New workshop space/lair

[giantbeat]

Moved into our new home on friday, a sturdy early 1900's Terrace, small 2 bed that needs updating, but it comes with a fab bit of bone dry double cellar space, the last couple never used it other than to have a fridge freeze in .

My GF hates cellars so its all mine, in-between ripping out fitted wardrobes, stripping wallpaper, planning the front room renovation & new kitchen. I'm beginning to plan my new home workshop/lair, won't all be woodwork as i have other toys that need homes but i will have some bench space & probably one room for all my tools & doing any messy stuff.

1st job is the lighting & power, the current job is amish mash & loosk to have been done as quickly & as lazily as possible random wires going all over & low positioned light bulbs in the easiest spot to walk into (centre of a doorway at bottom of the stairs the bet best example).

Got myself some 2 foot strip lights & going to do some neatening up of where the wires run asap.

will post more pics of the rooms when i have chance, got no internet activated at home yet.

 

[Orcamesh]

Looks a good space! What sizes are the rooms?

I guess you will not be carrying large machinery down those narrow stairs and that you will be using predominantly hand tools?

Or are there other ways in?

Look forward to seeing the development of the space...

cheers
Steve

 

[giantbeat]

yup its a decent size, but the fact thats its very dry & warm is the biggest bonus, its has en electronic damp proof system which seems to work well.

room 1
12'3" x 14'10" (3.73m x 4.52m)

room 2
12'11" x 12'3" (3.94m x 3.73m) (including the coal bunker)

the stairs are the only way in, so no large machinery, but i can get a few things in that will make working on home projects easier, you might be able to spot the corner of my Makita MLT100 table saw, will also be adding a Router table and a few other bits, maybe a small band saw, but mostly bench & hand tools.... i can't have it all for woodworking as i have other essentials i have to put on.... my GF calls these essentials "stuff" .... "You have so much stuff" was all that flapped out of her mouth whilst we were moving.

 

[paultnl]

Just start calling all her makeup, shoes etc. "stuff" and see how she likes it

 

[flh801978]

My workshop is in cellars below the house
I Have 4 largeish rooms to make mess in
But i have found no difficulty in getting large machines in
( in pieces) colchester student lathe, milling machine,3 graduate lathes large startrite bandsaw,table saw,planer thicknesser..
alll these went down the stairs

Ian

 

[AndyT]

That looks excellent!

I too enjoy the use of a basement room for my workshop. It's very dry as it is permanently ventilated so as to give good airflow to the gas boiler and to a gas fire in the room above.

The really big advantage (as you will find!) is that the temperature doesn't vary much through the year, so you can use it all the time. And with no trek down the garden, you can so easily pop down for the odd job whenever you fancy.

Looking at your stairs, I think that shelf will have to come down before you get used to having it there - it will be too much in the way.

Do measure your stairs and doorway carefully. One of our first projects was a big set of kitchen shelves (like the top part of a Welsh dresser) which my wife and I made together and glued up in the basement. We then found out the maximum size of piece that would go up the stairs! Fortunately, it fitted with only an inch or two to spare, so after that I had a handy indicator of what was possible. Sometimes final assembly must be elsewhere!

One other thing, do put plenty of light in. I've just upgraded my old five foot single-tube fluorescents to two six foot twin-tube high frequency fluorescents, and the difference is wonderful. I go in the basement and it feels like it's a sunny summer's day.

 

[giantbeat]

Just start calling all her makeup, shoes etc. "stuff" and see how she likes it

excellent advice, tried it for the first time this morning.... got quite a kick out of, don't think she noticed yet :lol:

My workshop is in cellars below the house
I Have 4 largeish rooms to make mess in
But i have found no difficulty in getting large machines in
( in pieces) colchester student lathe, milling machine,3 graduate lathes large startrite bandsaw,table saw,planer thicknesser..
alll these went down the stairs

Ian

4 rooms, now I'm jealous!

it id occur to me last night that i could probably get things in in pieces, where there is a will their is a way, or there is somewhere where i can make a big enough hole to fit things through. (hammer) :lol:

That looks excellent!

I too enjoy the use of a basement room for my workshop. It's very dry as it is permanently ventilated so as to give good airflow to the gas boiler and to a gas fire in the room above.

The really big advantage (as you will find!) is that the temperature doesn't vary much through the year, so you can use it all the time. And with no trek down the garden, you can so easily pop down for the odd job whenever you fancy.

Looking at your stairs, I think that shelf will have to come down before you get used to having it there - it will be too much in the way.

Do measure your stairs and doorway carefully. One of our first projects was a big set of kitchen shelves (like the top part of a Welsh dresser) which my wife and I made together and glued up in the basement. We then found out the maximum size of piece that would go up the stairs! Fortunately, it fitted with only an inch or two to spare, so after that I had a handy indicator of what was possible. Sometimes final assembly must be elsewhere!

One other thing, do put plenty of light in. I've just upgraded my old five foot single-tube fluorescents to two six foot twin-tube high frequency fluorescents, and the difference is wonderful. I go in the basement and it feels like it's a sunny summer's day.

yeah this is well ventilated & has the electro osmosis damproof, so I'm still shocked ad how dry it is, esp give the rain we have had, the last house we looked at had a fantastic cellar, had enternal access too... downside it has about 12" of water in it as well.

The shelf is already being used But i do plan on re-arranging it & making it removable for if i need more space to load in & out.... once again it has my stuff on it (its stuff i don't really want to have to lug up & down stars on a regular basis, but stuff She won't tolerate in living space)

noted about making myself aware of max ins & outs & I'm currently working on lighting and re running the wiring as its a right mess as it is now.

Im looking forwards to getting stuck in (slight understatement, i can't wait), when i get chance, hopefully this weekend progress will be made.

will post a few more pics of the parts i missed before i get started.

 

[twothumbs]

A gold mine that space. As it has been the wash house and other things in days of old........... Is there not an old doorway built-up, as presumably servants(?) didn't carry the laundry upstairs and out a door. I see you have a window so very handy for getting your long lengths of timber in. It could be adapted to give you access for heavy kit or the odd assembled project. The recent Yorkshire rains should be a good check for your waterproofing. Best wishes and good working.

 

[Tinbasher]

Lovely and dry.

I once went into a cellar and when I stepped onto the floor found myself suddenly in waist deep freezing water.

Years of undisturbed dust has settled on the surface and it looked just like a clean concrete floor!

 

[giantbeat]

progress is slow, at the weekend I started moving & relocating a dangerous light near the steps, what i thought would be a couple of hours took far longer, then decided to have a break from things going wrong in the lair to go fit a new loft hatch & ladders in the spare room... bad idea... i really should have known dealing with 100 year old lath & plaster ceilings would be a pig... anyway, got a loft hat & ladder in... just ran out of weekend.... got some serious patching up work to do around the hatch now :lol:

A gold mine that space. As it has been the wash house and other things in days of old........... Is there not an old doorway built-up, as presumably servants(?) didn't carry the laundry upstairs and out a door. I see you have a window so very handy for getting your long lengths of timber in. It could be adapted to give you access for heavy kit or the odd assembled project. The recent Yorkshire rains should be a good check for your waterproofing. Best wishes and good working.

There has certainly never been any outside access ever, the other side of that window is the main drain so impossible to open up, to the right of it is the old outhouse which has the boiler in & the other side are the solid steps down into the yard, but yes getting long bits of timber in should be ok.

the cellar is still bone dry despite all the rain.

Lovely and dry.

I once went into a cellar and when I stepped onto the floor found myself suddenly in waist deep freezing water.

Years of undisturbed dust has settled on the surface and it looked just like a clean concrete floor!

#-o bet that was a rude awakening for ya, christ....

 

[richburrow]

Looks like a fantastic space!!!!
I am looking forward to following this
Is that the makita table saw in one of the pics? I have got one of those, great tool but bigger than I was expecting. Good thing the missis was out when it turned up.

Rich

 

[bugbear]

A definitive, and almost literal, man-cave.

Wow!

BugBear

 

[giantbeat]

Looks like a fantastic space!!!!
I am looking forward to following this
Is that the makita table saw in one of the pics? I have got one of those, great tool but bigger than I was expecting. Good thing the missis was out when it turned up.

Rich

will get more pics of the space up this week as we are finally having our internet connection sorted

you can see part of the saw, will make sure its in the next pic, its great though I'm not keen on the riving knife & plastic blade guard, i also got caught out by its size, however partly down to the website i ordered mine from listing the wrong dimensions (i bought it on a whim as i wanted a saw at home, like makita stuff & it was in the sale)... i was not so lucky with the Mrs, in our old place because of its size the only place it would fit was in the middle of the kitchen.... :shock: i stuck a cloth over it & a vase on top.


Got the 1st light moved so i can now walk down the steps into the cave without going straight into a lightbulb (who mounts a light off the middle of a door frame?)... next its new lighting & starting to organise the space... got to get the loft boarded out first though, need a pace to move odds & ends to.

 

[giantbeat]

ok working on lighting now, getting rid of dangerous bulbs & odd wiring.

thought i would show you some more pics as it is.

getting to know the place & find out more about the place now, still undecided about how I'm going to lay things out, originally was going to have the front room with my saw & small machines, in, set up router table etc, anything messy really... that would leave the back for bench space and my other stuff i tinker with (drums) ... but in reality there is not much room, so I'm now leaning towards "other stuff in front room" & have back from for al wood working.

also found out the house at one point had a bad wood worm issue, thankfully its clearly been treated & long gone.

 

[giantbeat]

Finally starting to make some progress, got strip lights up in the front & back, still got some wiring to sort out, but i can start working on other things, mucking around with lay out ideas, obviously the 1st thing i need is a decent batch to work on.
As money is tight due to a whole house being renovated above ground level, Im using what materials i have at hand, the great thing is the previous tenants liked fitted furniture. so using what i could i have spent today knocking together a decent bench which will also give me plenty of storage space so i can finally start shifting some of the clutter that is everywhere.

 

[giantbeat]

Got my bench finished today, got all my tools & bits sorted into the draws, maybe only temporary as they are but it gets rid of the clutter and i can look at the rest of the space now & start deciding what to do with it. i also sorted all my screws & fixings into parts bins, good god that can take a while when everything is in random bags & boxes from the move.

will be looking to sort a router table set up next.

 

[Lee J]

it looks cold and dark. Is the lack of natural daylight not going to bother you? I think I'd feel imprisoned.

 

[giantbeat]

it looks cold and dark. Is the lack of natural daylight not going to bother you? I think I'd feel imprisoned.

it was very dark until we put the 3 strip lights in the back & 2 in the front, it was lit by 1 bulb in each room originally.
The pics are not great im afraid as they are off my phone, there is natural light in the day, all these later pics were taken late on a night at 11ish pm when i was tidying up..... given that its winter i dont expect to get to use it much in the day now as i can only really get in on an evening after work.
its certainly not cold, nice and warm as the piping for the house runs all the way through it, warmest workshop i have ever had, the dryest too... i also rent a place for my business, that's a big old joinery workshop, bloody freezing now, i despise winter there.

Having had a garage & shed before i would much rather this warm dry cellar where i dont have to go outside in rain & snow to do some work in.

once we finish all the wiring & can clean the walls up, i will be painting it so its nice and bright, i just needed a bench to start work on.

 

[giantbeat]

more work done this weekend.

decided i want to put most of my machines on wheeled cabinets so i can rotate things round as i need to.

to help me do this i realised I'm going to have to remove the old set pot/water heater that was build on the side of the chimney.

so out came the hammer & i started demolishing the thing.

 

[giantbeat]

Slowly the cellar is turning into something more workshopeee, I'm trying to use up as much materials salvaged from the house above as possible, money is too tight to buy much for in here & it saves on the cost of skips.

got a 2nd bench built out of scrap worktops and also got a rutlands router table on the beginnings of a wheeled cabinet instead of the legs it came with.

the table saws been getting lots of use.