Small Basement Shop Size???

[Rob Russell]

I'd grab the extra 2' if you can. 8' sheets of plywood aren't the only thing you'll try to rip[ on your table saw. You'll have 8' to 9' boards that you're ripping or jointing and the extra couple of feet could be important. Something to rememebr is that you could do a 10' board if you slightly angle the saw/jointer so you're temporarily working on the diagonal. Having everything on castors makes that possible.

[Scott Coffelt]

My basement shop is 13x26 for the most part, I do have an area where it expands an additional 2 feet, but only adds about 8-10 square feet of floor space. I have a lot of tools in my space and pretty much centered my TS in the middle about 10 feet from one end, I have a 40x60 outfeed cabinet also in the center, everything else goes around the outside and up. I still have 24" or so on both sides, give or take. I found that having the TS and outfeed in the middle works very well.

List of my major tools:
Grizzly 1023s TS - centered along with outfeed in the middle
Grizzly G0513 BS - fits in the extra space, I slide out away from wall when needed
Grizzly G0490 Jointer - runs along wall parallel to outfeed
Ridgid 13" Planner - custom stand that places it 12" above the right table wing of my TS table
Ryobi WDS1600 Drum Sander - along wall, roll out when needed
Sears Floor Model Drill Press - tucked into a corner, on a mobile base
Jet 1236 lathe - along wall perpendicular to the TS infeed side, which requires me to tilt the wood if longer than 8ft as I am feeding into TS.
Jet spindle sander - On a mobile stand next to the lathe
Router Cabinet - along wall opposite the drum sander
Delta Twin Laser CMS - center of wall opposite the jointer on a custom bacnk of cabinets, with the morticer integrated into the fence
5HP cyclone DC - tucked in corner by drum sander and lathe
and a several smaller tools (12" disk sander, morticer, etc.)

I utilize the wall space for everything I can and every tool that doesn't have a standard cabinet base, has a custom base with storage. So I have a ton of big tools in this space and still have a descent area for assembly, though the outfeed table usually accounts for this space. I have lumber rack along wall above jointer with adjustable brackets and also in cormer by spindle sander. I store extra full sheet goods along wall int he garage by my truck, but try to buy only when i have a project. I also have brackets on the garage wall for storing 300+ bdft of lumber for a upcoming kitchen remodel. This will eventually be removed or at least reduced.

I can pretty much build most things I want down there, but it does require some extra moving of stuff or stepping over the project when building bigger projects. I have hard piped my DC to serval of the bigger tools and use flex tubing for the ones I need to move. (edited) I also forgot to mention, that I can cut down my sheet goods on the TS and outfeed, I use my guided saw system and some foam board underneath. If I am going to have to handle a lot of sheets (i.e. kitchen cabinets) I will go ahead and breakdwon in the garage versus lugging full sheets to the basement.

[Michael Gibbons]

Tell the wife and kids to stay upstairs and out of the shop. Nuff said.