Set Up Shop in House

beatnik · Post by **beatnik** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:17 am

Has anyone here set up their shop in a spare room ? I live in a three bedroom by myself and am seriously thinking of doing this. This way the room would be climate controlled already.

Dust, would you just seal the door real well, roll up the carpet and go for it ?

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:31 am

beatnik wrote:Has anyone here set up their shop in a spare room ? I live in a three bedroom by myself and am seriously thinking of doing this. This way the room would be climate controlled already.

Dust, would you just seal the door real well, roll up the carpet and go for it ?

Any dust/fumes will be sucked into your air system. Also any chemical spills can be a problem. Not to mention noise and other irritants to lady of the house.

Festool owners swear that when left without any choice they have done major work in the customers house with satisfactory results. However Festools have superior dust collection.

One cabinet maker provided pictures of a huge entertainment center he built in the customers house (on a Persian rug no less), he did everything inside except the planing of rough lumber.

Finishing is going to be your biggest problem. Sawdust is sawdust and other than making things dusty it isn't a problem as such. However finishes can and do stick to everything, changing colors and actually destroying some things.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:33 am

I'd say GO FOR IT. Do you have a dust collector? Maybe put a exhaust fan in a window.

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:18 am

You may want to put an extra filter in the air return for that room to prevent sucking dust into the air handling system
Bill V

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:36 am

You could install a split A/C system just for that room which would elimate any issues with dust getting into the rest of your house. You would need to seal the door to prevent any dust from getting out of the room into the rest of the house. I installed a split AC in my garage and it works great. That way you don't have an ugly window AC unit.

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Heating-Vent ... 5yc1vZc4m1

beatnik · Post by **beatnik** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:55 am

All I have in the room is a vent register, no intake, would it go through there ? Cover that with a cut to fit filter maybe. The lady, if you could call her that, was booted couple of years ago.

I plan on just going to do small projects at the house, boxes or what not. Finishing would be done elsewhere. I have a small dust collector.

I'm seriously thinking on this.

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:00 pm

beatnik wrote:All I have in the room is a vent register, no intake, would it go through there ? Cover that with a cut to fit filter maybe. The lady, if you could call her that, was booted couple of years ago.

I plan on just going to do small projects at the house, boxes or what not. Finishing would be done elsewhere. I have a small dust collector.

I'm seriously thinking on this.

I believe your intake/return air is located somewhere in the center of your house which requires the door to be open or enough room at the bottom of the door for the air to return to the central intake. The only way to contain the dust within the room is to have a self contained system like a window ac unit or split unit either of which will require filter cleanouts often to collect the dust not captured by your dust collector.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:18 pm

Since you have eliminated the main obstacle(assuming you do not also have a 'landlord'), we can tackle the remaining ones.

Electrical power - Ascertain what else in on that branch circuit and the breaker(or whatever) current capacity.

As for heat/ac, seal the door on all four sides and add a grill with attached filter on the shop side(after cutting a hole in the door). A hollow core door will need support/bracing added around the hole.

Lighting - replace the dinky ceiling fixture with a better light source.

Closet will make a nice storage area.

Hope you do not have any sharp turns outside the door.

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:23 pm

I have a very similar situation in my workshop. It's in an unfinished room in the basement, but shares the central HVAC with the rest of the house, and is connected to a finished room through french doors.

A dust-collection system alone is not a complete solution. Initially, any solvent fumes would permeate the entire house. Then I realized that I needed to shut off the HVAC outlet when using chemicals. This was better, but not good enough.

Finally, I installed a bathroom exhaust fan near an exterior wall, which vents the exhausted air outdoors. End of problem. The exhaust fan pulls a slight negative pressure in the room (with the french doors and the HVAC outlet closed). Any air migration is from other rooms, not to them. This completely eliminated any dust or fumes finding their way into the rest of the house.

I only run the exhaust fan when using chemicals, or doing something extremely dusty. For normal woodworking, the dust collection system alone is sufficient.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:55 pm

A window mounted exhaust fan much better idea than cutting holes in doors etc..