My Garage Build

[BruceK]

There's 50 amps running to the sub panel. That was the max they could be done without major changes to the house panel.

Yes, electrical it is deceivingly a lot of work. But it's very detailed work and I like that.

I agree that having the lights on makes all the difference. The space becomes much more livable and useful.

I did not run any cat5 cable because the garage is within range of the home Wi-Fi.

Yes, a man door was part of the standard garage package.

Yeah, a 240V outlet is in the planning for the future.

[MiniDave]

50 should be enough, I have both my A/C and my compressor on a 30 amp 240V circuit, but I share one receptacle for them both....usually I keep the compressor plugged in. It's not ideal and if I build my shop it will have separate circuits for them.

Everything else runs on 120V, and since I'm the only one in the shop I can only use one thing at a time.....so I can't overload any of the circuits.

[gr8kornholio]

Like those lights.  I should toss my old fluorescent and upgrade.  If you ever do hvac of some kind I highly recommend spray foam insulation.  It will literally turn your space into an igloo. 

[pbraun]

Looking good!

[MiniDave]

Drywall is easy enough to put up, but I'd let someone else do the mud and tape - they'll have it done in a day - it would take me two weeks and look like crap when I'm done!

Then a couple coats of good primer, make the walls a nice light color - I like good old semi-gloss white for a top coat - it reflects light well and cleans up if something gets on it. Easy to touch up too.

I also like those wire shelves from Home Depot, they're not a lot of money, easy to put up and adjust able and will hold a lot of weight - like car parts! I also like to put everything in plastic tubs rather than cardboard boxes - the mice don't seem to bother them and don't chew holes and go live in them. You can also put those shelves on casters.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-Chrome-6-Tier-Heavy-Duty-Metal-Wire-Shelving-Unit-48-in-W-x-72-in-H-x-18-in-D-HD18481302PS-1/203846551

[BruceK]

I can't wait to do more with the garage.  But I will have to.   Need to build the budget up first.

[MiniDave]

How are you "building the budget up"? Doing some consulting or something? Working part time somewhere?

[Lone Star Mini]

Love how clean all your wiring is...  very nice...

[BruceK]

How are you "building the budget up"? Doing some consulting or something? Working part time somewhere?

No.  Some 18 months into retirement, I still haven't developed the urge to work more.  I know it may happen, but I'm not feeling the calling.  Just putting a little aside each month.

[gr8kornholio]

As long as you stay occupied and don't need money I doubt you ever will.  My problem is the stuff I do to occupy my time gets pricey. Of course in another 20 years that may change.

[MiniDave]

Rose says I'm a failure at retirement!

I only work just so I can play more   ;D

[BruceK]

I got the garage insulated with spray foam last week.  Even with no a/c it makes a HUGE difference. Really stabilizes the temperature.   I started installing drywall today.   Floor covering is on the back burner, to be considered later on.

[94touring]

Very nice.  That will make a big difference.

[MiniDave]

Party at Bruce's shop!!!!

[gr8kornholio]

Good call.  That stuff is amazing.  Our last house had it.  Was it 2011 where we had 100+ days of 100+ temps with like 70 in a row.  Our electric bill for a 2200 sq ft house was $180 a month for those three months.

[tsumini]

Yeah foam is great. My old 40x50 steel building was split in half and one side foamed including roof inside. Big difference. I did notice that the side with the foamed roof would sweat on the outside (metal roof) and would drip off the roof every morning eapecially in high humidity. It never gave me any problems but I presumed that it would rust quicker.

[BruceK]

I finally completed my DIY mini-split air conditioning (and heat pump) installation for my garage.  WooHoo!  Right now it's a humid 90° outside and a balmy dry 71° inside.  Both the outside unit and the inside unit are whisper quiet.

I would've had the a/c installed sooner but it's been to flippin hot to do much install work before I'd call it a day.  Totally ironic. 

It's going to be super nice to get work done in the garage with everything at room temperature no matter what the outside weather. 

[94touring]

That's awesome!  Did you do it yourself and if so how?  I've been thinking of adding something like this to the shop apartment since it's hotel style ac died

[BruceK]

Yes, I did it completely by myself.   It's a true DIY solution.  Much cheaper overall than paying an a/c contractor to install a/c.

It's a Mr. Cool brand and they offer various size mini-split units that have pre-charged lines. So the refrigerant is already in the lines (no need to pull a vacuum during installation) and it's simply a matter of (carefully) connecting them.   Some of their smaller units run on 110V, but once you get past a certain BTU size it's all 220V.   My unit is 18000 BTU (based upon what was needed based on the size of my garage) and it runs on 220V.   So I ran conduit with 220V from my subpanel to the outside unit. Mr Cool even offers multi-room solutions with more than one inside air handler powered by a single larger outdoor unit.

It's simple enough to install but I would say if you are the type of person who jumps in and does not read instruction manuals than don't even bother.  (i've got a couple of friends who seem to pride themselves on doing that).  Installation is not difficult, it just needs to be done following step-by-step.   It does require a 3 1/2 inch hole in the wall from the inside to the outside that is later hidden behind the inside air handler unit.  There's a great phone app too - with it you can control everything including set schedules as to when to cool or heat and to what temperature.

There are many videos on YouTube - some better than others - where people have installed a Mr Cool system and I would suggest watching a bunch of those to get an idea of what it entails.

Edit: if there is one negative about this DIY solution, it's that the pre-charged lineset comes in 25 feet. That may be more length than most people need,  so the excess line needs to be carefully coiled up behind the outside condenser.   

[cstudep]

Yeah the DIY ones are super easy to install. Just installed one a couple of weeks ago at my parents house. As Bruce says the biggest issue is how to deal with the extra line if you don't need 25 feet of it. In the case of my parents house we could have done with 10ft. It would be nice if they offered them with different length line sets.

I have the equipment to do it from scratch as well but they already had the DIY version so that is what we installed.

All in all it was pretty painless other than the fact it was about 100 degrees the day we installed it. They are super quiet as well, indoor and out.

[BruceK]

Apparently Mr. Cool used to offer 16ft linesets too - would have been perfect for my needs - but they discontinued it. 

I think they should offer a selection of 10, 15, 20, and 25 ft choices.  But then suppliers would have to store more inventory and the worst thing would be to buy a length of it and then come up short during installation.