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For outlets, since my girt is over 7 feet off the ground, I'm looking at putting 2X4 studs up to have something to attach electrical boxes to. In time, they will be covered so I can have walls to hang stuff on.
I'm thinking 5 outlet boxes on the back 40' wall and 4 on the one 30 foot wall. The 30 foot wall with the door will probably just have three. The front wall 2 or 3. Will that be enough? I could always do what my dad did, drop some conduit from the ceiling and have a few outlets hanging in the middle of the shop.
think about layout, machine placement, and height of same. I put mine every 6 feet and about 4' off floor, but sadly many are covered with shelves and stuff.. I have one center support with a quad box on each side of it.. they get used a lot. Same thinking applies to air lines and welding outlet. I also put at least one GFCI outside on each side of the building and two on the front. I have outlet strips across the front of all work benches with about 10 outlets in each one . When wiring them put every other one on a circuit like 1,3,5,7,9 on one circuit and 2,4,6,8 on another so one side of the building isn't dead when a breaker trips
think about layout, machine placement, and height of same. I put mine every 6 feet and about 4' off floor, but sadly many are covered with shelves and stuff.. I have one center support with a quad box on each side of it.. they get used a lot. Same thinking applies to air lines and welding outlet. I also put at least one GFCI outside on each side of the building and two on the front. I have outlet strips across the front of all work benches with about 10 outlets in each one . When wiring them put every other one on a circuit like 1,3,5,7,9 on one circuit and 2,4,6,8 on another so one side of the building isn't dead when a breaker trips
john
As I plan my shop, a friend suggested putting the recepticals above 4' so when you stack sheet materiels against the wall they are still visible. I also plan on alternating circuits as you suggest.
I also added a couple in the ceiling at places where retractable drop light and extension cords are mounted..... and don't forget outlets for the garage door opener.... As mentioned before on separate circuits...don't put all your lights on the same circuit and you won't be in the dark if the breaker trips. Use as many quad boxes as you can. More than once I've had both a grinder and a drill plugged into a box and needed a spot to plug in a cut off tool....
I like your choice of lights. They look old and utilitarian. We had one of those on our chicken house. We called it a goose neck .
So the wife wants a cupola and a weather vane. If she is the chief financial officer, go for it. My wife wants a cupola on our garage. We all ready have a copper weather vane that we had up that got broken in a strong wind. It has a rooster on it. What figure will you have on your vane? Can you find one with a 55 Ford truck?
i like the truck idea, should be simple to cut out a silhouette of the truck and mount it over your compass pointers...I've got a pig on mine
John...did you see the booth inside at the last F100 Grand Nats that the guys had who did laser cutouts of trucks, etc? I am sure that they had weather vanes for sale with various F1/F100 trucks in the design. They were located in east TN...I may have a business card somewhere for them...the workmanship was good and the price reasonable.
You can never have too many outlets. When I built my shop the electrician did the same thing as John with the outlets on 2 circuits and staggered every other circuit. It's handy if you're running two power hungry tools at once so you can plug them into different outlets and they won't be on the same circuit, avoiding breaker trip. I was going to suggest that. Also, if you have thought of having any kind of lift or machinery, this is the time to consider where those would go. I added circuits for a lift (220 30A), exhaust fan 220 30A), range/oven (220 30A, powder coating or warming things) and welder (220 50A) and placed the boxes/outlets where I planned to use those items.
Those lights are nice, and the same style as I have. From personal experience do not waste your time and money on the box store version. Step up and get the industrial ones like they would put on commercial buildings. The cheapies do not last long in the weather and wind. And I'm guessing in your neighborhood you can get some rather hefty storms.
As long as we're talking electrical I highly recommend ceiling outlets for three uses. First, you might want to install door openers. Second you might want to install ceiling fans, you will want this controlled by a wall switch to turn on and off and control speed. Third, when I moved into a previous rental unit for my business the previous business had a shop full of machining systems powered by ceiling mounted outlets. The landlord told me he would remove the ceiling outlets when he reconditioned the unit. I told him to leave them up and I installed retractable cord reels, saves a lot of hassle of using extension cords in the shop. I rarely pull out an extension cord in my shop. I have the reel cords set to just above the cage of my forklift but low enough I can easily reach them. I have four in my shop, on in each quarter.
Lots of great suggestions and questions.
I hadn't thought about alternating outlets on circuits. I would not have done that. I'm hoping I can move in some of my rolling cabinets prior to installing outlets. I would like to get a feel for were things will be to better align the outlets. I was pondering outlets for garage door openers. I don't think I will start with them, but they will be handy.
Weather vane - Gwen mentioned a deer because we have a lot of deer in our neighborhood. I do love the truck one though. We might have to go with something like that. I did a quick search and found it on Amazon:
Lighting: I was thinking LED lights. Similar to the old fluorescent style lights. I want to balance quality and cost. I'm open for suggestions. I was thinking since I have basically three bays in the shop, that I would put two in each bay, one on either side of the peak of the roof. I had wondered about celling fans. My girts are just over 7 feet up. So, I will probably leave above that open which will make running extra overhead outlets easier. We will see though. I will want to get as much done as I can before the shop starts filling up.
As for the outside lights, good suggestion on looking commercial.
I have outlet strips across the front of all work benches with about 10 outlets in each one . When wiring them put every other one on a circuit like 1,3,5,7,9 on one circuit and 2,4,6,8 on another so one side of the building isn't dead when a breaker trips
john
This is what I have on my workbench. My wife's grandfather was a great handiman. He was a scavenger or a saver of good stuff. I don't know where he got the strip but shortly after we bought our house I came home from school one day and he had put it on. I love it. It's 6' long with 12 outlets. It's great for charging multiple Black & Decker batteries.
In the end you will have plywood or something around the perimeter. I would bite the bullet and do it now and nix some of the non essential at this time. Electrical in a shop is a planning and important step of this phase. Your electrician is a good source of info. I personally would line all walls up to the first lateral brace and than surface mount all panels, receptacles, with all wire in conduit. Changes are easily done down the road
This is what I have on my workbench. My wife's grandfather was a great handiman. He was a scavenger or a saver of good stuff. I don't know where he got the strip but shortly after we bought our house I came home from school one day and he had put it on. I love it. It's 6' long with 12 outlets. It's great for charging multiple Black & Decker batteries.
that is called plugmold. It is made by wiremold. Another comment on over head door power. Sometimes the operator is on one side of the door axel. Sometimes overhead center, so good to know what openers you might plan on in the future. 4' height for recpts allows for work benches etc. Also highly recommend alternating circuits. I use double boxes and have 2 circuits in each box.
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