Scott's Garage Makeover

[Scott Parks]

First of all, I'm alive and well, and pretty much unpacked at our new house in Colorado. Thanks to those who were concerned and asking how the move went.

Second, I know that there are many garage/shop projects posted here already. But now it is my turn to do it, and do it MY way.:D This will be MY garage (but has to be able to park 2 vehicles). So anyway, I'm looking forward to starting from scratch and making all the shop improvements to meet my needs.

The garage is a typical 3 car garage, 19' deep. Unfinished, except for the common wall to the house.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Esparks75/garage1.jpg

First off, on closing day, I managed to get over to the new house and "prep" it for our arrival. I started off with a $5 garden hose from Wal-Mart and 3 gallons of Muriatic acid. After 2 acid washes, and a thorough rinse, I applied the first coat of U Coat It light gray epoxy (www.ucoatit.com) (http://www.ucoatit.com%29). That took about 3 hours total. Next morning, applied second coat of epoxy, and sprinkled in the blue and black flecks. (1.5 hours). Then had to go to work. Came home from work, and painted 3rd coat. This coat is a UV auto tire resistant hi-gloss 2 part Eurathane. The clear coat took about an hour to apply. I then left the house untill we showed up with the moving truck about a week later. When I returned, I was excited to see how great the floor looked! So far, I really like this floor system. It is easy to sweep and clean, and it looks awesome! A lot of neighbors have come by and commented on my cool floor. At $775 + acid it better be good!
http://home.comcast.net/%7Esparks75/garage2.jpg
Now that we are moved in, the garage is a mess. I have no storage. So for now, there are still a lot of boxes piled in the middle. (In my way)

Meanwhile, on to the electrical. The existing wiring was pathetic. (1) 15amp 110v circuit, with (2) outlets...

So my over-engineered solution... Subpanel for the garage. Here's my subpanel that will tie into my main breaker panel. It is a 100 amp rated box with 6 slots. I have 2 guage stranded copper feeding it from my main box. From here are (2) 20 amp 110v circuits, one for the north wall, and one for the south, each with 2 outlets (GFIC protected, of course). The 50 amp 220v circuit will serve a 'dedicated' 5hp dust collector (future), or can also be used for a welder, should I ever aquire one. The 20amp 220v circuit will be dedicated to my tablesaw.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Esparks75/subpanel2.jpg
Now I'm not sure exactly where I'll be setting up the DC, or the tablesaw. So for now, I'm terminating the 50a 220 into this handibox, and leaving the wires un-attatched from the breaker. I will be terminating the tablesaw circuit into another similar box. After I drywall, I will then continue with conduit on the finished wall to where I will be installing the tools...
http://home.comcast.net/%7Esparks75/subpanel.jpg

Tonight, I might get to add the wire for the tablesaw circuit.

Yesterday, I also fished a wire into the existing light switch to add a ceiling fan. I roughed in the wire for the fan. When I went to hook it up and add another switch, I had a *shocking* discovery. The monkey who wired this house, wired the neutral HOT in my existing switch box!:mad::mad::mad: I can't figure this out. I asked the neighbor if he could come and figure it out. (he's a general contractor). He said that his electrician did a lot of the houses on this street, and he may have done my house. So now, I'm waiting for this guy to show up and take a look at that circuit. Also, while he's here, I'll have him check my subpanel installation and *criticize* it. So, I'm waiting for him, before I hook it up to my main panel.

[Bruce Page]

Hi Scott
It looks like you have your work cut out for you, but you started off right! The floor looks awesome!

[Don Baer]

Looks like you've got a good start. I'll be following your progress very closely since there's a new 3 car shop in my future. I'm a little luckey'r then you though since I only need to leave room for 1 car. My truck will do just fine outside.

:D

[Corey Hallagan]

Congrats on the new place and especially the new shop. Can't wait to see it all set up!

Corey

[Chris Padilla]

Insulate that garage pronto...or at leas the portion neslted up to the house. :) Looks like a great start, Scott! Very nice floor, too. I used a different company and I'm not all that pleased with it. Doesn't seems that tough to me...the ucoatit, I've heard, is darn good but it ain't cheap!

[Lee DeRaud]

Did I read that right? 50A 220V for a dust collector?!?:eek:
Or to quote Tim Allen, "It'll suck the eyes out of a parrot!"

[Von Bickley]

Scott,
It sounds like the electrician took the "HOT" wire to the ceiling box and then dropped a "switch leg" down to the switch box. This is the way the old-timers did it. If that's the case, the hot comes down on the white wire and goes back to the light on the black wire. If that is what you have, you can hook up your new switch with just your black wire and a jumper to his "hot" white wire. You can get your neutral at the ceiling box where the existing light is.
If I can help you with this, let me know.... ;)

[Bob Marino]

Scott,

Looks like you have plenty of work ahead of you but also looks like you have plenty to work with - that floor looks real nice. As someone who is also in the initial phase of his garage project, I can see that you are off to a great start.

Bob

[Steve Schoene]

Boy I quickly got to needing more than six slots for my 100 amp shop service. For example, 220 circuits include tablesaw, jointer planer combo, lathe, dust collector and compressor,--that plus the lights has more than used up six slots in the box.

[Scott Parks]

Did I read that right? 50A 220V for a dust collector?!?:eek:
Or to quote Tim Allen, "It'll suck the eyes out of a parrot!"
<grunt> arghh.. MORE POWER!:D You never know, I just might need to use a welder some day... Yes, I said 50 amp....

Scott,
It sounds like the electrician took the "HOT" wire to the ceiling box and then dropped a "switch leg" down to the switch box. This is the way the old-timers did it. If that's the case, the hot comes down on the white wire and goes back to the light on the black wire. If that is what you have, you can hook up your new switch with just your black wire and a jumper to his "hot" white wire. You can get your neutral at the ceiling box where the existing light is.
If I can help you with this, let me know.... ;)

So here's what I've got... There are 2 existing romex wires. One, is a 3 wire, with black=hot, white=neutral, red=switched to light bulb. 2nd romex, has black tied to the hot black, and white tied to the nuetral. I traced this romex to the porch lights. Here's the problem. With the 2nd romex, black hooked to the other black hot leg, it then makes the white one hot. Maybe they were using it as an "extension" to the porch light circuit? and the neutral is routed back somewhere else? I ran a new romex to where the new ceiling fan will be, so I don't have another neutral up there. I was planning on tying into the hot on the current switch, and assuming that the white was a neutral. Does this make sense?

[Scott Parks]

OK, I couldn't sleep last night after thinking about the 50 amp comment. What was I thinking???:eek: I wasn't planning for a future MM16 or DJ20!:eek: Welder? Come on, I'll never weld anything, what would I need one of those for? Besides, my friend has a little portable MIG, and I'm sure I wouldn't need 50 amps to run that little thing... So scrap the 50a welder circuit...

Plus, I was planning on plugging the DC into the 50 amp circuit. I got to thinking that this MAY be unsafe, because I would be stepping down to a 10g cord to connect the 5hp motor on the DC. The 50a breaker would not adequately protect the 10g cord to the motor. I'm sure it would never be a problem, but... I'm a worry wort, and it would bother me.

So plan "B"... I'm swapping out the 50 for a 30a, 10g circuit for DC (5hp motor rated at 21amps), and adding another 20a 220v circuit for dual purpose use to a future 16" bandsaw, or DJ20 Jointer.:rolleyes:

So does this sound like a better plan? I'll still leave the 6g wire in the wall, just in case me or a future buyer ever intends on welding, you know, just in case....

[Lee DeRaud]

OK, I couldn't sleep last night after thinking about the 50 amp comment. What was I thinking???:eek: I wasn't planning for a future MM16 or DJ20!:eek: Welder? Come on, I'll never weld anything, what would I need one of those for? Besides, my friend has a little portable MIG, and I'm sure I wouldn't need 50 amps to run that little thing... So scrap the 50a welder circuit...

So plan "B"... I'm swapping out the 50 for a 30a, 10g circuit for DC (5hp motor rated at 21amps), and adding another 20a 220v circuit for dual purpose use to a future 16" bandsaw, or DJ20 Jointer.:rolleyes:

So does this sound like a better plan? I'll still leave the 6g wire in the wall, just in case me or a future buyer ever intends on welding, you know, just in case....Didn't mean to ruin your sleep.:(

I suspect that 30A circuit should be fine for welding, unless you're planning on building a car frame from scratch or something like that.

[Scott Parks]

Quick update...

I added another 20amp 220v circuit for a future bandsaw or larger jointer.
The electrician that wired the house is coming out Monday, or Tuesday, to figure out why my light circuit is wired that way. While he is here, I will have him look over my subpanel and make sure I did it right. Also, I will have him plan out my future basement subpanel and hot tub. I was hoping to insulate and drywall this week, but I'm waiting for the electrical plan for the basement, before I close up the walls...

I'll keep y'all posted...

[Scott Parks]

The progress continues...

I got held up on the electrical. I wanted to consult an electrician to remedy a small problem I had, and plan out for the future wiring to the basement. We decided to run a 2 gauge through the garage wall into the basement.

For the garage, we ended up running 2 20amp 110v circuits, 2 20amp 220v circuits, and 1 30amp 220v circuit.

I made excellent progress today. I finished hanging the drywall, and filling my large gaps and screws. Tomorow I plan to tape and try out the "D-Mix". I scored a load of paint yesterday at the BORG. On the mis-tint rack, I picked up 8 gallons of paint for $24.

I can't wait to finish this project, and sort out my mess. I can't stand this mess, but I don't have any storage yet. I spend half my time moving stuff out of my way. Hopefully I wont have to work this weekend, and I'll have it painted.

[Frank Pellow]

It's looking really good, especially the floor (where one can see it underneath the boxes and stuff :D ). Did you put in insulation under that drywall? Why did you use drywall, rather than plywood for the walls?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Scott, it is looking great! Sounds like you ahve your work cut out for you, but it should be a fun time.

Your hot neutral sounds like a "switch loop". Run power to the light box and then use one wire down to the switch. In some cases, this is a better solution because you can get to the ceiling easier than the wall. In any case, if you had a hot wire that was not black or red, you need to tape it off with black tape so you don't do it again! :) (Not your fault, if it was hot, he should have taped it with black tape to show it was hot).

[Scott Parks]

Frank,

Yes, it's insulated. I chose drywall because it is cheaper than plywood. Also, I wanted to have perfect wall seams. I don't hang anything on walls anyways, except cabinets. My cabinets will be hung on french cleats, thus no need for plywood walls. Also, there will be a loft in the third stall for lumber storage. So, basically I don't have a need for plywood walls.

Jeff, the electrician solved my other wiring problem. The hot came from the neutral due to a solar sensor that was hooked up to the light circuit. He described it as a Neutral shock. Where my fingers were acting as a light bulb, thus taking the current.

I needed the electrician to plan for a future basement finish, and hot tub. Also, after I put in the subpanel and ran the 2 ga wire, I discovered that my main panel would neutral bar would not take the big wire. He looked over all my work, and hooked up my subpanel to the main panel, and installed a future panel in the basement. Now I will never have to tie into my main panel again. All future wiring in the house will be tapped into the basement panel. The city inspector came and OK'd the rough in.

Now off to taping:( Joy....