Hello,
I’m in the process of setting up my shop in the basement and need advice on two issues: safety and cleanliness. I’ll be using one half of the basement and am uncertain whether I’ll need to put up a wall or not in order to keep the other side free of sawdust buildup. The unused portion of the basement has concrete walls and floors, general storage items, and the general household mechanical items: boiler, hot water heater, water softener, central air blower. The woodshop space will be 15′ by 30′ and I’ll be installing a Delta 50-760 dust collection system as well as a JDS 750JE air cleaner. Unfortunately, the ceiling height is low, with 7′ being the average.
If I don’t put up the wall, will the dust accumulation over time present a safety hazard for the household mechanical systems, and or, a much bigger regular cleaning job? I’ll have access to the shop via a bilco door and will have the following equipment: table saw, drill press, router table, band saw, miter saw, and will at some point add a jointer and planer.
Setting up this shop is a long time dream of mine…I’m glad it’s starting to be realized!
Thanks, Stu
Replies
xfer,
Build the wall.
My dad used to love to work in mahogany - dust as fine as talc - in a section of our basement that was not walled. The dust got EVERYWHERE, upstairs, downstairs..... My first two shops were in basements and even though I put up a wall some of the dust would always migrate into the rest of the house, but much less. Mostly because of shared heating and cooling. I'm now in an attached garage with separate HVAC, much better, but still see some dust elsewhere.
As for the furnace, you'll need to double or triple your maintenance routine to keep dust out of the internal workings. I had a great deal of trouble with a high efficiency unit in our last home. I needed to clean it out and replace filters very often. Our current home has the furnace in the shop with me, but there are no intake or delivery ducts - just the unit. I blow it out 3 or 4 times a year and have it serviced annually.
There are a couple of other threads running right now dealing with filtering ambient air - Makes very good sense in a situation such as yours (or any situation for that matter)
Have fun in your new shop and work safe.
Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Edited 6/12/2006 11:54 am by Rennie
Try and set up room dividers with blackout curtains or some such, similar to the way hospitals give a wee bit of privacy in the exam rooms.
There may be a day when you wish you hadn't cut the room in half with a fixed wall.
Just a thought....
Thanks to all for your advice! I'll be building the wall. Thanks again. Stu
Since I am in the process of moving to a new home ( and building a new shop) I was intrigued by your comments about HVAC. I intended to build a walled shop and tap into the existing HVAC(air handling would not be included in the shop). Seems although dust could accumulate in the duct work that the pressure from the unit would blow the dust back into the shop rather than throughout the house. That said, my wife claims with the similar setup in our current house, she has to "dust" constantly. ( Of course, I deny this is the cause since she likely is working toward having me clean up my own dust.) As long as the HVAC units are not in the shop, it would seem the blower would blow any accumulated dust in the ducts back into the shop. Any HVAC pros out there ?
Sailalex,
I'm no expert, HVAC or otherwise. All I can speak from is experience, and then only what my poor old mind can remember. I can tell you that after having 3 basement shops that shared HVAC, and now a garage shop that has its own units, that dust will migrate everywhere, but that isolating the shop's systems will go a long way to mitigate the migration.
You note that you think dust might accumulate in the ductwork - possible, but then it has every possibility to go to any other duct in the house, not just back into the shop. It would seem to me that having positive pressure in the shop would force dust laden air into the rest of the building.
I purchased a 30,000 BTU Modine Hot Dawg on eBay several years ago and had it installed by a heating professional. It works VERY well in my small shop. It does, however, use interior air as make up for combustion so I am very careful about the use of sprays and solvents during the colder months. Normally I'll turn it on for an hour or more before doing any finishing to warm everything up to about 75 degrees, shut it down, open a window and door, do my finish work, and close everything back up once the air has had a chance to be exchanged a couple of times. Having warmed the floor, walls, and everything else beforehand helps minimize heat loss for the time the windows are open. Then, once the work is done, I'll kick the heat back on at 65 degrees so everything has a chance to cure properly.
My AC is a 12,000 BTU window unit I installed in the wall. I got that at HD - great sales on AC's at the end of the cooling season. I try not to run it during operations that kick up a lot of dust, but even so, you need to clean the filter often. I've heard of some people placing additional filters in front of the unit, this sounds like it might be a good idea as the fiber filters on most AC's will only stop dust particles that are larger than a small mouse.
Now, after that long winded monologue - here's my bottom line. If at all possible isolate your shop from the rest of the house. Separate HVAC, doors with sweeps and weather stripping, two foot mats to wipe feet (one on each side of the door), etc. Your house will be cleaner and your wife will be happier, which will make explaining that new toll purchase just a little bit easier.
Good luck!
Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. Frank Lloyd Wright
Edited 6/13/2006 9:05 am by Rennie
xfer,
There is a heavy layer of dust on everything in the other half of my basement. I'd strongly suggest some shower curtains or plastic curtain which can be pulled back, moved back or whatever...so expansion is possible (that other half is great for finishing stuff..he,he)
Build a wall, Dust is worse than ants and both can get everywhere, Just ask my Wife. I ended up building a detached shop to keep the War Department happy.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
I'd vote for buiding the wall too. Assuming you have the ability yourself, there's little cost in doing so and it'll give you and extra wall for peg board, clamp racks, etc.
Build it, but put a nice wide double door opposite the table saw and future planer. One day you'll want to machine something that doesn't fit.
DR
Build it, by all means! Put a door in it. Construct it such that it may be removed or even moved. Make it as air tight as possible. Think "compressible foam plastic." Don't expect dust collection to prevent dust from getting into everything. Been there, done that!
Cadiddlehopper
Build the wall but...
Some furnaces require a minimum room size to furnish make-up air so make sure you either leave a large enough room for the furnace, or provide makeup air to the furnace through some other means.
Mark
Mark it with Chalk,
Cut it with an Ax.
Visit my woodworking blog Dust Maker
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