You guys who are talking about the heat outside... notice the heater below the light switch on the wall... it snowed last weekend....

 

Wow! You have some ambitious plans. And good ones, as well. Are you changing the lighting also?

 

Most definitely changing the lighting! I got those fluorescent fixtures from CL about 10 years ago, they work well but I'd like additional lighting along the walls and in the corners.

Hey, do you know anything about building & fire codes? I'm removing 5/8" fire-block drywall, what if I wanted to cover the walls with inch-thick plywood? Could that be used instead of drywall? Or does it need to go on top of it?

 

The wall between garage and living space needs 5/8 firecode rock. (you can put the rock *over* plywood, but can not have a combustible wall)

The door needs to be UL listed and self closing.
Can't open out over the step.
Check your local codes to see if they go above and beyond the UBC.
Because some municipalities definitely want more.

I think 1" plywood is crazy overkill.
If you are just looking for something to hold screws anywhere OSB would save a lot of $.

 

Yep, yep, yep, and yep

 

What is OSB?
If you are just looking for something to hold screws anywhere OSB would save a lot of $.

 

Oriented Strand Board (flake board) is half the price of plywood.

 

Take a look at the new LED shop lighting. A friend redid his garage with them and he loves them. One huge advantage is no problems with cold weather when fluorescent tubes need to warm up.

I redid my garage lights with all new fluorescents about five years ago, before the LED versions were affordable. For now they work fine but I plan to upgrade to LED as these give out.

Watch out for the Kelvin rating. Some cheap ones are a super bright bluish in the 6k range. These are pretty harsh on the eyes. Look for a warm white in the 3k range for a more natural light.

 

Yep on the sheetrock and OSB discussion.

And, on the lighting, Bill Vose is going with LED strips from Sam's. You might get his input.

 

From the International Building Code:
1 hour fire rated wall;
2″ × 4″ wood studs 16″ on center with two layers of 3/8″ regular gypsum
wallboard each side, 4d cooler or wallboard nails at 8″ on center first layer, 5d cooler or wallboard nails at 8″ on center second layer with laminating compound between layers, joints staggered. First layer applied full length vertically, second layer applied horizontally or vertically.
1 hour fire rated wall;
2″ × 4″ wood studs 16″ on center with two layers 1/2″ regular gypsum wallboard applied vertically or horizontally each side, joints staggered. Nail base layer with 5d cooler or wallboard nails at 8″ on center face layer with 8d cooler or wallboard nails at 8″ on center.
1 hour fire rated wall;
2″ × 4″ wood studs 24″ on center with 5/8″ Type X gypsum wallboard applied vertically or horizontally nailed with 6d cooler or wallboard nails at 7″ on center with end joints on nailing members. Stagger joints each side.
1 hour fire rated wall;
2″ × 4″ fire-retardant-treated wood studs spaced 24″ on center with one layer of 5/8″ Type X gypsum wallboard applied with face paper grain (long dimension) parallel to studs. Wallboard attached with 6d cooler or wallboard nails at 7″ on center.
2 hour fire rated wall;
2″ × 4″ wood studs 16″ on center with two layers 5/8″ Type X gypsum wallboard each side. Base layers applied vertically and nailed with 6d cooler or wallboard nails at 9″ on center. Face layer applied vertically or horizontally and nailed with 8d cooler or wallboard nails at 7″ on center. For nail-adhesive application, base layers are nailed 6″ on center. Face layers applied with coating of approved wallboard adhesive and nailed 12″ on center.

 

Installed new struts in the 07 Supercab 4x4, Easy job done in 2 hrs.
Ordered (for tomorrow) add-a-leafs for the '86 to bring up the rear @ 2"

 

I got to ask why run CAT cable unless you are going to use it for something other than computer connections.
I say this because little over 10 years ago when I had the house in CT modeled I had 2 CAT cables run to all bed rooms (4), living room and 1 in the kitchen. Also had cable run to all the same rooms too.



Fast forward a few years after the remodel and Wi-Fi is getting better and guess what - yep we used Wi-Fi over CAT.
I was in I.T. at the time so I had a patch panel in the basement to tie in the rooms to the network switch.
In the end I used 1 of the 2nd floor bed rooms CAT to tie in a Wi-Fi extender to cover dead areas the "box" did not cover.


My house here in NC is only Wi-Fi. Could use and extender so I have Wi-Fi in my garage when working to stream music.
Dave ----

 

I agree, Dave. I stream movies all the time via wifi. Create web sites via wifi, upload pics to this forum via wifi. Etc.

 

Wi-fi is better than it has ever been, but you cannot beat the consistency and reliability of a physical connection. I don't know that I would go to the trouble of wiring an entire house these days, but for peripheral areas that may not get the strongest signal (such as basements or garages) I think running a line makes sense.

 

Bingo.

I was gonna reply to Fuzzy's query real quick but you said it - wireless is an unreliable technology although convenient at times. But hardwired connections still offer better throughput than even today's 802.11ac stuff and so that's what I'm doing.