Okie dream man cave! (1 Viewer)

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@greenbeast I had one bid of $4800 just to trench the 110’ of 4/0 in a 3” schedule 80 conduit.

Wow, I had no idea how much money I saved by doing mine myself, but that makes me feel even better.
 
@greenbeast that’s how it is supposed to work…save money elsewhere to use as wanted…shoes, purses, dishwasher, sewing machine, corner chair, throw rugs…. I did’nt see any Land Cruisers on her list
 
Someone educate me on the requirements (typically) for encasing electrical wire in the wall if spray foam is going to me used? When I told the electrician with the high bid he said his proposal included everything in hard pipe, EMT conduit and wiring? Now when questioned he says that he can use MC cable or possibly Romex since it is going behind the walls.

In the end it doesn't matter, I will discuss with my old friend andI trust whatever he say sit will be safe and cost effective!
 
@greenbeast I am by-no means an electrical person. Years ago, an electrical ham radio friend told me about “wire de-rating factor”. This is when I was building a small room for my ham radio equipment with an amplifier that also used 220v. He said the insulation in the wall, to quiet it down at night, would be the reason you may need to re-size the wire. Only a thought… you know …a penny for your thoughts. So …might be useless
 
Someone educate me on the requirements (typically) for encasing electrical wire in the wall if spray foam is going to me used? When I told the electrician with the high bid he said his proposal included everything in hard pipe, EMT conduit and wiring? Now when questioned he says that he can use MC cable or possibly Romex since it is going behind the walls.

In the end it doesn't matter, I will discuss with my old friend andI trust whatever he say sit will be safe and cost effective!
I’ve been driving the desk a bit too long to give the “right” answer but all loose wire is rated for free air, so encased in sprayfoam would violate that rating, conduit sounds right. Also conduit can be re-wired for an extra circuit etc...no fishing in another wire through sprayfoam vs bats of fiberglass insulation.

Someone else will hopefully chime in with more recent / relevant comments.

Cheers
 
We have been insulating our new builds since 2006 with two pound spray foam known as closed cell.
The issues that I have heard about from consultants is that if the person applying the spray foam to thick, another words too much material being applied at once heat from the chemical reaction could melt the jacketing of the wires.
If the applicator has taken the courses that the chemical manufacturer mandates , things should go well.
As far as I know , a 2x6 cavity will take 3 passes to fill. 15 minutes between each application.
 
Due to some costs and the relatively warm winters we have here in Oklahoma I am going to go with fiberglass rolls. I can do this over time and save myself a ton of money. Spray foam would be best for sure but daughter going to college in Hawaii this spring and I have to rope in costs.

As I ponder cost savings anyone recommend some good LED lights which are both economical and effective?

Framers start Monday, initial load of lumber is on the ground next to slab. I really want casement windows on the lower level but dang, got that bid and they aren't giving those away either.

My dear friend who has been electrician all his life is onboard to help me with the electric. With a little instruction I will try and do most of the work and have him inspect it and make appropriate changes when the time comes.
 
I can only re-iterate the de-rating factor… closing out the air space would need to re-calculate the wire capacity. Now that my pole barn is sprayed…yuk! It is ugly, and has covered every single wire within the foam, completely encapsulated. I tried to see if any short wire coming into an electric outlet might be moveable? No way. it is completely locked in the foam.

I don’t know the difference in cost using the Fiberglas batts would have been but it sure would’ve looked cleaner. I am now covering it with T1-11 and pegboard, likely the foil backed plastic stuff for the ceiling which would at least provide an improved appearance.

Hawaii? My friends son just got married, 25 yrs old and each ….teachers with jobs they got on Oahu. Their house is 600 sq ft and $2300.00 / month. They make a reasonably good combined wage at 25….over $100k but ….gee whiz…it ain’t cheap to live and eat. Good Luck to her
 
@greenbeast UFO LED High Bay Lights, 150W 21000LM (150lm/w) 5000K Up and Down Lighting Low Bay Light with 110V Plug for Barn Warehouse Shop Garage Workshop https://a.co/d/1cMBgBW

check these out… I have 8 of them and they are very bright and broad light dispersement at 12’ high…they could be mounted in the trusses at 16’ but then I may get a shadow from the truss. These are $69 and dimmable and can be acquired at 200w led as well. 2.6 amps, should be low operating costs
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My walls are 16' high (with a 12:1 pitch open roof) so I am figuring my lights at around 15'. Given that, I'm looking at 16 (4 rows of 4) of these (or a very similar Lithonia fixture) in my 40' x 40' which should give me >100 FC at 30" above the floor. These are 4000K but I will probably go with 5000K units.

Amazon product ASIN B07DJXSTZT
That will be very bright so I will connect the dimmer function and have the lights split into two circuits. I currently have 8 4-Tube, 4 FT fluorescents. I would say the shop is currently "well" lit but not void of shadows. I want to go to LED so I might as well go big.

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Ya know sometimes I wish I could comprehend how big things are on paper!!

I’m loving this, found a few issues I wish I was smart enough to catch before we started. The ledge height in front of every window was 32”. I’m having framers add a foot to accommodate work benches along length of the wall.

Windows are gigantic, 6x6 now 6x5 and they will be crank outs to facilitate some air flow.

Three of the 8”x8” beams set today. Waiting on LVL beam to set on top of them.

12’ didn’t sound too tall until I stood next to the wall, once the second floor office is built I should be able to hire out as the county fire watch tower!

Gonna take off tomorrow to watch some of this monster take shape.

I’m struggling to figure out what type of garage doors I wish to use without taking away the openness inside. Crazy but I’m considering some type of roll up or not sure if practical with the wood frame but a hydraulic garage door would also be sharp.

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My office will sit above the door supported by the two posts with some casement windows looking down on the open barn and cruisers.

Strangely I had image of kids (grandkids) I don't have and probably won’t have for awhile riding bikes with training wheels and battery powered cars going around posts. It was a pretty cool though!
 
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Very nice! I have 12 x 14 (12' wide to be clear), commercial roll-up doors. I have 16' walls so just guessing you could use 10' roll-ups with 12' walls.
 
Great chat with my dear friend who is electrician and has been all his life. He says we should easily be able to keep electric side of things under $15k easily. Next couple days I’m trying to buy most of wire and big items as I fear some serious mark ups very soon with the terrible Florida situation.

Drove home after getting to spend some good quality time with good ole friend and my office is taking shape. 2 beer limit though when in the office as that drop doesn’t look like a forgiving one.

We’re in exceptional drought but when spring is here I’ll probably just sit in my office and look outside for Turkey!

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Window order placed yesterday. Original bid the windows were only black on outside not inside. Wife kept riding me that I wouldn’t like it and I should get black inside and out. Great guy helping me at lumber company said “vinylmax” windows can’t do it so we would have to get bid from somewhere else.

I finally gave in and told lumber company to price out Anderson windows knowing they would be more expensive and who knows how long it would take to get them.

Anderson came in $2500 cheaper and I will have them by end of the month where first bid (usually cheapest) were 12 weeks out. Strange world we live in.

Looking for a reasonable industrial style awning windows to put in office looking down on shop. Hopefully I have the same luck!
 
Strange world indeed. I called Anderson for 2 windows..an 8x 5’ fixEd panel in the center and 1 casement on each side and a 4x5’ casement, 2 crank out windows in a single space…..Lowes and Home depot ran around $3400…replacement by Anderson $16000.

looks like your moving ahead nicely
 
Can folks share what kind of door your using in your shop? I started looking at the exterior entry doors and figure some type of steel doors 2-6 panel would look best painted black. My original thoughts were using nice door with glass but these are little pricy. Even though I am quite remote I would like to have some kind of deterrent in case the wife are cruising somewhere in the PIG.

The flip side is what the hell is the good in having a steel door when there are 4 6x5 glass windows on each side of the building. I guess I just need some ideas for functional good looking reasonably cost-effective door.
 
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