Shop building tips

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Fitz-0518

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A number of people have shared electrical thoughts for your shop. I am not an electrician. But I want to share with you the experience I had when I had our 30'x36' shop built at our ranch. Builder contractor handled the whole build. Came out great. But when I had my electrician come in to add lighting, he suggested the following. Contractor pulled 220 to a sub panel. Had 2 220 outlets. Multiple 110 outlets. Said all was done to code and professional. But,,,did not like the 15AMP circuits. Said all should have been 20 AMP with a couple 50 AMP over the work bench. He showed me an example of why. Running power tool while evap cooler is running. Bottom line he made some inexpensive changes/upgrades and we never had a circuit pop. And we had a lot of lights. Hope that is helpful.
 
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ramportin1

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Me and the wife are going to hit Sears this weekend and see if they are having a going out of business sale or not. I hate to say it but that would be awesome if they were lol we could save some dough on appliances and lawn equipment and maybe I could use that money for a nice big shop TV [emoji1787] gotta get myself a nice big riding mower also but I dont think Sears has those

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ramportin1

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A number of people have shared electrical thoughts for your shop. I am not an electrician. But I want to share with you the experience I had when I had our 30'x36' shop built at our ranch. Builder contractor handled the whole build. Came out great. But when I had my electrician come in to add lighting, he suggested the following. Contractor pulled 220 to a sub panel. Had 2 220 outlets. Multiple 110 outlets. Said all was done to code and professional. But,,,did not like the 15AMP circuits. Said all should have been 20 AMP with a couple 50 AMP over the work bench. He showed me an example of why. Running power tool while evap cooler is running. Bottom line he made some inexpensive changes/upgrades and we never had a circuit pop. And we had a lot of lights. Hope that is helpful.
That is helpful thanks! Yeah I've upgraded my outlets and a few other things thanks to you members here. Glad I started this thread!

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East0352

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Auto retracting electrical cords from the ceiling. Air hoses, too. Full spectrum lights (day light) or 5500-6500 Kelvin bulbs about 300 watts or equivalent. There are apps that will tell you how much light you need for the height that you mount to get full coverage. Put a good light set above where the hood will be but far enough that the hood dont block the light. On the walls maybe. Also, recessed lights in the floor where you would be under the truck. Nothing worse than trying to use a flashlight when you need both hands. Good cabinets to store tools with locks to keep them from walking off when the kiddos want to work on stuff. Enough space where you can open the doors and have a minimum of 3-4'. Electrical sockets outside, too. Good workbenches with brass or aluminum surface. And alarm that *****. People these days will steal anything. I suggest motion detectors with autoturrets.
 
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ramportin1

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Autoturrets lol gotta get me a few of those haha

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PaulTGarrett

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you planned on double your original budget, right? :)


Seems like that's how things go... I'm about 1/3 again over budget on the slab. After the survey, we found our back yard was almost 18" lower than the house... To bring the top of the slab up to what I know is a safe level against heavy rain, I had to bring in 80 yards of fill dirt and double the footer... Ouch...
 

gofishn

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Electrical question so I can understand how amps work (I know nothing about electrical.) Let's say I have a standard 110 plug device that pulls 7.5 amps. I could plug that into both a 15 or 20 amp 110 outlet and it will still only pull 7.5 amps and be safe, correct?

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\Correct. 15 amp plug should be on a 15 amp circuit breaker and from breaker to plug shouldbeno less that 14-2 wire. same holds true for 20 amp plugs. cept then hte wire should be 12-2 UNLESS the run will be extensive,as runs gets longer, the wire creates more resistance, as electricity flows through wire, resistance reduces the amount of amps avaialbel at the endof the run. also, heat can build more quickly due to the resistance so a next larger size wire wodlbe called for.nothing you should have to worry with the sizeof your shop.

in a shop, i would not even mess with 15 amps and do all in 20 amp plugs. run 12-3 so every other plug can attached on one wire run. your electrician sis probably al ready doing it that way.
 

gofishn

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A number of people have shared electrical thoughts for your shop. I am not an electrician. But I want to share with you the experience I had when I had our 30'x36' shop built at our ranch. Builder contractor handled the whole build. Came out great. But when I had my electrician come in to add lighting, he suggested the following. Contractor pulled 220 to a sub panel. Had 2 220 outlets. Multiple 110 outlets. Said all was done to code and professional. But,,,did not like the 15AMP circuits. Said all should have been 20 AMP with a couple 50 AMP over the work bench. He showed me an example of why. Running power tool while evap cooler is running. Bottom line he made some inexpensive changes/upgrades and we never had a circuit pop. And we had a lot of lights. Hope that is helpful.


yep.another good idea is when they do your 220,whatever amperage, have them take any excess wire and make you an extension. got one, at home, with every possible 220 plug in it. Dad, who is RR electrician by trade, made it up decades ago and is the handiest damn thing ever. that thing has fixed more dryers, A/c's, etc and saved me moving heavy stuff around to get access to a 220 plug.
 

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I have a 220 hard wired air compressor. I didn't want it running when I wasn't in the shop. I put a 2 pole contractor with a 120 volt coil in so it only runs when the shop lights are on. You can get one from Amazon for less than $20.
 

BWL

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If the compressor is in a shed then its a pain to go back there and turn it on/off, but wired to the lights means its on whenever the lights are on and most people don't require air every time you're in the shop. A wall switch on the circuit marked compressor in the shop to me is the best method. I didn't do that so I just flip the breaker on when I need air.
 
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ramportin1

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\Correct. 15 amp plug should be on a 15 amp circuit breaker and from breaker to plug shouldbeno less that 14-2 wire. same holds true for 20 amp plugs. cept then hte wire should be 12-2 UNLESS the run will be extensive,as runs gets longer, the wire creates more resistance, as electricity flows through wire, resistance reduces the amount of amps avaialbel at the endof the run. also, heat can build more quickly due to the resistance so a next larger size wire wodlbe called for.nothing you should have to worry with the sizeof your shop.

in a shop, i would not even mess with 15 amps and do all in 20 amp plugs. run 12-3 so every other plug can attached on one wire run. your electrician sis probably al ready doing it that way.
Blah I just told him do all quad box outlets with 15's on top and 20's on bottom, it's not to late though so I'll switch it and have all the 110's 20's

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ramportin1

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Emailed builder and told him ALL 110 outlets be 20 amp, thanks for that tip.
He probably gets really annoyed with my 500 emails and text messages lol.
Also decided to just go with a overhead electric heater to keep cost down as the other options were really expensive and/or going to cost a ton down the road in propane. Not the best option but it'll have to work. Couldn't afford a 5k dollar pump or 7k dollar system or 3 1200 dollar units that will use lots of propane

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shadowhawk

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every time we did a change, there was a change fee attached, so we grouped them, unless it was time-sensitive. They charged $100 an outlet for install, so I did the garage on my own after electrical inspection
 

Jwithing

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Long thread, so hard to keep up. I just went with 20 amp minimum everywhere in the garage. Cost difference isnt huge and changing after the fact would be a nightmare. Understandable that you've got a bigger area, so costs would be more, but I personally wouldn't even consider 15 amp circuits in a shop.
 
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ramportin1

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Long thread, so hard to keep up. I just went with 20 amp minimum everywhere in the garage. Cost difference isnt huge and changing after the fact would be a nightmare. Understandable that you've got a bigger area, so costs would be more, but I personally wouldn't even consider 15 amp circuits in a shop.
Yeah I didnt even really think about it before but now all the 110's will be 20 amp, glad that was brought up.

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ramportin1

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My builder is a really cool guy, I went to dune fest and rode with him for a weekend before deciding on him to be our builder. He doesn't charge for any changes that doesn't cost him extra $ to change or if it's something we discussed and he forgot.

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ramportin1

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I would change the thread title now to my shop build but cant do it on tapatalk [emoji58]

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Jwithing

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Not sure if it was discussed or considered, but a side entry door would be beneficial since you have big garage doors and plan on heating/cooling. That way you can slip in and out with minimal temp recovery time.

Saw you mention a lift, a pit could be equally beneficial, but it sounds like you poured the foundation already.

Plans for the garage floor? Stain, epoxy, pvc tile, ceramic tile?

Overhead storage with a mechanical lift is something I've always wanted in my garages, but opted for insulating the ceiling space instead. Could be doable if you keep a peaked roof insulated and and a partial loft or catwalk above the space. There's also systems out there to drop platforms to the floor and raise them to the ceiling to clear floor space.

What about entertainment? Making it a hangout pad for sports games and such? I'm planning on putting a golf emulator in my garage with a projector and hit screen for example.

I saw overhead air tool hoses, which is a great idea, and also retractable extension cords are handy too. I use a 20 amp overhead extension cord more than the wall outlets when I'm running table saws, miter saw, or planners in the middle of the space.

Overhead dust collection system with drop down hose connections is always something I've wanted to do as well.

Retractable screens for the garage doors to keep the skeeters out during nics weather is another opportunity.

Commercial air exchanger for filtering smoke out of your new cigar lounge which can also be utilized to setup a dust free painting booth.

Intercom system between the house and shop. Could be double edged sword. Keep the misses out of the shop, but makes you more accessible.

I saw cat6/7 mentioned, but what about speaker wires, HDMI, and a subwoofer cable?

That's all that I can think of at the moment that I can't immediately recall seeing.
 
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ramportin1

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Thanks for all the input guys! I think I got it all sorted out for the most part, but feel free to still drop ideas in if you come up with em.
I started a new thread for the progress of the shop for those who wish to see it but if I run into another ? (Probably will happen lol) I'll ask in here so the other thread stays on target.
Thanks again for all the input I got a lot of great ideas!

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