I’m starting to finish our currently unfinished basement and I’m planning on turning one end into a workshop. I already have most of my tools moved into the basement and have been doing a little hand tool work. I have jobsite table saw that I’ve been carrying up the stairs and out to the garage any time I need to use it, and just bought a miter saw to help with the basement finishing. I’ve also added a small benchtop jointer and planer to my Christmas list. I would like to be able to use the power tools in the basement without moving them to the garage but also not drive my wife and kids crazy with noise and dust.
My first question is where should I start with dust collection? Since we are finishing the basement, it would also be nice to if I had something that could handle drywall dust. I would like to be able to move it around and get it back up the stairs if I need to use it somewhere else. I also haven’t won the lotter just yet, so cost is a concern. Are the Festool or similar “dust extractors” worth the cost? Can they handle chips from a benchtop planer/jointer?
A secondary question would be about insulating for noise. The temperature in the basement isn’t bad, so I’m not really concerned about thermal insulation. Would regular bat insulation between the floor joists knock down the volume upstairs much? Is there a better solution for noise insulation?
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I live in an end unit townhouse and my workshop is half of our basement. After I framed the workshop the walls and ceiling were paneled with Homasote (0.5-in x 4-ft x 8-ft sound board sound barrier) available at Homedepot & Lowes and then covered with 5/8th dry wall. The shop is also enclosed by two heavy solid wood doors with a plastic strip dust curtain.
My neighbors and wife in the house do not hear my me working even when I'm using loud machine tools.
Wow! Many things I would throw my 2¢ in on, and it's probably not worth half that.
First seriously consider Scratching that bench top jointer (the planer is fine) off of Santa's list they are virtually useless IMO. With limited capital there are better places to invest to set up a shop. Can you say router table? With the right fence a router table can be pressed into a serviceable replacement for one of jointer functions, squaring an edge. A jointer has 2 primary purposes in a woodshop, flattening a boards face prior to planing to thickness and squaring an edge to that flattened face, and to do them well they need to be wide and long. Bench top jointer with 6" wide blades and short tables do neither well or at all in the case of flattening a face unless the board is less than 6" wide and short. They Achilles heel of these toys excuse me tools, is the short tables. In order to successfully remove cups and bows in boards, which are always present, you need long straight reference surfaces to guide the wood against otherwise the short tables just ride against the curve and you end with smooth but still bowed wood.
Now for the noise issue. Ordinary pink Fiberglass insulation is virtually useless in noise abatement but most Home stores have sound insulation batting as well which is also a good idea. The key to stopping noise is density, absorbtion, and isolation. Special sound proof drywall is available, as are sound proof drywall clips which isolated the drywall ceiling panels from the floor joist above preventing sound transfer, but these are costly, metal furring hat strips are readily available at any home center at a fraction of the cost and can provide a significant improvement with loss of an inch of ceiling height. Just install them perpendicular to the floor joists and screw your ceiling panels to them taking care not to let any screws touch the floor joists themselves. I would also consider foregoing the drywall, it will get scarred up easily if your finished ceiling is 8' or less as many basements are, just use 2 layers of the homasote instead. It will have visible seams, but can be painted and should hold up better to the occasional impact from a board. Consider a wood paneling for the walls for the same reason, drywall would just get torn up too easily. I used OSB when it was cheap, but current prices border on the absurd. Wood paneling also has the advantage of letting me hang tools and jigs without worrying about finding studs.
Now for dust collection. A woodshop deals with 3 principle types of dust. Large shavings from tools like planers, jointer and routers which be created in large volume. Sawdust from cutting tools like tablesaw and bandsaws which while finer in size can still have some volume to it if larger sawing sessions are common, then you have the almost invisible dust created by sanders which can be some of the most troublesome(think of your wife complaining about the constant film of dust throughout the house) and health damaging, but is generally low volume. No single dust control solution deals with these well. Dust collectors that handle the volume of a planer well do not create enough static pressure to handle sanders and miter saws efficiently. That said, given that this is a hobby for you your best solution to start with probably would be a large high quality vacuum like the Festool but with an in line cyclone separator, at least when it is connected to the planer to help collect the larger chips.
On the dust collection: the main things to consider are 1) blower capacity and 2) filtration. I own a Festool extractor and although the suction is amazing, I wouldn't use it on a machine pulling chips and shavings off of a planer or jointer. You need CFM's for that, not suction. At the least, you would be replacing bags much more frequently. So IMO they are best suited for dust producers such as orbital sanders.
I think a small (650-800CFM) collector such as a wall mount could do the job for those machines. The only issue with the wall mounts is they come with poor quality bag filters.
On the noise reduction, having work in/remodelled and built a veterinary clinic, the contractor built double stude walls using 5/8" drywall on each side, with a 1" gap between the walls, insulation in side. It really works quite well, but its expensive.
But in your case, one layer of drywall, then firred out and another layer added, should do a good job using 1/2" material.
Another option is soundproofing panels. The can be made out of acoustic ceiling tiles, or rock wool & mounted off the ceiling about 1".
In a garage or basement, another consideration is air quality, from a health standpoint, and also the rest of your house. If the air handler is in the same room, it must be totally sealed up.
An air filtration unit is a good idea, as well as good personal protection.
I did my shop walls with 2x4 top & bottom plates and 2x3 studs offset from eachother on both sides...a poor-man's double-stud wall. I lined the inside the shop walls with homosote and sheathed them with T&G plywood. I furred the ceiling down for flatness and wire chase channels and screwed through sorbothane squares between the furring strips and the joists for vibration separation before hanging 1/2" quietrock. I finished by caulking the *** out of the seams and corners. I hung exterior doors to finish up, even though the shop is inside. Pretty effective overall.
I’m in the basement too. Regular batt insulation between open joists. Walls are 2x4 with drywall both sides and insulation mostly for heat.
Family doesn’t seem to complain apart from the thickness planer. It’s the one tool they’ve noticed.
For dust collection I had a Jet DC650 for 20 years that did ok. Recently upgraded to a Jet Vortex with 1100 CFM and it’s a huge improvement.
I looked at cyclones but my longest duct was maybe 25’ so a cyclone was just way overkill even without factoring in the costs.
Before I closed up the walls I placed machines where I wanted them and made a few projects staying inside “the shop”. It was a test to ensure the layout worked.
Also, be sure to install doors big enough to get things through. Hopefully at least one double door.
Mike
I have a wood shop, that is also a small business, in my finished basement. After using a table saw for the first time in the enclosed space, I realized I need to start with dust collection. I purchased a 3hp laguna p flux (that has hepa filtration) and ran 8” to 6” drops everywhere and couldn’t be happier. It was my first major tool purchase, but no matter what shop I eventually move up to, I shouldn’t need a bigger d/c. Fast forward two years, I now a full shop with 220v equipment and the air quality is excellent (according to a dylos meter). Each to their own.
Either my wife is the deafest person on the planet or noise doesn't carry through the floors of the 1950s we rent. Shop's been in the basement for 20 years and she's never griped about noise.
Dust isn't much of a problem, either. All my power tools hook up to my shop vac. Yeah, I know, old-fashioned & not very good at removing dust. Well, other than the air provided by the constantly-running dehumidifier there's no air movement in the basement cause there's no heat or a/c. That means dust pretty much stays where it's created.
Mikaol
What are you going to do about the wonderful aromas when you are finishing your projects. My first shop was set up in the basement, got married, had to move for my job. My wife told me in no uncertain terms that the shop would would not be in a basement again. I really have to admit that the smells were a bit too much.
“[Deleted]”
Is the basement a walkout, or is the shop area in a separate walled off room? Is the HVAC in the basement as well (it can spread dust throughout the house)? Just how much do you think you'll be using the shop? Its hard to justify a big dust control system if you're only using the shop a few hours a week. I've gotten by with a couple of shop vacs and Dust Deputies for many years. For sanding, I take things outside if weather permits. If you're only making small things, a bench-top jointer will be OK. You can wet sponge sand drywall joints, or hook up a shop vac hose to your sander.
Been working in a townhouse small basement shop for a few years now. Noise is more important than dust collection. Spend as much as you can to sound insulate your shop. The peace this brings is priceless..
For big dust, I have a wall mounted 1.5hp collector/cyclone for the planer and jointer. For small dust, a rolling shop-vac unit with a built in outlet. For overall shop dust, a portable 20" boxfan with a 20x20" furnace filter taped to it's front -- works great!
I'm going to add a vote for Homasote. Check me on this but I think it is fire resistant so you don't need to drywall over it. For drywall dust, get a "Dust Deputy and add it to any shop vac. ( I really like the Ridgid vac that you can remove the motor to use for a blower). Contractor saws are tough to seal up to catch the dust but there is an excellent article archived here at FWW that goes into detail about how to do it. Make sure your furnace isn't pulling unfiltered air from your shop and blowing it through out the house and put weather striping and treshold on the door to your shop. Finally check Craigslist for a 1.5 or 2 hp dust collector and a 6" full size jointer that will better handle the lumber and dust. You will want to put some homasote around the motor on the dust collector (don't block the air that cools the motor), it will be the noisiest thing in the shop. Good luck. Make some saw dust just don't breath any of it.
Thanks for all the suggestions! I will definitely have to put some more thought into how to frame the shop walls and add Homasote to my plan.
I noticed that my local Menards has the dust deputy on sale this weekend, so I think I'm going to pick one up to use with an old 16 gallon shop vac I already have. Eventually I think I will get a smaller, easier to maneuver vac with better filtration for in the shop and keep the old one in the garage. And maybe someday as I acquire some larger tools I will add a 4 inch collector.
A lot of your noise issues seem to concern your wife and kids. How attached to them are you? Rather than quieting your tools, there is a second way to fix the issue.
! would start with the floor.Home Depot sells 2x2 interlocking styrofoam bottom , pressboard topped floor pannels. They save your feet,insulate the floor and dampen machine vibrations
Effective (and very necessary) dust control and tight budget don't comfortably fit into the same sentence. It is very easy to underestimate the pervasiveness of the fine dust that will be generated and then cover and collect everywhere. A good shop vacuum teamed with a cyclone collector such as the one from Oneida is a good start, but there is no substitute for an area filtration device mounted at the ceiling. Or, if money were no object, the movable Powermatic. In a basement shop, noise abatement can be a challenge if there are pipes, shut-offs and electrical junction boxes that need to be accessible. Rock wool between the joists works well, nut will be a dust magnet if not covered with Homasote or some other rigid material. All doable with creative thinking and planning. Best!
Hi all,
I too am in the early stages of planning a basement workshop. In my research it seems like Homasote is a good way to go, but I haven't found a local retailer. Am I missing something? Is this a specialty item?
Cheers,
Erick
Hi all,
I answered my own question. Pilot error on my part :-)
Cheers,
Erick
In the 1970s, when my father put an upstairs addition onto the home. He went extreme on putting in the pink fiberglass. He didn't do this for heat retention. He did it because our home was in the flight path to the airport. Even as I kid, I can recall the before and after noise reduction. Adding more insultation will help with the noise (and even make the shop a bit warmer; not that you need it from you describe). Many years later, my dad went from single pane to double pane windows and that made a huge difference in noise. If you have any single pane windows in the home or doors, changing to double or triple pane could help with noise as well.
https://www.rockwool.com/
For fire suppression and noise abatement Rockwool is da schizzle!
I've installed many cu.ft. of this product and it is amazing!
The key to noise is acoustical mass and isolation. But walls stuffed with RockWool are pretty good even without the hat channel.
Less itchy than the pink stuff too!
I'd be interested in what people say about the noise *in* the shop. My shop
is in a detached garage so there's no problem for the family in the house. However, in the shop it's darn noisy; my Oneida mini-Gorilla produces 85dB by itself. I'm planning on hanging some sound absorbing (acoustic foam) panels around it, but am not too optimistic. Any ideas?
Hearing protection. There's really nothing else you can do, with power tools.
Yup - ww’ing shops are noisy.
Hearing protection is like dust management by the time you have hearing loss or COPD it’s too late.
I have homosote lining the open closet that the compressor and DC live in, with a panel closing in the compressor and hanging in front of the DC motor. It helps, but muffs are a must.
I should have mentioned that of course I wear ear muffs. I'm still
looking to reduce ambient noise. A homasote closet or a muffler of some
kind for the DC are good ideas. In an ideal world the DC would be in its
own outhouse....
If I lived somewhere warm, I might consider putting the DC outside. But here, it would such all the warmth out of the shop, which is chilly enough already.
I liked the first part of your story - hand tool work. My shop is in the basement. I only use hand tools. It is wonderful. No noise and minimal dust. Admittedly, I am a luddite.
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