DO-IT-YOURSELF : A Quiet, Organized, Comfy Workshop Is a Smart Workshop

It’s easier to work in a workshop--whether it’s plain or fancy--if it is organized efficiently and outfitted for comfort and ease of use. Here are some simple ideas to improve your workshop:

Setup

Take a cue from kitchen designers. Save steps by arranging your shop in an efficient triangle that puts the workbench, tool storage and assembly areas within easy reach.

Creature Comfort

* Here’s relief for tired feet and legs. Cover the floor in front of your workbench with a scrap of low-pile carpet. It cleans easily with a shop vacuum. Besides providing cushioning, it prevents the transfer of body heat from legs and feet to concrete--a major cause of leg discomfort. You can also reduce strain on leg and back muscles by standing on a rubber anti-fatigue mat, available from home centers and floor-covering stores.

* If your workshop is damp, install a dehumidifier. It makes the air less muggy and keeps tools from rusting and lumber from swelling. It also speeds the drying of glue, paint and other finishes.

* To drive off the chill in your workshop, install an infrared heat lamp over your workbench. Use a lamp that screws into a regular light bulb socket (but make sure the socket is ceramic). Be sure the wiring can handle a typical heat lamp’s 250 watts, plus whatever other equipment you use on that circuit.

* Is your workshop in an unfinished, unheated garage? Insulate it to extend use for the greater part of the year and to increase comfort in both hot and cold weather. Give priority to the roof, where most of the heat is lost or gained. Install a wallboard ceiling and lay insulation between the joists.

“Seeing” Noises

* If you’re home alone while working in your workshop, it may be difficult to hear the house doorbell. Buy a 12-volt trailer clearance light at an auto-parts store and connect it to the doorbell wiring where the wires run closest to your shop. Install it at eye level so it will catch your attention whenever the doorbell is rung. For your shop phone, telephone stores carry a simple device that turns a light on or off when the phone rings.

* Family members can call you to come to dinner by “ringing” a trailer clearance light. Hook it to a separate doorbell transformer and to a doorbell button inside the house. It’s safer than getting an unexpected tap on the shoulder while running a machine.

Noises Off

* Keep noise and dirt out of the rest of the house by sealing the gaps around the shop door. Tack spring metal or vinyl tubular gasket weatherstripping along the edges of the frame and mount a sweep along the door bottom. If you have a lightweight, hollow-core door, glue or staple acoustical tiles on its shop side or replace it with a solid lumber door.

* Soundproof walls between the shop and living areas to contain workshop noises. Install fiberglass insulation between the studs of an unfinished wall and cover them with wallboard. Cover a finished wall or ceiling with acoustical tiles. Or apply sound-deadening board such as Homosote or beaverboard, and a second layer of wallboard.

* To silence a rattling, free-standing piece of shop equipment, take it apart at its base, stand or cabinet. Then reassemble it applying a bead of silicone sealant wherever metal parts join. This will bond the parts and keep them from vibrating against one another.

* Reduce noisy vibrations of a bench-top power tool. Put a rubber pad or carpet scrap under each tool leg and clamp the tool to the bench.