Mostly DIY Backyard Garage Build

In reply to maschinenbau :

Excellent!

Cool. I was afraid of that giant door header. Baby booger.

I can come over on Sunday for some truss rasslin. Let me know what time. 

SV reX said:

Looking good!

Get some sheathing on those walls before you load trusses.

Quoted for emphasis. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

This Sunday (1/19) feels a little early for truss raising. He's got a lot of details to sort through (like sheathing).  But NEXT Sunday (1/26) might be a good time for a GRM style barn raisin'. 
 

I just talked with Travis, and he said that might work. 

Thanks a lot OHSCrifle! Got half the sheathing up with his help, then the 20yo neighbor kid tagged him out and we got most of another wall up. Then I got his 78 F250 running again. He was out of gas lol. I'll need to post of pic because it's a really cool true farm truck.

Hopefully on track for a weekend truss setting party.

Looking good. Can't wait to see the finished building. 

Solid day of framing on Saturday - won't be long and Travis is gonna have a great work space  

Framing and sheathing are best part cause it goes fast and looks like a shop when done. This should be a great space!

Pete

In reply to OHSCrifle :

You were a HUGE help yesterday! Thanks for coming out. We were so busy all day that I never even took a picture before it got dark.

I'm so sorry I wasn't able to be there. 😔

Ive spent most of the day sick in bed. 
 

Looking great!

maschinenbau said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

You were a HUGE help yesterday! Thanks for coming out. We were so busy all day that I never even took a picture before it got dark.

I don't get to do this stuff often (enough) so I had fun. It was cool working with your dad and the gang of GT engineers. Especially since the crew of young guys did a majority of the lifting!

@Paul - your scaffold suggestion was a really good one. 

El Camino is barely enough truck.

My original plans called for an "outlooker" or "outrigger" framed gable, which would be 2x4 notched into the end trusses and end-nailed into the 1st main truss. My truss drawings say not to do that. I should have spec'd a "drop gable truss" for the ends, so the outrigger would sit on top of the gable truss instead of needing to notch through it. So instead I decided on ladder gables. You frame them on the ground in the shape of a ladder, then convince 3 of your strongest, bravest friends to help lift them into place. I also went ahead and attached the fiber-cement soffits to these, which made them extra heavy. But we got it done. They were clamped and nailed in place, then I came through with a drill and some big 3/8 bolts to attach them to the gable trusses.

I just need to do the fascia boards and eave soffits this weekend. Roofer is scheduled for the first nice day next week to do sheathing, roofing, and gutters.

Still undecided on electrical. That's a whole 'nother situation, and I've been collecting bids this week. I can technically do it myself, if I can pass the inspector's code questions over the phone. If I hire it out, apparently I have to hire ALL of it out including branch circuits, which adds several thousands of dollars for relatively easy work. I would prefer to pay for just the feeder and subpanel, then do the branch circuits myself, but that doesn't seem to be an option. Here is my wiring plan regardless, drawn to scale (1 square = 1 ft):

Can you have the electrician do the subpanel and just include a single outlet and light circuit? That seems like it gets what you need out to the shop and you can then go back and run the rest of the circuits after the county had passed the initial install.

I paid a fortune to have my shop electric done, long story but great to see you getting this up and seeing it closer to reality. Nothing like having a dedicated shop separate from everything else. Congratulations!

In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :

The only problem with that solution is I couldn't do the insulation and drywall without those circuits in place. It is theoretically possible that one could end the permit process at the point of an uninsulated, un-drywalled, single receptacle, single light garage, get their final inspection and certificate of completion issued...then go back and add all the other circuits, insulation, and drywall unpermitted. But who would do such a thing...

It might have been done before :-) In my case, I had the pole building inspected and passed, with no insulation or finishing inside. I then framed the inside and had an electrical permit and the electric done and inspected without any interior finishing. Once the electric passed and it was all done inspection wise, I did my own insulation, walls and added the loft. I did pay for all the electrical work but could have easily just had the basics done and then gone back and added as needed. My county permits is a pain, but they had no problem passing the electrical without it being finished as long as we had plates on all the outlets and switches.

maschinenbau said:

In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :

The only problem with that solution is I couldn't do the insulation and drywall without those circuits in place. It is theoretically possible that one could end the permit process at the point of an uninsulated, un-drywalled, single receptacle, single light garage, get their final inspection and certificate of completion issued...then go back and add all the other circuits, insulation, and drywall unpermitted. But who would do such a thing...

Having the electricity in exposed conduits on the drywall has the advantage of easier modification/supplementation later. It is also easier to find and diagnose problems if it's not behind Sheetrock. And it's really ugly, utilitarian and industrial to boot! BauHaus Rules!

    Obviously, your Circus, Your Monkeys! Still highly envious and covetous of your new Garage Ma Hal! Cheers!

Add a 120V receptacle on each of the 2 car lift posts, and wire a ceiling box for a big ceiling fan switched at the door. 
 

Also, consider wiring your 240 differently. Do (3) 50A 240V receps on each wall wired together (not dedicated).  This will enable you to move the 240V machines at will. You don't need separate circuits for each because you will never overload them, but it will give you flexibility. (My shop has West wall 240A circuit with 3 receps and East wall 240A circuit with 3 receps.  All my equipment is on wheels, and a 20' 240A extension cord with twist locks means I can run anything from anywhere in the shop)
 

Also add a 120V recep in the ceiling above the hood of the car, and above any primary work space. This will allow you to install a cord reel so power is coming down from the ceiling (instead of pulling drop cords across the floor),  I have 2. These are BY FAR the most used outlets in my entire shop. 

One more thing...

Oversize your sub panel by at least 50A.

I know you aren't playing with EVs right now, but you are a serious builder, and the possibility of needing a 50A car charger in the future is not impossible to imagine. 

Good advice on all the outlets @SV reX, I did that with my welder, so it could be moved to either corner of the shop for flexibility. I will say that my shop has 400 amp service, but the reason for that is a long story..... county would not let me have two meters, ended up having to bring in 400 amp to the shop and then run 200 amp service back to our house, but now I could pretty much have anything in the shop now!

In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :

I had a similar problem with my service, but am solving it a different way. 
 

The house had a 100A service.  Our new addition needed another 100A panel, and my shop also needed a 100A panel.  Rather than feeding one panel from another, I added a 4th exterior panel at the new 200A service entrance.  It's a 200A panel with 8 slots.  It will have a 200A main and  3 100A breakers (feeding each of the 3 panels), plus space for a 4th.  
 

The exterior 200A panel is now the main, and allowed me to hookup the 3 100A sub panels without pulling 200A to any of them.  It doubles as the main disconnect.

Looks awesome! There's no better feeling than pulling your first car into a dry garage for the first time.

Stuff I wish I'd done when I was wiring my garage (and I already went WAY overkill):

More exterior light wiring. Even if you don't put fixtures up yet. I wish I'd run switched wires to the soffits on every corner, because I keep rearranging my parking/storage and finding myself walking around with a flashlight.

No 30A welding outlets. I wired most of my 240V with 30A to save money. Fine when I had a normal MIG welder. Then I got a big TIG welder and can only use it near the panel.

Definitely plan for a car charger. That decision paid off in my case.

Putting four outlets (two gang box) at every location isn't much extra time/money/wiring but is so so handy. I don't use power strips.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Good word on exterior lighting. I've got floodlights on all 4 corners.  They are motion activated (which I really like), but they also have manual switches so I can turn them off if I don't want them to turn on automatically. 
 

I also have decorative exterior sconces which are dusk to dawn solar activated LEDs.  They also have manual override switches. 
 

And outlets. By every door.  Garage doors have them on each side. 

Good ideas all around! Now's the time to go crazy with wiring.

Regarding the level of service at the garage, I am limited by the house, which has 1970's overhead 150A service. The main panel was pretty full so when we moved in, I had a 100A subpanel installed in the attached garage and had 2x 50A outlets put there for the welders and air compressor. That got me working on the Free Europa and Rice Rod.

I would like a 100A subpanel in the new detached garage, and keep the 50A outlets in the attached garage as future EV chargers, or just in case I need to roll a welder over to that garage. Some of the electricians bidding say no problem feeding a 100A sub off a 100A sub. Technically not against code, but knowing my use case (can only use one tool at a time) it should be fine. One electrician said no way, no how, you must upsize your main panel and feed it from there and btw it will cost you $$$. But I don't want to touch the main panel unless I'm going all-out and upgrading to 200A service, which is a whole can of worms with bringing other stuff up to code, moving the meter, etc etc and that woud be even more $$$. Another note, the attached garage sub and the main panel are within like 4 feet of each other. 

So I've been telling the electricians to bid the job as if it were full 100A service in the new garage, feed it off the attached garage sub, and if it makes them more comfortable, then de-rate it with a breaker they feel is appropriate, and leave the new feeder some slack in the attic. In the future when we upgrade the house to 200A, we can move this feeder off the attached sub to the main panel (just a few feet away), restore its full 100A potential, and also be able to run chargers in the attached garage's subpanel. 

The guy who is telling you you have to upgrade the service is incorrect. Don't hire him.

The capacity of the sub panel has nothing to do with the size of the service. You can run 50 100A sub panels off a 100A service if you want to. But you won't be able to pull more than 100A through the main breaker at one time (which is fine with your use case).

My 200A service will be feeding 4 separate 100A panels.

The breaker protects the wire, not the load.

So, run wire sized appropriately for 100A.  If you ever tried to pull more than 100A through the combined panels, it would trip your main service disconnect (and protect the 100A service cable from being overloaded).  
 

If you have them de rate the breaker, make sure they are pulling wire for a 100A load (so it can be changed easily later).  But the derated breaker won't mean much.