At this point, it was nearly Christmas so a good break was enjoyed by me, to catch up on sleep (which I got none of during that trench digging).
Meanwhile, exploring a piece of property my brother was looking at, I got into a jousting match with a tree.
My truck definitely lost that one. Good thing I already needed to replace that fender....
Then began the garage wiring. First, I installed all of the lighting. Mind you, I'm working around a car and a boat because it's been snowing like mad. And it was approximately -5 degrees every night when I was free to work. Bummer.
Then I took a break for some of this:
And some skiing:
And when we finally got a warm day, exterior lights!
The end result of my 100A panel, including 50A welder and 30A compressor service.
You may notice that I'm just a *tad* obsessive about separating my circuits... who knows where I get that from, but everything should have its own breaker. Simple. I also wanted a LOT of outlets in this shop. All 20A service. So very nice to work in.
Of course, warm weather also meant this:
That is a temporary surface drain attempting to shunt snowmelt away from my foundation. Part of the problem with starting a garage in November in New England is not having enough time to put in proper drainage... and since my other outbuilding's french drains all empty right in front of this one... you get the idea. What a mess.
Then it was on to insulation!
Well, first I needed sound, as all proper shops do. So I built some cheapo overhead speaker boxes.
And then we insulated and paneled enough of the rear shop wall to install the radio shelf and stereo.
Ah. Much better. Note my many outlets already making themselves useful.
Next up, I installed this totally awesome air hose and cord reel combo from
CoxReels
It's a 3/8" ID airhose and 20A electrical cord on a spring recoil reel. 50 feet of both, with fairleads. Was it expensive? You bet. Is it heavy? VERY. Was it worth it? 100%. I've used cheap units before, but at work we had these and they are absolutely top notch. It should outlast the building.
2x4 walls are easy to insulate. Buy R-13 kraft faced insulation rolls, unroll, trim, staple, done.
2x10 rafters... not so much. Turns out 2x10 is an odd size for insulation, as usually you either insulate the top story ceiling and then the attic on top, or something else. After some research, I found that there is a special type of R-30 insulation called R-30C which has a higher density so it can be installed in these shallower rafter bays. It's specially made for cathedral ceilings. I bought most all of what HomeDepot had. For the record, that cart load DID make it all the way to the register before someone said "That looks like a Jenga tower!" and then it proceeded to collapse, immediately.
And yes, enough to do my 24x32 5:12 pitch roof filled the back of my flatbed and then some. That bed is 94" wide and 114" long inside the gates. Yikes!
In the process, somehow I lost a mudflap???
And let me tell you, there are multiple warnings about product expansion on the wrapper, but they don't do it justice. At. All. This stuff SPRINGS when you open the pack. Like, 18 inches becomes 6 feet.
After one 13 hour day for me (with 4 hours of help from my brother) and some additional time the next day, the roof is almost all buttoned up:
And that's where we are at the moment. I wish I had taken photos of the gable end insulation - I had to build spacer blocks on the rafters at the gable, and then run strapping every 16" to accept the insulation batts and eventually hold up the paneling. Because there is no proper framing in the gables at all. Moderately annoyed at the builder about that, but the price couldn't be beat... sooo. Here we are. More details to come as they appear!
