Slice-of-heaven Shop
Moving from an 8×11' basement shop with 6' ceilings to an 8×16' addition at the rear of his garage provided Lenny Butler some breathing room. For a while. A second addition, nearly tripling the footprint to 16×23', finally made it his "slice of heaven."
A 50-amp subpanel in the garage feeds two 220-volt circuits (used by the tablesaw and 8" jointer) and two 110-volt circuits. Fluorescent and LED fixtures mounted between the trusses provide illumination, supplemented by two skylights.
Lenny parked his 11⁄2 -hp dust collector in the adjacent garage, freeing up floor and wall space in the shop and reducing noise. A trash-can separator collects most of the dust and chips fed in by the 6" PVC trunk lines mounted near the ceiling. 4" drops placed around the shop service individual tools. One of those drops evacuates dust from the enclosed base and the fence of his router table, below. A floor vent fitted in the front of the base provides make up airflow.
Interior walls covered with T1-11 plywood siding give the shop a warm feel and offer unlimited options for mounting fixtures (and family photos). Among the fixtures: the ladder from Lenny's childhood bunk bed, now holding a few clamps.
An adjustable-height workbench, with a bar-and-pawl mechanism (like an adjustable candlestick) on each leg, serves as an outfeed for the tablesaw and, when lowered, as an assembly table.
To keep the shop shirtsleeve comfortable, Lenny installed a natural-gas heater and an in-wall air conditioner. Should his wife need him back in the house, a press of a button in the kitchen triggers a strobe light in the shop.