BASF - 18-6-2003 at 11:39
It is often difficult to find a good place to release poisonous fumes, spill cooking acid and distinguish the daily little fire.
Where do you all experiment right now?
Tell me the story of your lab.
I´m just curious.
HLR
Haggis - 18-6-2003 at 13:45
When I first moved into this house, I thought that it would be nice to have a little space for myself...my stuff. I had to share the sewing room.
Fine. I had a cramped little table in there and that was it. Then my uncle, seeing how I like things of that nature, gave me a workbench stocked
with tools. This was fun...I was pushing my mom out. "But you can only have that row of shelves," she said pointing to a space on a wall
that is entirely shelving. Then I added a small endstand, then another table perpendicular to the original, then I squeezed another table in with a
(fake) marble top and backsplash. Hence was cristened "The Lab", it was no longer the sewing room. I have taken over 2/3 of the wall of
shelves now and the remaining parts that are hers I pushed her stuff back and put up plates of aluminum, it is my backstop for when I test my cannons.
Yes, I fire pnuematic cannons in my house. I have a nifty little aircompressor built into the original table with a switch. Everything is connected
into the main bench, which is GFI protected and has a main switch, which turns everything off. Nifty. The lab table has all the equipment stored
underneath the tabletop on some shelving there. I keep my scale on the bottom of the shelves. The backing of the thing has cork which I can pin up
chemical scribblings. I have since had to paint over that table twice due to burns, ruining my nice faux marble. I have a fridge and a deepfreeze
nearby and I can get water from the utility room 'next door'. I keep my chemicals safe from prying eyes. I also have a couple windows that
provide a nice, clensing crossbreeze when opened and also provide an 'escape hatch' in which to toss out things in an emergency (or crawl
out in one!). I am quite happy with it now, it provides to all my needs at the moment. My mother has only a 4'x6' work area now....I have
taken over the (nearly) entire room.
DDTea - 18-6-2003 at 15:18
I work in my garage, on top of a chest freezer. It really is not the best place to work, but at the moment it is the only place. I try to keep my
experimenting to an absolute minimum to avoid the relatively unsafe conditions of the garage (clutter, flammable chemicals around, etc.).
This is part of the reason I do not like to work with explosives... Should one go off by accident, I could risk damage to a lot of important things
including the family room, the TV, or one of the cars. Even more so, there is a great risk for flying shrapnel.
One thing I do like about the garage though, is that I can open the door at any time to allow for superior ventilation or a quick escape. My only
real gripe right now is not having a water-source, save for the hose or the kitchen sink.
Organikum - 18-6-2003 at 18:19
I am in the lucky position to have a whole (small) house for me alone now.
So the question is more: "Where do you not experiment?"
But in the longer run the chemistry department will get a place in a tent under the roof. As soon I got water supply and electricity installed and
found the kind of army tent I am after and some other goodies I imagine to be necessary/favorable.
No hurry.
Visitors say: You might consider cleaning house.....
I clean house before visitors come..... 
Solution was found easily:
less visitors 
Madog - 18-6-2003 at 20:18
well, way back in the day i was little had a chem set on a table in the basement
now i moved, we actualy built the house, so i have a room made for me, no sink in it tho, unfortunately. small one in the basement, its my home.
here i have a table that has alot of burn marks, acid marks, stains, punctures, cuts, messed up to hell. i also have a small table with balance on it
across the tiny room, and a table with wheels, like a cart, with a compartment for stuff in the bottom, i keep some glassware in here. the chems are
kept in aa cabinate made from a shipping container my dad got outa a dumpster, its perfect. he put locks and latches on it for me and shelves inside,
whee!, he did it cause he didnt want everyone seeing all the stuff. theres a laptop on the main table, shelves on the wall over it with TONS of stuff,
under the main table is STUFF, solid STUFF.in the corner is stuff that didnt have anywhere else to go
theres shit everywhere, its a fucking mess, but i mean, its pretty well organized, the shit, so i have plenty room to work, my chem stuff is of course
very well organized and all nice, the otehr shit is just hardware shit, electronics, computer stuff, other science things from when i was younger and
liked bugs and stuff like that. the table has a ton of shit, but theres a hole in the shit for me to use, well, its more like theres shit around the
workspace.
you guys made me realise i need to clean my freeking lab, thankyou.
NERV - 18-6-2003 at 20:33
My lab consists of a small storage room in my basement. My mom was going to get a shed for me but the stupid code for where we live says no sheds 
. Anyways after begging her to move her stuff to another location in the basement so
I could have the room I set up a small table, and some shelves. It has grown since then to include stacks of boxes containing things I tinker with, a
couple more shelves for my chems, and another desk to hold my glassware. I made a cheap fume hood out of an old vacuum cleaner packed with activated
charcoal to neutralize funny smells. When I need water I just run a hose from the backyard through a window, I run the wastewater into the drain under
the furnace. It is a pretty good lab; I can easily escape if things get out of control.
trinitrotoluene - 18-6-2003 at 21:22
I don't really have a lab. I do almost everything in my backyard, on my deck. I lay out an extension cord from inside my kitchen all the way
outside. That powers my hotplate, and other equipment. I set up a lab outside, I bring out beakers flasks, chems, whatever I needed, after I'm
done I clean everything outside and bring it back inside. Whenever the fumes do get out of hand I either go upwind or I just go inside untill
everything is clear again. But I hope to get a shed very soon. I don't want me neighbor getting in my business, I know my oneo f the next door
neighbor always ask me questions, my other one dosen't care. But the ones on the backyard neighbors don't like what I'm doing, they
don't like how I sometimes use a 20" box fan and blowing all the fumes into their yard. I do feel I need some space somewhere indoors such
as a basement. I don't want people seeing me.
blip - 18-6-2003 at 21:39
I've got a heavily trashed shed (15x15 to 20x20 ) that I will use when I
feel like clearing it all out. With the exception of the b*tchy one across the street, my neigbors generally don't care, and if they did
they'd likely be understanding. Good thing considering the opening of the shed is plainly visible to one next door. It's an old shed, so
the damp, slowly rotting wood would retard combustion and my mom wouldn't have to worry about us charring half of the house. I don't really
have backyard neighbors, they're on the other side of two fences, a multi-acre field, and a ditch.
Ramiel - 21-6-2003 at 06:21
When we moved into our house about ten years ago, I immediately marked out the bar in the 'games room' as my territory (which does not mean
I scented it, although stamping and snorting to intimidate my siblings was nesesary sometimes). It is about two meters by three meters, which is not
much, but it has four power outlets and a sink, as well as a cupboard to keep my things in below the sink. Unfortunately I'm rapidly running out
of room, as it has to support everything I do - pyrotechnics, chemistry, computer modding, moonshine, rocketry, high energy research, plus more.
I have to carry out my distilling in the kitchen - my family seems pretty lasé fair about the whole issue, but it is still a less than optimal
arrangement.
I guess I won't be using my dark corner of evil these days (as it has been dubbed) because of college. I briefely toyed with the idea of moving
all my experiments up to college, but who'd get work done in that enviroment!
When I move into a house (or build my own!) I'll get a big fuck off basement built with all the mod-cons
ah, pipe dreams...
My backyard shed
Richy - 26-6-2003 at 01:48
My backyard shed is now my lab. Took about 2 hrs to clean up all the guinea pig shit and shift the paints and things aside (dumped outside the shed),
but it was well worth it. my lab smells nice and musty, and the stone pathway outside is prefect for dumping spent acids. They fizz up nice when i tip
them out. 
If you're looking for advice to set up a lab, all you need is a
medium sized space like a laundry or shed, and its a piece of cake. But as trinitrotoluene said, a lab isnt really needed if you're only
interested for some small scale experiments. Just make sure you store stinky chemicals in a safe place, same goes for dirty glassware.
bench tops
Magpie - 23-2-2004 at 20:16
I have some kitchen counters that I will be putting to a better use - benches for my lab. They have a formica top that I would like to cover with
something more suitable. I have been thinking of using 4" x 4" ceramic tiles grouted with epoxy. I noticed in a photo that Organikum had
submitted that the benchtop in an attractive professional laboratory was using what looked like low-gloss clay tiles. In the US a 3/4" black
epoxy benchtop seems to be standard. I was wondering if the clay tiles are standard in Europe, and if so, how are they specified and where might they
be obtained?
Bench Tops cont.
BromicAcid - 23-2-2004 at 20:37
In the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 39th edition there is a recipe for acid proof wood stain.
Solution 1:
125 g CuSO4 (I'm assuming it's the hydrate)
125 g KClO3
100g H2O
Solution 2:
150 g Anilin Oil
180 g Conc HCl
1000 g H2O
Wood must be free from paint, varnish, grease, or chemicals. Apply two coats of solution No. 1, boiling hot with a paint brush, allowing each coat to
dry throughly before the next coat is applied. Then apply two coats of solution No. 2 in the same way. When the wood is completely dried wash off
excess chemicals with hot soapsuds. Finish with raw linseed oil. Polish comes from rubbing the oil down well with a cloth or sponge. Whenever the
tables get dingy again go over them with a coat of linseed oil and rub smooth.
Sometimes the old formulas work well, but applying a saturated solution of KClO3 on wood then applying strong HCl? Regardless, it has to be somewhat
safeish. Maybe I'll do this treatment to my picnic table.
Anyway, I have a shed but it's just a small 'tupperware' shed, that you assemble out of plastic pieces. I made some wooden standup
shelves to put in there, but it's good that it's plastic, anything metal gets eaten by acid fumes. I do all my experiements outside on my
picnic table and I've never had a neighbor complain to me directly. Even when I unleash a cloud of chlorine or ammonia or any other roaming
hazardous chemical. I try to be nice though and not do those things, but sometimes chemicals don't do what they're supposed to do... the
cloud of ClO2 was remarkably bad....
[Edited on 2/24/2004 by BromicAcid]
tom haggen - 23-2-2004 at 21:06
Our garage was cluster fucked since we moved in quite a few months ago. So one day I went out there and started cleaning. I uncovered a nice work
bench next to the back door of the garage and underneath a window. I rigged up an extension cord to bring power over to my bench, but I have no
running water besides the hose outside. I suspended a 150watt H.P.S. above my bench for additional lighting. I love to have a bright work area I will probably be able to detonate explosives in my back yard when it gets closer
to july 4th. People are always letting off explosives that time of year around here, even though those types of fireworks are illegal in this state.
No one seems to give a shit though. I can't wait it's like my christmas. Too bad I don't really give a fuck about the holiday.
[Edited on 24-2-2004 by tom haggen]
benchtop
Magpie - 28-2-2004 at 20:52
I have found a benchtop material that I am quite excited about : Formica Laboratory Grade Laminate 840/LGP (black only).
Thickness is 1 mm so can be coved to a radius of 1/4" to form a nice backsplash!
This will not require a lot of work to install as it is just glued on in a sheet. I don't know the cost yet but I know regular Formica is quite
reasonable. It is able to handle up to 275 deg C and just about every chemical that would normally be used for over 16 hours of exposure. The
exceptions are caustic, sodium sulfide, dichromates, and chromic acid - they have to be wiped up within an hour.
Those kitchen cabinets are going to look much better in black!
Experimenting
Pyroking - 4-3-2004 at 05:49
I experiment in alot of different places so i can get different effects of surroundings if you know what i mean. When i go to my nans i use a lose
compost heap to make a few craters with a few HE's
Quantum - 20-3-2004 at 21:07
I moved into my garage in the corner back in the back. I have very good overhead lighting and a nice table. There is a small door near by that I can
open and step out onto a small brick walk that is hidden from view by some bushes. I can run away out the door or vent the place out. My mom is going
to buy me a table with locking drawers to store all my chems. This will make an L shape with the table I have now. A sink in in the garage but on the
other side any water pipes/vacume will have to have an ass long pipe.
Once I grow up one room will have wrap around benches with a center bench and lots of shelves and drawes. I will have gas jets and a good sink to.
Sir Dudalot - 21-3-2004 at 11:04
I do most of my experimenting on my deck. The dogs are right below but if it's poisonous I'm careful not to let it fall through the cracks.
Well, one time I spilt 300mL of 98% H2SO4....luckily ol' Jack wasn't underneath the spot where I spilled it. A nice breeze goes through
but it gets cold in the winter time. Sometimes the wind will change and I'll get a quick breath of fumes (HNO3 most of the time). A sink is
inside which is annoying. I keep all of my chemicals and beakers, flasks, etc. in my room on a bunch of shelves. I store all my solvents outside.
Oh, I also have a mini-fridge downstairs if I need to keep something cold that isn't fuming.
Saerynide - 21-3-2004 at 12:03
You should scoot the dogs out when you're experimenting. I always make sure I shut my cat (and other ppl) out of which ever room Im working in.
I can afford to hurt myself, but I definately cannot afford to hurt/lose anyone else.
Hexavalent - 27-1-2013 at 03:58
I'm in the garage: I have a 3m kitchen worktop with 3 cupboards underneath, only one of which is mine. The other two are used for food storage: not
ideal, but I have no choice. My hood is next to a large rack for storing tools etc., and there are also racks on the other side for storing
vegetables, old motorcycle equipment etc.
blogfast25 - 27-1-2013 at 07:20
I have a very roomy brick shed at the bottom of the garden (so nicely away from our home) where the previous owner very conveniently installed an old
fitted kitchen. Loads of work top space, shelves, cupboards etc. And when you have a lot of space you tend to use it badly.
For about a year now I've been running a chemwebstore from there (with a small office/extra warehouse in one of the house's rooms) and so I've had to
learn quickly to optimise the use of space.
The drawback is that I have now unfortunately far less time to dedicate to experiments, so I'm a bit like a kid in a candy store: surrounded by
goodies but unable/forbidden to eat any of them!
[Edited on 27-1-2013 by blogfast25]
100PercentChemistry - 19-4-2016 at 13:04
In my basement. In a little corner with a sink but sadly carpet.
CharlieA - 19-4-2016 at 17:36
In my basement. I plan to mount an apparatus rack onto a sheet of MDF, and then clamp it to my workbench. My sink/running water is at the opposite end
of the basement, so that is how I get my exercise. For a convenient drain, I use a 1-gallon jug (i.e., empty wine bottle) with a custom, plastic
funnel.
chemrox - 20-4-2016 at 10:52
I converted a kitchen in the space I rented for offices. I built a sort of fume evacuation system by installing a big exhaust fan over one of the
sinks where I had my lab frame. This didn't work as well as I needed it too and I ended up with exposures to formaldehyde and DCM. Now I have a proper
fume hood in an office I converted with three sinks and two walls of cabinets. I found some really good stuff like a corian counter top, extra
cabinets, etc. at recyclers for cheap. The fume hood is essential! There are some diy's around here. Just be sure it has enough room. My hood's
exhaust fan does double duty changing the air in the lab every few minutes.