Update on my shop

[JT56]

Not sure it's resolved, but I took the 6 bad bulbs back to Home Depot and they replaced them with a full box of 10 new ones. Haven't tried them yet, but I'm betting there's a couple of bad ones in there. What worries me is the ongoing availability of T12 bulbs....may not even be able to get any in the future. I probably should buy a box or two for replacements.

You can convert the T-12 to T-8. Send me a pic of the diagram on the ballast and give the colors and number of wires from the ballast.

[NickP]

Really? I need to do some of that too.

[warren57]

I really need to get this dang thing done if I want to finish my Nomad. I'm not doing any plumbing, except air, and the electrical is finished. It sure looks big but so did my other shop when I built it. Now it's full of stuff.

Better re-think that plumbing thing, after all, you have a friend that's a retired mechanical contractor that can help you with that!!! Just get me a backhoe up there and you and I can git-r-done.

[chevynut]

Thanks for the offer Warren. When I designed my first shop I thought about putting a washroom in, but it was too big of a hassle to run water. I would have had to trench my entire driveway, and cross two sets of gas and power services. Also, I would have had to put in another septic tank/leach field and didn't want to do that. I decided it wasn't that hard to walk 100 feet to the house. LOL!

[Geoff]

Lazlo,

Your shop looks great. Wish I could see it in person sometime when we come up to Colorado. Really want to see your Nomad, too.

[Busted Knuckles]

When I built my shop I did all the wiring and lighting etc. Had this old timer who lives down the street stop by just being nosy but he's a nice old guy, "just want to see what your building kid" as he came in with two large coffee's SO we chatted a while and turns out he was a union electrician and electrical inspector for better then 40 years. He took one look at the stack of T12 light fixtures and bulbs and pointed to them and said take that crap right back to the store. Told me T-8's are higher efficiency and cost less to run and your not gonna be able to get them soon. Well fast forward to 2012 and sure enough he was right. He explained it all about the differences between T8 and T5's the most efficient but much more money bla bla bla might as well have been speaking Martian all I need to know that I wasn't going to be able to get them and they cost too much. One thing I can say without hesitation is that one day I was out picking up stuff and needed some bulbs so I stopped by the electrical supply house and picked up a case of T8's when I got back and installed the two new lights I immediately noticed how much brighter they were. So I called my Old friend up the street and his response was thats cause you used the Chinese crap and not American made....lol He told me and I believe him without question that there is a difference between off shore crap and American made bulbs

[ilike55s]

Looking good, ChevyNut,,, looks BIG enough for lots of cars, trucks, ATVs and even an Elk or two. Was wondering, are you goin to use sheetrock for the walls? Saw the OSB in that corner,,,

[chevynut]

Ilike55s, actually it's just about finished. It's now drywalled, textured, painted, attic is insulated and the heat is on. All the finish electrical is done. It's been that way for a few weeks now. The only big thing I still need to do is finish the floor. I'm still undecided as to what to do, but probably will do epoxy (U-coat or Epoxy-coat). I plan to have it done in the next few weeks. Then I need to hang 3 interior doors, and re-plumb my air and install cabinets. The attic floor isn't installed yet, but that's only because I haven't called for an insulation inspection. I can do that any time I want to.

[Rick_L]

Insulation inspection? That's a requirement? Why?

[chevynut]

Hey Rick, it's government for you. Up here it gets cold, so they want to make sure you insulate things properly. They have a new "energy code" that requires R13 in the walls, and R30 in the ceilings of any heated garage/shop. The stupid thing is that if you have a timer that only allows the heat to be on 2 hours a day, you need ZERO insulation. If I just had a switch to turn the heater on or off like that, I could have left it uninsulated...how dumb. I wanted insulation so I went with the code. I could have just kept turning the 2-hour timer on again and again.

What's really stupid is the energy code also requires me to have a 3-way light switch, one at the bottom of the stairs and one in the attic. I didn't put one in, and the inspector didn't catch it during rough-in so he signed me off. Then another inspector came out for the final electrical inspection and saw that I didn't have a 3-way switch in. I already had the wall drywalled, textured, and painted. I asked him why in the HELL would I want to go up into the attic and turn the light off? He said it was code...but he let me go without it. Dumbass government droids.