Shop Build...should be a fun journey...

[Roger Feeley]

The two biggest "rabbit holes " one can debate ? I'd say dust collection and open cell vs. closed cell foam . I wouldn't use open cell directly on metal , as it's not a moisture barrier . Opinions do vary .

Three rabbit holes. You forgot toilet paper over or under the roll.

[Clifford McGuire]

Bryan, my naming it that in conversation is purely for the fun of it. A joke if you will. But I would have no issue allowing ostriches use the door, too.

Wow, that must be a tall door.

The height of a male ostrich can range from seven to nine feet tall,

Seriously, I'm enjoying the build-along. Thanks for the reports.

[Jim Becker]

I got a late start doing anything today, but managed to trench for the electrical to our shed and take care of the shop end connection and backfill most of it. I did end up bringing it to the closer end of the shed because either I or the electric supply house mis-measured the UF direct burial cable by about ten feet. No biggie. Just harder to terminate at the shed end because of stuff in the way. I'll finish this up tomorrow and hopefully also get the hVAC disconnect mounted and terminated. 'Have to take the darling daughter to the doctor mid-day, so who knows what I'll actually get done.

[Tom M King]

If the wire is purchased before the trench is dug, it will always be too short, regardless of how good your plans are. It took me two times to figure that one out.

[Jim Becker]

I anticipated that and added to the measurement. But I didn't actually measure the purchased wire before I rolled it out and fed the shop end. No biggie...a "slight lateral 90º path diversion" solved the issue.

PECO (power company) came out a few minutes ago and put in the new meter so the whole service upgrade is now complete.

[Frank Pratt]

We pulled in a 320' long underground 3 phase service of 4 x 750MCM only to find it to be 10' short. Again, the distributor had shorted the cut. This was in the dead of winter and it was a miserable SOB to pull back out. About 3 years later we had to again replace the entire run because the bonehead drilling for bollards around the garbage enclosure hadn't called for locates before digging. I think that place is built on cursed ground.

[glenn bradley]

I anticipated that and added to the measurement. But I didn't actually measure the purchased wire before I rolled it out and fed the shop end. No biggie...a "slight lateral 90º path diversion" solved the issue.

PECO (power company) came out a few minutes ago and put in the new meter so the whole service upgrade is now complete.

Sounds like things are moving right along. It feels great to do some of the things that really show. So much effort goes into infrastructure that leaves the site looking pretty much the same after a hard days work

[Jim Becker]

Yea, the clean-up work outside is "visible" so I'm not leaving it behind in favor of "easier" tasks at all. Fortunately, the weather is cooperating and I can still safely seed with proper mulching with a little reseed in the spring.

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I completed the shed end of the outside circuit today and terminated 4 j-boxes just to get that out of the way. I'm really loving Wagos...wire nuts on 10 gage wire are a thankless task! Tomorrow I hope to get the disconnect installed for the Mini Split (which is actually arriving next Tuesday...a week or two earlier than I was expecting) and probably some more outside work. From there, I want to get the speaker wiring done and maybe a couple more Ethernet runs for cameras before switching to "clean up" mode. It's not too bad in there, but I still want it to be cleaner before moving on to drywall.

[Jim Becker]

Today's activities included installing the disconnect for the HVAC system (mini split) that's arriving next Tuesday and cleaning up all the wiring in each and every box so it could be tucked back properly for the coming drywall work. That meant stripping back the cover which made bundling things to the back of the deep boxes easy. I also took care of the big j-box up in the ceiling for the shared machine circuit. I have to do the one run of wire for the DC outlet that was forgotten the other day (more wired just arrived) and then I'll be able to move on to getting things into the breaker cabinet. I still have the temporary power available to run some lights which will make doing the panel "cold" easy with full visibility.

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My fancy portable workbench...

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[Jim Becker]

Got that last "forgotten" circuit wired in today as well as three of the four speaker locations. Three because I ran out of wire...more is on the way. I'm going to do the panel terminations this weekend as time allows as we have a couple of Professor Dr. SWMBO's siblings and one spouse coming to visit for a day or three. I'll do a much more through cleanup after I complete the panel work 'cause it needs done before the drywall fun starts anyway and that comes right after the mini split gets installed this coming week.

[Lisa Starr]

Wow! You're much more productive than my typical day. With your focus, you'll have a functioning shop in no time.

[Zachary Hoyt]

The wiring progress sounds great, and I can understand not wanting to buy any more wire than you need with prices like they are. I hope all will go smoothly when the time comes to get all the wiring connected in the panel. It always seems to get crowded in there by the time everything is in place, in my limited experience.

[Aaron Inami]

And it's Friday again. lol

[Jim Becker]

The wiring progress sounds great, and I can understand not wanting to buy any more wire than you need with prices like they are. I hope all will go smoothly when the time comes to get all the wiring connected in the panel. It always seems to get crowded in there by the time everything is in place, in my limited experience.

Yea, I think I'm up to about $600 in wire, not counting the 150' or so I already had and about 40 ft that my friend Helmut gifted to me from his moving boxes. This last 100' I bought took care of the need for that missed circuit and leaves me with a comfortable amount for the work in the shed once I can move all the shop stuff out of there for an outlet and lighting plus for house repairs/additions.

I'm pretty methodical with how I put things in a panel and kinda "have a plan". I left plenty of tail so there will be no issue with "anal organization" in there.

Aaron, those Fridays keep on coming but for those of us who are "retired", everyday is Saturday anyway. LOL

[Bob Riefer]

Jim = Methodical? You don't say....