility bills. Am I missing something here?

I have gone back and forth between lowering the pressure so that when I exit the house door air is pulled from the house into the garage space and raising the pressure so that when I move between the intermediate area and the shop air would be pushed out into the shop area. From the discussions on venting dust collection it seemed like it might be a bad idea to decrease the pressure in the vestibule area as it may pull air from the HVAC system (natural gas) and cause CO2 levels to rise. I'm wondering if this might be a non-issue if I only do it for 5 minutes at a time and only a few times a day?

[David Clarke WA]

I've been playing around with different configurations a bit more and came up with this (calling it L Vestibule)


back_l_vestibule.png


Positives for this wall layout
- access to fridge/freezer/storage from house
- potential to easily vent air in/out directly from/to outside
- more shop space vs the finish area layout though a bit less than the vestibule version

[andy bessette]

...toying with the idea of a fan pushing filtered air into the vestibule from the shop...

Could you explain what you mean?...

No filter removes 100% of shop contaminants, which you don't want in the house via the vestibule.

[Jim Becker]

That most recent one is a nice design as there is no "direct", straight-line path from the house to the shop.