As is often said by Captain Kirk and most woodworkers when it comes to power in the garage. Actually, I find it funny/ironic that as primarily a hand tool woodworker, I need more power in the garage. When I remodeled the garage in 2013, I put in many 120 V outlets (on multiple circuits). I only put in one 240 V outlet. Mostly I was ignorant of what power requirements I would have for woodworking machines back then. The bandsaw I've chosen (PowerMatic PM1500) I need 240 V. For the eventual dust collector, I will need an additional 240 V outlet. Not to mention that ductless AC I installed in the garage needed 240 V. That's a lot of juice for someone who mostly uses hand planes. Such is life.
The scope of work was to get both a new 240 volt line and then an extension to a 120 V near the 240 V. Based on where I wanted the dust collector to sit, I figured out the best location for the plugs. The initial 240 V I had installed was back when I thought I would work like Norm Abrams and it was in a poor location (now that I work with hand tools primarily) so I wanted that moved down the wall closer to where the bandsaw will sit and be used when it is rolled away from the wall. While I have electricians there, I want more light above the workbench.
I had planned to use the ones who did the initial electrical work in 2013 as I was happy with their work. The only downside was that I had used all of the breaker locations in the sub-panel and needed a new sub-panel which was going to greatly increase the cost. The electrical work was going to run $2K (about what I had expected) and the new sub-panel was going to run $4K (ouch!). The good news was that I had saved up the cash. The bad news is that this is going to delay when I can get my dust collector. Patience is a virtue. I saved some money by pulling the permit myself. My local city has a great city hall and all the departments have reps sitting at a long counter when you come in. It really helps if there needs to be cross talk or questions. The permit ran several hundred dollars.
The install work itself was uneventful. The only minor hiccup was the wrong color of light was installed I wanted 6,500 K (very white) rather than the 4,000 Kish (yellow) they had brought. No problem at all and they installed a new fixture. As I had expected based on prior experience this was easy and hassle free to get corrected. The one upside was that instead of two 4' two bulb fixtures, I was able to get two 4' four bulb fixtures. I didn't know those had existed and I was quite happy when I heard about them.
All in all, I'm very happy with the work done. The inspection was straightforward. I had thought I was going to be able to purchase the dust collector this summer as well but it looks like I will likely need to wait until late 2023/early 2024. I really don't need to use the bandsaw until early 2024 so it will be ok. While I was at it, I swapped out the original fluorescent bulbs for LED drop ins. That added a bit of brightness as well. Even found a local woodworker who was happy to have the still functioning fluorescent bulbs to reuse in their shop.
Since I needed to move things off the walls and out of the way, this also resulted in an opportunity to do some reorganization in the shop. I did that and my next post will focus on the shop reorganization. My shop has come a long way since I did the initial remodel in 2013. I've never blogged about the initial 2013 work (I think). Below are the photos of the 2013 work just to document it. I don't want to delve into detail. I upgraded electrical and more lighting, insulated wall (really hot where I live), put new garage doors which had insulation, hung cabinets, overhead storage racks, and had the floors done. Much later 2021 came the ductless AC. The worry in 2013 (a year into my living in the home) was whether or not woodworking would really be a hobby I spent a lot of time doing. I thought so but only time would tell. I can confidently say that I spend a lot of time in the garage woodworking 10-20 hours a week. As such, I feel that the money was well spend. Sure, I'd like a 1,000 square foot outbuilding but I don't have room for that and the shop is very nice the way it is and I am quite happy with and content with what I have.
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