What would you do? (setting up new studio from scratch)

Susieliu · #1 2009-01-28, 10:54am

Hi everyone! I am new to the board, and should first say a little about my situation. I have a BFA in crafts and did a lot of glass blowing, though it has been a few years. I have been teaching since college and am now expecting my first child. I am looking to set up a home lampworking studio to get my glass chops back and hopefully gain a source of income working at home. I want to be a WAHM for the forseeable future. ANyway, here are the details of my quandry:
My husband and I own a 3 story rowhome in Philly. The basement is large, but unfinished. There is natural gas down there for heating and hot water. There are windows, but they all need to be replaced (they are over 100 yrs old). Plusses: easy to ventilate, natural gas available, easy to keep glass, frit, dust, etc. contained to non-living quarters. minuses: dark and dreary.
On the 3rd floor there is a room I could use as a studio, it has 2 windows. It would make a much nicer place to spend a lot of time, but I am worried about safety of gas, getting tanks up 2 flights of stairs, fumes and dust/ glass in children's and dog's feet.
So, what is safest, keeping in mind there will be child(ren) running around. Is my gut feeling of the basement correct? Any other advice to share? I am still thinking about it all, figuring out what the set up costs will be, etc.
Thanks,
Susie

NMLinda · #2 2009-01-28, 12:42pm

I'd suggest figuring out how to safely set up in the basement. That gives you the option of using either tanked 02 or an oxycon, whichever you prefer for the torch you're planning to use, and would make it easier to connect to your natural gas if you don't want to use propane (not sure how you could get it up to your third story, anyway, without ripping into a lot of walls, or running an ugly pipe on the outside of your house....). If you do want to use propane, which, as I'm sure you know, MUST go outside, it would be easier to pipe through a wall or window at the basement level than trying to run it up three stories to the upper bedroom. The basement has the added advantage of being easier to clean up stray bits of glass - probably safer with a young child in mind, plus there'd be room to set up a safe and separate play area.

Regarding ventillation, there have been some clever ways posted on LE over the past months, if you haven't already seen them, on how to run ventilation out a window if you prefer not to run it out a wall - but also good ideas for that, as well. Since your basement is unfinished, you'll want to be careful how you bring in your make-up air so that you don't pull exhaust fumes from your heating system and water heater back into the basement if you choose to set up there. This isn't insurmountable, but takes some planning. To help avoid that problem, you might want to consider putting in an under-the-bench make-up air system as well as utilizing a window for additional make-up air. I'd recommend you search this forum and some of the other related glass forums for recommendations and ideas. Since you're expecting, I'm sure you'll want to be super careful.

I'm in the process of setting up my studio in the basement, myself. Even though my studio is walled off and my water heater and heating systems have external air vents, I have a heating vent into my shop, so I have some of the same considerations. I chose to set up on the walk-in side of my basement where I have an entry door and good-sized windows to provide make-up air behind me. I've installed a fan into one of the outside walls for fresh air so that I can avoid building up negative air pressure that might pull fumes in from my heater and water heater when I want to keep the windows/doors closed. This fan has a lower cfm than my ventilation fan so that I don't overpower my exhaust system. Like you, I live in a cold climate, so I'm also considering running passive under-the-bench make-up air from the walk-in side wall. One good tip I learned from a post by Mary/Moth is to put screens over any ventilation openings, which I'm doing. Think she posted that she had a bird fly in once....

Anyway, my vote would be for the basement. Overall, I think the infrastructure logistics will prove to be much easier there than upstairs

Good luck!
Linda

MerryFool · #3 2009-01-28, 1:17pm

...all very good points, Linda!

AND Susie, you can always "cheer up" your basement working area without too much trouble. As long as you have enough light to work in and the safest, most organized set-up, I doubt you'll be seeing much of anything down there but the glass that you're working with/on! Have fun and good luck!

Welcome to the Forum, Susie. It's a great place to network and learn from and be inspired by!

mewsicmama · #4 2009-01-28, 3:26pm

Welcome Susie! Lots of great information and helpful people here. I'd go for the basement too - lots of options that way.

e. mort · #5 2009-02-02, 7:08am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Susieliu

Hi everyone! I am new to the board, and should first say a little about my situation. I have a BFA in crafts and did a lot of glass blowing, though it has been a few years. I have been teaching since college and am now expecting my first child. I am looking to set up a home lampworking studio to get my glass chops back and hopefully gain a source of income working at home. I want to be a WAHM for the forseeable future. ANyway, here are the details of my quandry:
My husband and I own a 3 story rowhome in Philly. The basement is large, but unfinished. There is natural gas down there for heating and hot water. There are windows, but they all need to be replaced (they are over 100 yrs old). Plusses: easy to ventilate, natural gas available, easy to keep glass, frit, dust, etc. contained to non-living quarters. minuses: dark and dreary.
On the 3rd floor there is a room I could use as a studio, it has 2 windows. It would make a much nicer place to spend a lot of time, but I am worried about safety of gas, getting tanks up 2 flights of stairs, fumes and dust/ glass in children's and dog's feet.
So, what is safest, keeping in mind there will be child(ren) running around. Is my gut feeling of the basement correct? Any other advice to share? I am still thinking about it all, figuring out what the set up costs will be, etc.
Thanks,
Susie

Before you do anything, check out your insurance, and contact the local fire department. You don't have to give them your name, but find out if they will cancel your fire insurance, or it your area doesn't allow propane in a basement. If they don't allow propane in the basement, then you may be able to go use natural gas with a booster, and get a torch that will run on it and an oxygen generator/concentrator. The last thing you want to do is build your dream studio, and then be told you aren't allowed to use it.

Susieliu · #6 2009-02-07, 6:48am

THanks for all the advice. I will definately call the FD and my insurance company. I am thinking the basement is best as well. See you all around the boards!
~Susie

cheng076 · #7 2009-02-07, 11:58am

The US Building code and most fire codes in the US forbid "storage" of propane inside a residence in containers over 1 pound such as those used with a Hot Head torch. The codes do not forbid the use of propane inside your 'residence' no matter how big the outside storage tank is. An example would be all the homes in the US that use propane for heating and cooking from 100 to 250 gallon outside tanks.

Dale M. · #8 2009-02-08, 8:30am

Here are some of my thoughts on basement studio....

http://www.artglassanswers.com/forum...opic.php?t=430

I'm not saying it cant be done, its just that there is a lot to consider ...

Dale

NMLinda · #9 2009-02-08, 9:37am

Thanks for posting, Dale, that's an excellent white paper with important elements for Susie to consider.

Susie, in addition to Dale's thread, Art Glass Answers has all sorts of good info on working with natural gas vs propane, how to pipe either in safely, under-the-air make-up air and ventilation in general.

A couple of other good threads to look at for ventilation are

http://mikeaurelius.wordpress.com/ventilation-primer/

and

http://mikeaurelius.wordpress.com/20...-cold-outside/

Does your row house have an attached backyard? If you don't think you can overcome some of the safety considerations Dale mentions in his article for all the things you might like to do, another option might want to build a separate structure.