In watching various YouTube woodworking  videos, almost all of them (amateur and professional) seem to be in a garage.  Sometimes one car, sometimes two.  My shops have always been in a basement.  Besides sometimes having to haul stuff up and down steps (one did have an outside entrance), I have enjoyed the heating, cooling, and privacy.   I understand that some parts of the country do not typically have basements.  I understand the advantage of opening the door for fresh air access, or moving big things to the driveway.  Or some people can't afford the space or zoning for a separate building.  In our last move, we looked at houses for 9 months before we found one with either a suitable unfinished basement or stand alone building.

 

So, where's your shop?

 

 

We've lived here since 1968 and my workshop has been in the basement for almost that long. Keith, I share the same likes and dislikes. These images are from 2008 and much has changed. New Jet lathe, Dewalt 735 planer, more stuff hanging from the ceiling and storage cabinets moved around.

 

 

 

My biggest wish was that I could have outside entry but that just isn't possible so everything must go up/down the stairs. Larger pieces are now designed to be taken apart to navigate the stairs and corners. Lesson learned with this piece-

 

That small, horizontal piece of trim between the upper and lower doors hides where I had to cut the cabinet in half to get it up the stairs and around the corners.  Moral of the story- listen to your wife when she says it won't fit up the steps!

Mine is detached, as have been the two prior to that. Then before all that, it was a garage. I follow the thinking about the basement shop, but I wouldn't want the noise (my DC runs at 94 dB by itself, louder with a tool running) or dust getting into the house. A detached shop has it's downsides, like when there's a foot of snow on the ground or pouring rain, but it keeps me from bothering anyone else. It is heated (and cooled if need be) so it works out OK. What I like best is playing the music I love while I'm out there, even though I can't hear it when the tools are running. I have to add: I didn't have plumbing put into my shop, and that's an expense I think would have been well worth whatever it cost so call this another (huge) downside.

Edited November 21, 20241 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Lew, I should have mentioned it above: that corner cabinet is really nice!

On 11/21/2024 at 9:24 AM, lew said:

We've lived here since 1968 and my workshop has been in the basement for almost that long. Keith, I share the same likes and dislikes. These images are from 2008 and much has changed. New Jet lathe, Dewalt 735 planer, more stuff hanging from the ceiling and storage cabinets moved around.

One of the first "real" pieces of furniture I made was a corner cabinet very similar to Lew's.   It took a spring and a fall to get it done, and when I went to move it out, it fit thru the doorway with about 2" to spare.  Yikes

 

3 minutes ago, kmealy said:

it fit thru the doorway with about 2" to spare.

I still think mine should have...

22 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Lew, I should have mentioned it above: that corner cabinet is really nice!

Totally agree! That is gorgeous!!

Let's see if I can remember ...  52 years ago... basement apartment in a triplex, but each unit had a garage. I think I owned a corded drill and a hammer, but not much more, so I didn't need much room in the garage. About two years later, rented the upstairs in a house, but again had a garage. Borrowed a BIL's table saw to build a storage cabinet (My first real project). Landlord didn't like sawdust, so moved on to the main floor of a house, no garage, but had the use of most of the basement. Got a RAS, built a workbench with reclaimed wood and started collecting Craftsman tools. A lot of small projects were built there, mostly to raise some cash to make ends meet. In the mid-80's we got the urge to own a home, but anything in our price range was, for lack of a better word, crap, so we found a country lot and got to work. I put my high-school drafting skills to good use and drew up plans for a two-storey home with a walk-out basement (Took a while to find a lot with enough slope!) My basement shop was the first useable space in the building, but much of the home started out in that fairly small area. I enlarged it once as more tools were added, so now it's roughly 22' x 11 1/2', with an 11 1/2' x 11' "L" shape at one end. We built everything but the block basement ourselves, so with the "sweat equity", the cost was very reasonable. And all tools and lumber come through a sliding patio door at the back of the house.

     While I would LOVE to have a larger free-standing shop, we really couldn't afford it. It would have to be heated, and that alone eats up a lot of cash at this latitude!

I've had both.  Like Fred, I was always concerned about the noise and dust from a basement shop.  SWMBO never complained though as I was usually working on something for the house.

 

The separate one was a 10 x 30 space with a woodstove in a 30 x 30 barn in central NYS.  The floor never seemed to warm up.

 

Now I have a 10 x 18 "garage" in SC and I try to get as much off the floor (or mobile) as possible.  Mini split is on the way.  To me, any shop space closer to a square than a rectangle seems to work better. 

 

For a fixed perimeter, closer to a square always maximizes area.  (Even more with a circle.)  But as some wise person said, "it is what it is."

 

40 minutes ago, JimM said:

For a fixed perimeter, closer to a square always maximizes area.  (Even more with a circle.

Not for me. Too many deaths associated with round shops. Folks running themselves to death trying to find a corner to P in.

Garage here Keith. At first a two car garage and I occupied it all, then after my big downsize of 2018 I occupy two walls of the two car garage. When I need to work, I'll pull out mama's car to make space, then roll out my Shopsmith. We are moving next year hopefully if it all works out, I plan on having a small bungalow shop in the back yard where ever we move too. I don't need much space anymore, really a 12 x 16 kind of like this would suit me just fine. I'm pretty much down to a Shopsmith and a Laguna Lathe and the rest are hand tools. If I did get something like the structure below, I'd build out the barn door end with an overhang so I can do some blacksmithing too.

Since I don't plan on ripping sheet goods at all, I won't need the space for heaving up full sheets of ply.

My current shop is in a walk out basement.  The basement is there due to the topography where the house was built and the previous owner's desire for indoor growing space (he was a medicinal "herb" aficionado).  This basement is surprisingly warm due to the method of construction and the presence of the water heater for the house.  The only thing it lacks is a window.

 

My previous shop was less spacious, had less head room, was less temperature stable, but had a really nice view:

 

On the whole I think I like the new one better.  I do miss natural light of the previous one, but not the lack of space.

Before 2005 I was in a 2 car garage shop in Tucson.  That was an improvement over my previous rental shop, but not as nice as a dedicated space.

My shop was a 20 X 22 garage that I had built for our cars, When I started my woodworking it was my car that was left out so I could use it for my hobby. Later a 14 X 28 addition was added to my home and that resulted in making it a bit hard to park in the garage, and eventually nobody used it for parking and it became my workshop. I eventually removed one of the garage doors to provide more wall space in the shop. Seemed like a lot of space, but after adding my new TS with a much wider table top, the band saw , joiner, dust collector,, drill press, ROS, ,router table,, belt sander work bench and so much more the storage  space shrank for the project I had started which was the kitchen cabinets in my home. Eventually got it done but it took a bit of replanning to get it done. The oak cabinets, drawers and doors came out great. Still there after 25+ years.

 

Edited November 23, 20241 yr by Al B

20 hours ago, John Morris said:

Since I don't plan on ripping sheet goods at all

Aaahhh, the best laid plans of mice.....  

A few years ago the wife and I bought our forever home with enough land to build a detached shop on property.
 

Always enjoy a chance to share this video made by my grandfather, on setting up a shop in a two-car garage —

 

 

If I clean mine, I might take a picture..

When we were searching for a home here in the desert, our (my) requirement was that the site had to have a separate shop building. Our diligent agent located this place that has a 20X40 metal building with a cement floor and a roll up and a man door. We had to insulate it and seal several areas against the rain/wind and dust/sand before moving the tools in. The previous owner had used it as an auto storage and maintenance space. He wasn't too concerned about weather proofing.