More work in the garage for us. We got most all the insulation and OSB put up. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

So road trip to CO?

 

I think the single cab is going to hurt you on the resell. Most of those that I see for sale are under $2k, in running condition

It would be best to find a quad cab (I've seen many of those from that era around 8k in great shape) or at least an extended cab. Just my view though, good luck!

 

Side project, hrm. The side projects plans for the house is to get the electrical finished in the basement this spring, install a nice 7.1 surround sound system with the projector in the summer, and find a way to afford blown foam insulation in the fall\winter. Also going to fine tune the sprinkler system for the lawn and get ride of any dead\weak grass patches. Oh, and I need to get a couple of windows installed in the garage to help with lighting and open up a spot for a window A/C to cool it down.

 

I am ok without having windows in the garage, I have known places that had them, and that seemed to be the point of entry for burglaries, because there were barriers between the garage and the rest of the house. Of course those places were not in the quiet town of Abilene. Wonder if a skylight would be more helpful in that case?
Maybe windows up high would also be another option?


I have also considered a sprinkler system in the yard, but for as many problems as the neighbor seems to have with his, in addition to my wife's willingness to set up and operate the lawn tractor sprinkler, I may not tackle that. That might change if she decides to change to a job that is outside of the house.


The A/C in the garage has been on my list of to do's but I have to rewire the garage first. The garage was only wired to be on one 20 amp circuit, so I can run my air compressor, or my heater, or my spot lights, but can't run them at the same time, without tripping the breaker. That will be a spring project I believe. maybe not this spring or next spring, or even the one after that, but still a spring project.

 

Yup, I'm not terribly worried about burglaries in Abilene but you do make a very valid point. Maybe I'll just put one in on the south side, that way someone would have to jump the fence before even getting access to the window. Problem is that the A\C would be in the 3rd bay and I rarely work in there, it's mostly a catch all for Jamie and the boys's stuff.

Sprinkler systems are a fun challenge in my eyes. Getting all the stations adjusted just right for time and coverage to perfectly water the grass is such a warm, fuzzy feeling . The heads do need to be adjusted to get them just right but that is easy. Moving them isn't too bad either, I moved about 5 of them last summer because they were placed before the fence was installed and they were blasting the new stain off in their current locations. If you ever do install a system give me a holler because I now know a good amount on how to fix one up. The person hired to do ours when the house was built did a mediocre job that took me all summer to clean up........

I'm fresh out of circuits after installing the basement, so I'm stuck in the same boat as you with the single 20 amp (that I blow frequently enough with just the compressor and electric heater). Our dryer does share a wall with the garage and I wish there was some way to split that circuit and add another outlet for A\C and a welder, but that's over my head and probably impossible

 

The dryer circuit could have just another plug added in the garage for the welder, but it probably may not be up to code. You would just have to make sure the dryer wasn't running at the same time as the dryer. I suppose you could add a switch in the line to shunt the power between the two plugs, so when one was in use, the other would be dead. The welder side of the circuit would not be used on a regular basis and even then probably for a limited time.

 

Another option is have another breaker box installed in the garage. You would have to have an electrician run heavy cables to it, but you could have a daughter box mounted that maybe had 6 circuits. I have a huge breaker box. I think it still has about 10 open breaker locations. 150 amp, or 200 amp. I can't remember.

 

Our breaker box was only half full until we added all the electrical for the basement, now it's full . Darn heated, jetted tub took 2 all by itself .

I would look into that, but I'm sure the cost would be astronomical and just not worth it for how little I'm out there. I sure THINK I use the garage a lot, but I mostly wrench when the weather cooperates. It's still much better here though with the insulated walls, keeps the temps bearable compared to my old shop.

 

I don't think that the dryer would run at the same time, just like you mentioned I would rarely use the garage outlet but I'm sure it wouldn't be up to code. It would make sense to have a switch but I'm not sure of the logistics behind how that would work. That would for sure be my preferred method.

 

You just need to mount a "Whole house generator" right outside the back garage door, and tell Jamie, its for the house, and act surprised when it doesn't power the whole house during a power outage. Just power it up when you are working in the garage, and when she comes out, to tell you electricity is out in the house, just say "Hmm wonder why?", and keep working in your lit warm garage. Tell her to come out and hang with you till power comes back on to keep you company.

 

10 percent of the time, it works every time!

 

Brilliant idea dude! I'm sold on it

 

You mentioned putting up a surround sound in the basement, with your projector screen. I have the surround sound in the garage, because of this being a finished house when we moved in, with about 3 feet of insulation in the attic, I decided I didn't want to disturb the insulation while running wires, and the garage didn't have insulation in the roof. I have been given a pull down projector screen from someone who salvaged a couple from a school remodel. I have an old projector I use for showing movies in the driveway that I could hang off of the garage door motor mount. Perhaps this spring that would be a good project.

 

I like it, a man cave shop with home theatre

Our projector is an older unit but once I get the speakers\head unit installed then I'll upgrade it to an HD\3D unit. I always liked the idea of 3D movies and own a couple of 3D Blu-rays, but they apparently pulled the plug on making them

At least the refurbished units should be pretty cheap!