Having built a couple of shops in basements in the last 20 years, I hope this is my last! Lessons learned were applied to the new house. Although it isn't really well organized (yet), and even the Bridgeport isn't in it's final home (yet, or even repainted!) you can get a feeling for what's here.
For me, machine tools belong in the basement. In our part of the world going from -30F to 90F seasonally is too hard on things. Inside, they're safe, warm, and dry!
We couldn't build a walk out on this property. It just wouldn't work. So the next thing was the ability to lift machinery in and out. That's done with access from the garage into the basement. Stairs are removable and lifted with the same chain fall used to move the equipment. Trusses were designed to bolt an I beam below them. Lift capacity is 4000lbs although the factor of safety is pretty high on that, so should be able to handle more if necessary. Stairs are mounted on a large french cleat on the wall, and moved out of the way. In general this didn't add much cost to the build, other than the 30' I beam and hardware to hang it. By planning early, the builders were able to accommodate everything wanted without changing the bid.
Access to the stairs is done through a 4 foot steel door with handicap threshold. If it won't fit through there, it isn't coming in. The Bridgeport is standard weight. I think the big surface grinder is close to the Bridgeport in weight. The router table is close to a ton. The lathe, maybe 1200lbs???. Everything else is easy in comparison.
The only real splurge was having the floor shot blasted before epoxy was applied. This is a pretty thin epoxy, so the shot blasted texture shows in places. However it's great for these old machines that like to mark their territory, just wipe it clean.
I'll find out how easy it is to remove stuff this spring. The Bridgeport is coming out for a paint job shortly. Dirty stuff (grinding, welding, wood work) happens in the outside garage. That's where the this machine will get cleaned up and checked out.
Maybe the only thing I would change would be to make the garage slightly deeper, and widen the 4' door some. But other than that I have no complaints. It's not like machines are moved in and out daily.
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