How to Setup a Woodshop At Home
Beginner's details...
Before you start, make sure you've read my "quick start" guide first.
It serves as a great overview to start your home woodworking business.
Now an excellent question for a woodworking enthusiast is how to setup a woodworking shop efficiently.
Location
Let's talk about setting up a woodshop in your home.
You need to pick out a place that can be secluded from the main house like a basement, a garage or a shed out in the garden.
These places are usually ideally suited for woodwork.
Seclusion from the main house is required for a better environment, both for you and the family.
It is especially important for the health and safety of children.
If you do not have a completely separated location, you can consider converting a room that has a separate entrance from the rest of the house.
Layout
The layout of a woodshop is important for many reasons.
- First of all a good layout will utilize the amount of space you have.
- Secondly a good layout makes working easier as well as safer.
We suggest that you look online for ideas regarding different layouts for your woodworking shop.
You will gain a fairly good idea as to how and where to place things like the wood storage shelf, the woodworking bench and stationary power tools.
The layout of a wood shop also includes arrangement for lighting and ventilation.
Lighting plays an extremely important part as you always want the area you are working in to be well lit.
Everything in a wood shop has to be arranged in such a manner as to cut down clutter.
You should be able to move around easily and access the things you need without other encumbrances getting in your way.
How Much Space Do You Require?
Another misconception of doing woodworking business has to do with the space you need.
A space of 12*24 serves comfortably, and a double garage space of 24*24 is adequate for most home based woodworkers.
This is only a suggested figure. If you are getting started with small crafts and a few hand tools, you can probably work comfortably almost anywhere.
Larger projects require more space. Some woodworkers choose to do them on site.
But since most customers do not like the disturbance, it is always better to finish the project at your own shop and only take it to the location for final installation.
The other major equipment in your woodworking shop will be the lighting, ventilation system, and dust collection system as well as essential safety gear.
Remember a good layout will have adequate storage space for all your equipment and materials.
It will allow you to put everything away easy and securely every time you are finished with work.
It's advised to put away all your tools and materials every single day after work.
The more effective your storage is the more easily you can accomplish this.
Converting a garage into a woodshop
There are many advantages to starting your woodshop in your garage.
You get to save on rent, avoid noise, sound and dust pollution for the rest of the house.
Most garages can easily be converted into efficient wood shops.
Other advantages are easy accessibility and being close to home and family.
When you are just starting out with your woodworking business you want to conserve the costs as much as possible.
Starting the business from the garage allows you to do this.
Converting your garage in to a woodshop allows you to start at your own pace.
You do not feel the additional pressure that you would if you were paying rental on a commercial property.
Setting up in a garage in your own home is great when you are just starting out.
You can easily use your spare time to do small woodworking projects.
However, always ensure that you are fresh and alert when you work in your woodshop.
Accidents in a woodshop can be serious and its a fact that a majority of them happen due to carelessness of the woodworker.
It is a good idea to start with small woodworking projects like toys, crafts and artefacts.
Some of these are hot-sellers and very popular woodworking items. Download complete plans for hundreds of best selling wood crafts from Wood Profits.
Normally the two car garage lends itself better to woodworking workshop because your car can still be parked inside the garage.
This is specifically more convenient for northern climates.
One of the most efficient workshops are built in an inverted U-shaped configuration.
This allows the lumber to be bought in to the shop and then processed in a natural sequences of processes.
You should consider installing a "thickness planer" if you are buying rough lumber.
Rough lumber is cheaper and the planer pays for its cost soon enough.
Since most of the garages have a direct entry into the home, you have to take adequate precautions and measures to seal it against sawdust and noise.
- An efficient dust collection system through a dust collector is definitely to be considered.
- All seams and joints leading to the living space should be sealed properly.
- If your garage is part of central air conditioning of your home, you will need to install a separate filter to prevent sawdust from getting into the air-conditioning system.
- The door to the living spaces should be an exterior type metal door with a magnetic jam seal.
- The filter for your air conditioner should be checked and changed regularly.
- The cement floor of the garage should also be sealed and painted with a high quality product such as epoxy.
- A good quality paint finish on the walls of the garage will help keep the sawdust from sticking to the walls and getting them dirty.