Shopsmith Forums

paulrussell wrote: It is a walkout basement room about 11x20, with a large window to the woods where deer and other wildlife thrive, and a door as well, so I can bring things in and out without tracking them through the house. The door opens up under the 1st floor deck, so I have a bit of a shaded patio as well. To cap it off there is a 6x20 storage space behind the workshop with utility sink at one end.

If my basement was a walk-out I would have instantly planned my woodshop there to start with. My basement has heat and AC (right along with the rest of the house), no extra heating or AC equipment and no extra fuel cost. That is a big factor here in Central Indiana. In the case of my basement it also has a very smooth floor. A huge factor is being able to just walk downstairs any time in any weather to putter or do serious work. No dressing for -zero weather or heavy rain/sleet etc. just to get there and no waiting for the shop and tools to warm up. I tend to not sleep well and I am often up puttering around the house at all hours of the night. I have been working in the library several hours a night most of the last week or so, usually between 2AM and 5AM. The house is spread out enough that I can drop a stack of books and not wake my wife.
Sadly while the house is on high ground I don't have an elevation change near enough to the house to make a regular walk-out for it. I have looked very closely at it and do have a viable option and may end up going that route.
Most of the basement is under the "east wing" and I have room there to wall off a shop room that is 20' X 40'. Kind of hard to not want a shop in it That area does have 6 concrete block support post in it but they are 12' apart and I could easily work around them.
Still looking at things.
Time to commit is coming soon (or be committed)...


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Great to see so many of the old crew -- Heathicus and I started here at about the same time so we traveled the road of SS knowledge together for a bit.

But thanks to all who have said Hello!

I did have a typo on my first message - My new workshop is approximately 16x20 (not 11x20) and has the afore-mentioned 6x20 area behind the long wall that I plan on using for storage.

Right now my biggest mental dilemma is what to do with the walls and ceiling. Right now the room is studs. For the walls I've considered OSB, drywall, and "garage liner" pegboard. The first two are about 7 bucks per sheet, and the garage liner is 19. The pegboard's big issue is the cost. Drywall is not the most robust material for a workshop wall, and OSB isn't the prettiest. I had initially thought of putting up OSB and finishing it with only a varnish or clear lacquer.

Then it occurred to me that painted walls reflect light much better and that my workspace might be more pleasant and easier to light if I went with drywall painted a light color. (This made me think of the ceiling as well, which I had been planning on leaving unfinished.)

I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of those who have already been down this road, and especially what you might do differently if you had it to do over again. I'm not in a rush -- I really want to plan this out, which is one of the reasons I didn't have the contractor finish the room in the first place.

Thanks again for the well wishes!

I am fond of OSB as long as the quality is good. Price does not indicate quality... I just bought 16 sheets of 7/16" from Lowes for around $7 and it is quite nice. A while back I bought some from a local yard at a good bit higher price and it seemed to be skimpy on resin and some surface flakes were loose.
Well painted it has a nice gentle texture that resembles some rather costly surface textures that folks pay painters extra to create. It is really strong for hanging stuff unlike drywall and will take a much harder bump with a board etc. than drywall. I use it in horse stalls because if someone kicks a hole in it there are no long dangerous splinters to tear up a leg. Not so much of a concern in a woodshop.
I have used the 1/4" as ceiling, painting it an almond color and using battens over the seams painted a dark brown. I like it.
I have mixed emotions about ceilings in a shop. A smooth bright ceiling is nice but you can hang a lot of tools etc. on the sides of ceiling joist (shrug). It is a good place to hang smaller patterns.


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I'd go with the drywall. While you're not thinking of resale now, it's inevitable and a finished multipurpose room will help in that regard.

I've made my decision regarding OSB vs drywall -- three times so far today.

I do agree that open rafters can be a definite asset, so for now that's the plan for the ceiling.

I'm also doing the requirements dance in my head with the issue of power. I currently have a single 20a outlet on it's own breaker on one wall which I plan on tapping into to provide for most of the room. There is also a 15a outlet on a second wall (this breaker also services the light and a next door bathroom.)

Even though this is FAR better than my old workshop, I'm wondering how much help a 2nd dedicated line might be, or if it would just be overkill. After all, the most I can see myself running at one time is the SS and DC3300, or router and DC3300, and since I was thinking of putting the DC3300 in the "storage area" behind a wall, it could share power with the sump pump on it's dedicated line.

Sorry, just thinking out loud....

paulrussell wrote:I've made my decision regarding OSB vs drywall -- three times so far today.

I do agree that open rafters can be a definite asset, so for now that's the plan for the ceiling.

I'm also doing the requirements dance in my head with the issue of power. I currently have a single 20a outlet on it's own breaker on one wall which I plan on tapping into to provide for most of the room. There is also a 15a outlet on a second wall (this breaker also services the light and a next door bathroom.)

Even though this is FAR better than my old workshop, I'm wondering how much help a 2nd dedicated line might be, or if it would just be overkill. After all, the most I can see myself running at one time is the SS and DC3300, or router and DC3300, and since I was thinking of putting the DC3300 in the "storage area" behind a wall, it could share power with the sump pump on it's dedicated line.

Sorry, just thinking out loud....

I would think real seriously about another dedicated 20a circuit into the shop.

paulrussell wrote:Sorry, just thinking out loud....

Keep it up. That thinking out loud stuff is why I keep posting details of all of my options and thoughts. With a weak old brain it really helps me to do so and other folks thinking processes help me as well. It can be really easy to miss something (see weak old brain above) and having a bunch of guys looking over your shoulder and occasionally asking why you are thinking what you are can also help.

I agree with pennview about resale but resale is one of the last things I ever consider... I expect to be carted out of this house in a big baggie when I am done with it (unless it gets "taken" by a highway or the RR that they are talking about moving one direction or another). We plan to leave it to one of our (local) kids and I won't be around to care what they get out of it. We will likely leave them fairly well off someday but I don't consider doing so my job.



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Always nice to see someone return to the forum.

When I last "remodeled" my workspace, I drew out a scaled floorplan and cut out scaled representations of all my tools and storage pieces. Then I spent several nights just moving tools around on paper and thinking about how I used the space and how I might use it in the future. Sure saved me some real labor moving real stuff. I am rethinking a couple of things now but it's because of changing needs (that's called "life" I think). And I'll dig out the scale drawings and check out what I'm thinking before unloading and moving stuff again. Just a suggestion ....

Other than the cost/effort/mess, why not paint the joists. You gain the reflectivity while retaining the utility.

You might want to consider fiberglass insulation as sound deadening between the joists.

I concur re adding an additional 20A branch, but suggest making it 230v 20A which can be also wired with two 115V 20A legs. Wire cost is a bit higher(4 conductors), but the effort is about the same.

Question is, where is the electrical breaker panel?

DC in bathroom good from sound aspect, but ????

Ok, I've not been entirely clear in my descriptions, so here is a drawing:

The green circle is my proposed location of the DC3300. I intend to close off the right end of the area it is in to keep sawdust from migrating into the remainder of the basement storage area. The blue rectangles are the current outlets, with the 15a being shared with the bathroom. The sump pump circuit is also 15a. Breaker panel is at other end of house, about 40 feet from closest corner of workshop. However, the path is unfinished so no drywall etc to impede adding circuits.