Woodworking shop layout for the small shop

Have you ever planned a woodworking shop layout for a small shop? You may find it more challenging than designing a woodworking shop layout for a big shop. But it’s not that hard. With proper guidance, layout ideas, and some space adjustment, you can plan a woodworking shop layout for the small shop successfully.

Let me elaborate to you each process of building your small woodworking shop.

Not everyone can afford to build a brand new building for their woodworking shop. And not everyone had a spacious car garage area in their home. But, everyone can have a workshop on their home—even a small space for your woodworking shop layout.

Check out this woodworking shop layout for the small shop here.

Small Woodworking Shop Layout

Car garage is the best place for a woodworking shop as it has a flat floor surface and a large entrance door for woodworking machines and lumber. And the one-car garage is one of the most common small woodworking shop layouts out there. But let me ask you a question. What is the ideal size for a woodworking shop?

Well, woodworkers’ opinions vary depending on their point of view and woodworking workshop preferences. Other woodworkers want to build spacious workshops while others do not. How about you?

The truth is, your woodworking shop size depends on your workshop purpose. If your woodworking workshop layout is for your personal woodworking hobbies only, you don’t need to have a spacious workshop. However, if your workshop goal is to create a large volume of woodworking projects, you need a large workshop space.

The minimum recommended shop work area for a woodworking workshop is 75 square feet. However, an ideal workshop area is 125 square feet, including your wood storage area. This shop dimension is for a workshop that is mainly used for a personal woodworking project. If you plan to build a workshop for commercial usage, it is recommended to have at least a 140 square feet shop area.

How do you organize a small workshop?

Now, let’s create a full-featured woodshop in a compact workspace with lumber storage and woodworking tools in a garage shop layout. This article will help guide you in organizing a small workshop with space-saving tips & ideas. Read our step-by-step woodshop layout here.

Floor Plan

Your woodshop floor plan will show you the layout of your woodworking shop from above. It illustrates your small shop wall, doors, windows, woodworking machines, and stationary power tools location. Your woodworking shop fixed installations like woodworking task lighting, storage cabinets, pegboards, workbench, miter saw station, dust collector, and lumber storage.

Before creating your small woodworking shop floor plan, make sure to plan everything where you want it to be.

Tips And Tricks For Small Woodworking Shop Floor Plan Layout

1. Open storage units like wall cabinets and shelving units are hung high on the shop wall with adjustable dividers.
2. Table saw with the outfeed table will serve as an additional storage unit for your portable woodworking power tools and hand tools.
3. You can attach your router table to your table saw to save you some space in your small shop.
4. Attached a storage cabinet under your working table saw to serve as additional storage for your woodworking tools. And then store your hand planer under your table saw to keep it out of the way when not in use.
5. Create a workbench that is durable and will serve your woodworking projects in many ways. Make sure that your workbench height will allow you to support your outfeed table. As the table saw, you can attach a storage cabinet under your workbench for more storage units for your woodworking tools.
6. Build a worktable with drawers with the same height as your workbench and place it side by side.

7. Install a clamp rack on your wall behind your worktable to make it accessible when you need to clamp your woodworking projects.
8. Near your workbench, install a tool storage unit mounted on your woodworking shop wall to easily grab your hand tools while working on your workbench. And then, near your table saws working station, install wall-mounted tool storage for your jigsaw.
9. Install a modular construction for your chow saw station in your small shop. It will allow you to change woodworking machines if needed. And then, store your drill press and woodworking grinder under your chop saw work station. But, make sure that it is removable and can be clamped to your workstation.
10. If possible, install a mobile base caster on your workbench, table saw, worktable, and other woodworking machines. It will allow you to relocate a large tool for your woodworking projects.

Tool Storage Layout For Woodworking Workshop

Like everyone else, many woodworkers work in their car garage. Mostly, one car garage only measures 10×20 square feet long for minimum dimensions while others do have a 12×20 square feet long. Yes, it is a small space for a woodworking shop. As we all know, woodworking requires heavy-duty and stationary power tools like a radial arm saw, router table, table saw, miter saw table, jointer, workbench, and other woodworking machines. It would be best if you can have ample space for lumber storage, tool storage, and sheet goods storage.

But, it doesn’t mean you can’t build a woodshop with a one-car garage dimension. You can always have a small shop for your woodworking in your garage. You just need to be creative in your woodworking plans. Yes, you need to be creative on how you will store your tools, your sheet goods, your lumber, and everything else.

With the right workshop layout plan, space-saving woodshop furnitures, and creative tool organization, you can maximize your small woodworking workshop.

Today, I will share my space-saving tips and ideas on how to set-up your woodworking tools in your small workshop.

Small Shop Aisle

In your workshop layout for your woodworking, make sure to plan your woodshop aisle carefully. Your shop aisle serves as your workshop backbone. Why? Because it is where everything in your shop passes by. From your woodworking hand tools, power tools, lumber, sheet goods, and even your woodworking finish product.

You should have a straight aisle in your small shop. With your shop aisle, you can easily bring in or out your lumber without the need of swinging them to pass by.

Workbench

Your workbench is the centre of all your woodworking projects. It is where almost everything in the woodworking process happens. It is recommended for you to built a tough, durable, yet versatile workbench in your small woodshop. But, how can you make a versatile workbench? Here are the layout tips for you.

Don’t make a bench that will work solely for your woodworking projects. Make it versatile. Make it a multifunction workbench. There are various ways to make it. Consider these three tips here:

1. Flip-Top Workbench – A space-saving flip-top workbench will allow you to mount one power tool as a miter saw on the other side while the other side serves as your working table.
2. Folding Workbench – It is the most recommended worktable for every DIYer and woodworker at a small woodshop. You can simply assemble your folding working table when you start to work and then fold it down when not in use. This folding bench can work as your assembly table too.

3. Workbench With Storage Cabinet – Other woodworkers build their sturdy worktable with drawers and shelving unit. You can attach a storage drawer on both sides of your bench and add a cabinet in the center part underneath the woodworking table. On the other hand, you can use it to store your sander, biscuit joiners, drill, and other hand tools. You can also use it to store small cuts of wood that can be used later.

Wood clamping is done in your shop worktable; thus, it would be wise to have a clamp rack near your working bench. You can build a clamp rack on your shop wall space. It will help you keep your woodworking tools near your work area.

Table Saw

Most of the wood ripping and cutting in your woodshop is done in your table saw station. Thus, it requires enough space in your workshop. However, the small woodshop layout cant afford to have a large table saw on their small shop. 

It is recommended for a small woodshop layout to have a small benchtop table saw with mobile bases. With a portable table saw, you can save your floor space and maximize your workspace. To save more floor space on your small woodshop, you can turn your benchtop table saw into a cabinet style table saw. You can use those cabinets under your table saw to store portable tools for your woodworking projects.

Miter Saw

Miter saw station is where you cut your lumber. For DIYer and woodworkers, a miter saw is an essential tool for a woodworking shop. You can position your miter saw station near your garage workshop entry door so that you can easily cut your lumber.

You can create a portable DIY miter saw station in your workshop to save workspace. Other woodworkers build a station with a folding design. They attached an extension table like wings on the miter saw table folded when not in use.

Other space-saving tips for miter saw are by installing mobile bases. With mobile bases, you can easily roll and push around your miter saw around your workspace. You can also attach a storage drawer or cabinets under your miter saw station and use it to store your extra saw blades and hand tools.

Radial Arm Saw

Not all woodworking shops had a radial arm saw on their shop for some reasons. However, the radial arm saw is one of the versatile stationary tools in woodworking. Just like other woodworking saws, it is mainly used in wood cutting.

The radial arm saw is one of the heavy and bulky woodworking tools in a woodshop. However, you can utilize your shop space by building a mobile radial arm saw stand. With a mobile base stand, you can easily save your shop space by moving it out from your shop when not in use.

Dust Collection System

Wood cuttings, sanding, and planing are the key factors of dust pile on your small shop. Yes, most of the tools used in a woodshop create a large pile of airborne dust. It can be easily inhaled by anyone working in your shop. And it can lead to serious health problem if not address correctly.

A working dust collection is recommended in every woodshop, even how small a shop you had for your woodworking.

Woodworkers sometimes use a shop vac as an additional dust collector on their dust collection and place them underneath their woodworking power tools. You can also create your DIY dust collector in your small shop.

The DIY dust collector is the easiest way to minimize the dust in your small shop in the cheapest way. With an empty bucket and PVC pipe, you can make your dust collector. But, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to have a working dust collector in your woodshop. A DIY dust collector is just an additional dust collection for you to minimize your woodshop dust.

You can save space on your small shop by keeping your dust collection system underneath your stationary power tools. For example, other woodworkers keep their dust collector underneath their miter saw table, table saws station, and other power tools used in wood cuttings.

You can also install a dust collector behind each saw you had in your woodworking shop so it will directly suck your wood dust. It will prevent your wood dust to float all over your woodshop work surface.

Remember: Your dust collection plays a vital role in your woodshop. It will keep your woodshop clean and tidy. Moreover, your dust collection will protect you and your power tools against its damaging effect.

Router Table

Build a router table with the same height as your miter saw table, so it will work as your miter saw table extension if you need to cut long woods for your woodwork project. You can attach storage shelves, cabinets, or drawers below your router table and use them as additional tool storage for your woodworking tools.

Above your router table, you can build a wall-mounted storage shelf and use it as your drill bits tool storage. Wall-mounted shelving unit will save your woodshop space, and at the same time, you can utilize your wall space.

Mobile Tool Stand

Another space-saving tip for your small woodshop is a mobile tool stand. It would be best if you could build a flip-top design for your tool storage stand. Mobile tool stand storage with the flip-top design will allow you to store two different woodworking tools in one storage. Don’t you think it is a good way to save space in your small woodshop? Yes, it is! For example, you can keep your sander and planer in one mobile tool stand. And then, you just need to pull it out when you need it for your woodworking projects.

Wood Storage

Every woodworking workshop needs wood storage. Yes, no matter how small the woodshop layout you have in your garage shop, you need a wood storage area. Now, how can you save some floor space in building your wood storage? You need to utilize your workshop wall space! Yes, your small workshop wall space can be used as your wood storage. How?

Instead of building wood storage that lay flat on your shop floor space, try to create shelving wood storage on your shop wall space. For example, above your table saw station, install wall-mounted wood storage that will serve as storage for your cut wood board. You can also attach shelving wood storage near your bench for wood that needs to be assembled.

You can save some floor space if you build a wall mounted sheet goods storage. Wall-mounted sheet goods will take up zero floor space from your woodworking shop.

Small Shop Lighting Design

A good lighting ambience is essential for every woodworking shop. Your shop lighting will set the mood and atmosphere on your work surface. Moreover, your shop light ambience is the key foundation of your vision while doing your woodworking projects. Yes, your woodworking finish project qualities depend not only on your skills but also on your shop light quality.

Other woodworkers choose natural light from their workshop. But other workshop don’t support natural light like a garage shop as it is impossible to have big windows. So instead of depending on their shop’s natural light, they installed electrical light as their shop lighting.

You can directly install your shop lights on your shop ceiling. But, light bulbs on your ceiling are not enough for your shop lighting ambience. Why? Because there are woodworking tasks that required accuracy and precision like wood cutting, wood markings, and wood levelling.

Just like other woodworkers, you can install lights directly on your woodworking power tools. For example, If you install tool storage on your shop wall space near your working bench, you can add a strip of electric lighting attached to your tool storage space.

2 Factors To Consider in Shop Light Fixtures Design

LED vs. Fluorescent

LED lights are cost-saving light fixtures as it has lower energy consumption. It offers a bright LED light all over your woodwork shop. On the other hand, fluorescent light uses more power voltage and become less efficient over time. Yes, the longer the fluorescent age, the more voltage it requires to produce adequate light brightness.

Lumens

A bulb lumens refer to the total amount of visible light from a light bulb. The higher the light bulb lumen, the brighter it is. The lower the light bulb lumen, the dimmer the light is. So, if you want to have a brighter shop, consider having a light bulb with higher lumens. For example, a 300 lumen light bulb is enough to light a small children’s room space. At the same time, a 1000 lumen light bulb is enough to light a large room.

You can calculate the number of your light fixtures for your woodworking workshop by knowing your light bulb lumens’ capacity.

How Do You Design A Workshop?

As a woodworker, your small woodworking shop needs to have a good design. This guide here will help you design your small woodworking shop that will suit your different woodworking projects.

Tips On How To Design A Workshop

1. Determine your workshop goal.
2. Start with your small shop overview.
3. List your woodworking tools that your workshop needs.
4. Design a map or a sketch of where you want to place your woodworking tools and machines.
5. Review your small shop design
6. Implement your carefully planned small woodworking shop design.

Small Workshop Layout- How To Make It Look Bigger

Allow me to elaborate on each step mentioned below to incorporate it into your shop design to save space on your small shop layout.

Mobile Tools

One way to maximize your small workshop space is by making your woodworking tools mobile. Yes, with mobile tools, your small workshop will feel bigger and larger than its actual area. For instance, instead of buying a large table saw, why not buy a benchtop table saw and then utilize it by attaching a storage cabinet underneath its table.

You can also buy a portable miter table saw and build a mobile base stand for your saw. Other stationary woodworking tools can be mobile too by attaching a mobile base caster, allowing you to freely move your devices. You can push it back to the wall if not in use and then pull it to the centre when in use. Yes, mobile tools will allow you to relocate your woodworking tools freely around your small workshop layout.

By making your woodworking tools mobile, you can make your limited workshop space bigger.

Space Saver Workbench

Make your working bench a space saver by mounting a storage cabinet underneath your bench. Storage cabinet under your bench will serve as additional storage for your hand tools. You can also build a storage drawer under your working bench. This drawer can be used as storage for your woodworking screws, bits, and other hand tools. With this option, you can have a smoother workflow as you can go on here for easy access while doing your woodworking project.

Aside from these working bench space-saving ideas, other woodworkers choose to have a folding working bench and a flip-top bench in their small workshop. With this space-saving design, they can save space on their small shop as they can easily fold their working bench when not in use.

Scrap Wood Pile

If not stored properly, your woodpile will occupy most of your small shop floor space and working area. It would be best to have a designated storage area to keep your woodpile like the small cuttings properly. Other woodworkers make a storage bin where they will store their board cuttings to maximize their shop area where they work on their woodshop projects.

On the other hand, some woodworkers mounted a cabinet on their woodshop bench. The mounted storage under the working bench is utilized to store woodshop tools and other paraphernalia, including small scrap woodpile cuttings.

Aside from the storage cabinet mounted on your working bench, you can also mount a storage shelve for your scrap woodpile. For instance, you can mount storage under your stationary tools commonly used in board cuttings like your cuttings saws, or your assembly table or anywhere on your shop area.

When you properly store and organize your scrap woodpile, you keep your woodshop safe and organized, making your shop area feel bigger and larger than its usual size.

How do you set up a woodshop garage?

Are you ready to set up your woodshop? With the tips and ideas mentioned above, you may feel prepared to set up your small woodshop garage. But wait! There are more factors you need to know before setting up your woodshop garage.

As you know, the first thing you need to do in setting up your woodshop. However, the first factor you need to determine is your woodshop location. You may already decide where to build your workshop. Have you? Well, have you ever considered in your plan for any future changes like shop expansion? It is important to take into consideration before setting up your woodshop. Why? Because your business will grow in the long run and at some point, you need to expand your woodshop – the area where you work on your projects.

Aside from that, there are more factors you need to take into consideration before you set up your woodshop. For example, aside from the things we discussed above, you also need to consider the following factor:

• Woodshop Ventilation
• Woodshop Power Requirement
• Shop Noise Reduction

Woodshop Ventilation

There is a large array of ventilation equipment, sized and style available in the market when it comes to woodshop ventilation. There are two-way of proper ventilation – heating and cooling ventilation.

In cooling ventilation, there are different ways you can utilize in your workshop. Like the following:

• Fans
• Central Air Conditioning
• Window and Ductless Mini-Split Air Conditioners
• Radiant and Evaporative Cooling

Now, let us discuss the most common and inexpensive way of woodshop ventilation. One of the most common ways to ventilate your woodshop is by a ventilation fan. Like the portable heater, you can use different fan types to ventilate your workshop depending on your shop layout.

• Industrial Fan – Recommended being used in large woodshop layout as it produces a large amount of air to ventilate your one whole shop.
• Oscillating Fan – This kind of ventilation is recommended for a small woodshop layout. As it oscillates moving back and forth, the air it produces will circulate over in your small shop workspace.
• Box Fan – This is the most portable one among all the ventilation fan. You can easily place it wherever you want around the area where you work. But, it will not be enough to ventilate your whole workshop room.

One way to ventilate your woodshop during winter is by a heater. There are various types of portable heater that you can utilize to circulate your shop during the winter season. You can choose between the following:

• Propane Heater
• Electric Heater
• Kerosene
• Radiant Heat

It is up for you to decide what kind of ventilation you would use for your workshop. I hope these ideas will help you choose and maintain an efficient, comfortable work environment in your workshop area.

Workshop Power Requirement

Every woodshop needs an adequate power supply. Why? A properly wired woodshop will ensure the woodworker’s safety. Not just your safety, but the overall woodshop safety. Poor wiring and inadequate power supply sometimes cause fire breakout, leaving some houses and shop burned. You wouldn’t like that.

How can you make sure that your workshop had adequate wiring and electrical service? 

There are things you need to consider before you decide on what wiring and power supply you need. However, if you are not a skilled electrician, you should leave your woodshop wiring job to a professional to avoid wiring problems in the future.

However, you take this guide here to determine your workshop wiring and power service.

Lists down all the power tools you need to use in your workshop and its probable voltage. Here are the tools you might need to use in your shop.

• Table Saw
• Band saw
• Jointer
• Drill Press
• Planer
• Miter Saw
• Arm Saw
• Dust Collector Equipment
• Wood Turning Lathe
• Power Hand Tools

Woodshop Noise Reduction 

Most of the tools and equipment used in a woodshop like cutting saws are loud and noisy. It will not only affect you and your household but also to your neighbourhood. And noise exposure would lead to serious hearing problems. To avoid such a situation and ensure your safety, you need to ensure you have noise reduction equipment on your woodshop.

5 Ways to Reduce Noise in Woodworking Workshop

1. Sound block wall covering on your woodshop.
2. Air Sealant in your workshop door, windows, and ceiling.
3. Use Acoustic Sealant to seal every crack and hole on your woodshop.
4. Insulation blankets in your ceiling.
5. Use woodshop tools that operate with lower sounds.
6. Eliminate and replace your woodshop machines that have a loud noise.

If you don’t have enough budget for woodshop noise reduction equipment, you can still reduce the noise in your workshop. If applicable depending on your work project, you can embrace hand tools usage than a stationary one that produces noise. The advantage of using hand tools is that it makes less noise and less dust pile.

A good woodshop is composed of ample space for your work area, a well-ventilated shop, enough lumber storage, light ambiance, noise reduction, and efficient dust collection.

You may don’t have enough space in your workshop, but with the tips and ideas for a workshop layout mentioned in this article, you can always have a woodshop. Yes, a woodshop with sufficient space around your workshop tools where all your devices are accessible.