To deconstruct or not.

[joekwon80]

I currently have been using my garage as my wood shop for the past 5 months. It's alright, but it's pretty hot in the summer humidity and it's only a one car garage. Adjacent to the garage is my fully finished basement which I have cleaned out aside from a couple large items like a couch and some desk chairs. This room is a little larger than the garage, is heated/cooled, and has carpet in it. I don't plan on staying in this house but another couple years but I really would like to have the dedicated work space for the wood working equipment.

My question is this, should I rip up the carpet and turn the basement into my wood shop or just maximize my garage as much as I can and live with it? Has anyone tried to sell a house with a wood shop in the basement? Do you think having a fully finished basement is more appealing to the average home buyer than a wood shop?

--Joe

 

[bluedawg76]

i feel your pain. i, too, am in a one-car garage and would enjoy a a workshop w/ less temp/humidity fluctuations. However for selling purposes, i would think that a finished basement would appeal to a larger audience than a climate controlled woodshop. Also, I'm not sure I would consider this in the total sq ft of the house as it's not "liveable space"? So personally, I would not convert it. Another concern, would be introducing fine wood dust into the house via the ac system; I'm guessing the basement has its own air intake? One thought, have you considered adding an ac unit to the garage? Others have definitely done this and can chime in on recommendations.

Sam

 

[joekwon80]

OH I know you're right. I know it's right to leave it as is, but the space is so under utilized and I feel like I'd be a greener person if I'd just turn it into a work shop and actually USE the space. I could block off the A/C inlet in the basement and just pull the air from the upper two floors. Another thought would be to really turn the room into a urban style polished concrete floor once I'm done and ready to move out. Has anyone here polished concrete before? Is it difficult?

 

[Bas]

I am currently in a basement shop, and had a basement shop in my previous house as well. In both cases, the shop space was unfinished, so I didn't "destroy" any living space. Whether turning the space into a shop is a good decision from a selling point of view depends on a lot of factors. If the basement space is nicely finished and can serve as a play room, media room etc., turning it into a shop is likely to cost you. On the other hand, if it's dark, uninviting, with old cheap carpet, creating shop space might make it a selling feature. Not everyone may want a fully-fledged woodshop, but most people like a generic workshop for keeping their tools and doing DIY projects.

One suggestion is to make the space multi-functional. When I remodeled the shop in my current house, I spent some time making sure everything was drywalled and painted. I put in cheap laminate floors over the concrete as well. I also added tons of lighting to brighten up the space. Should I ever move, the space could easily be re-purposed as a gym, hobby room, play room etc. You can also use vinyl/ rubber tiles instead of laminate, just don't leave the floor bare. Better on your feet too. Polished concrete is an option, but it's not exactly cheap, and you want to make sure you don't have any cracks in the floor.

As for dust, there is no return air in the shop space itself, so I did not have any concerns. If you have an air return, use a good filter and replace it regularly (2-4 weeks). I made sure dust didn't spread by weatherstripping the interior doors, and door sweeps to close any threshold gaps.

 

[Gotcha6]

You won't have the dust issues if you go 'Neander'. :icon_thum
As for the carpet, it's usually a minor issue when a home is sold because most buyers will want to change the color anyways. The BIG question you may need answered is, did they use padding under the carpet or was it glued down. Carpet glue, regardless of age, is very messy to remove. Most floor covering companies use a commercial floor buffer with carbide bits - and this only gets it presentable for new glue......

 

[Charles Lent]

My one car garage sized shop is insulated and has a window unit style heat pump through-the-wall to keep it comfortable in there. I keep a good filter in it and change it often, as it's also my shop air filtration system. It has done a great job for the past 12 years without any maintenance, except for filter replacement and an occasional blowing out with the air nozzle.

My previous shop was in the basement and I'll never do that again. No matter what I did I couldn't keep sawdust from getting upstairs. I weatherstripped the doors and sealed all of the openings that I could find. I even made it a habit to blow myself off before leaving the shop and I put a sticky mat at the door like used in clean rooms. Somehow the sawdust still found it's way upstairs. A detached shop keeps her much happier.

Charley

 

[FlyingRon]

I would go climate control. I lived in a shop for a long time with one of those through-the-wall heat pumps (think of the unit that you'd find in a motel room and that's about what I had).
When I moved and put my shop in the garage, it was really a pain in the summer and the kerosene heater in the winter wasn't all that great either.