coachJC

Last weekend my first car repair job came in for some work. A 1915 Model T touring that has been restored and the engine has been rebuilt but it has a small knock in it. It looks like it needs #1 rod tightened up which is not very difficult job. But what surprised was the oil slick it left under the car......all Model T's leak a bit of oil but this was more than just a small drip. I called the guy to ask him about it and he says he parks it on some capet so he has not noticed the leak. One fix looks like it has turned into a couple more things he wants looked at.

Unless my neighbours and friends read the forum no one will ever know.😁

Over Christmas holidays I bought the trim pcs I decided to go with to fill in the gap that was left on my garage door as the metal trim and the garage door seal did not overlap. I took a pc of metal to our local Home Hardware and they colour matched some paint for me . I got them installed the other day and they look pretty good. You almost can't tell I messed up ...LOL

Looking for something else and came across this pic today. Cars, tractor and a building in the background.

I thought everything in the panel was labeled pretty good until I was doing some work about 1 year ago and needed to turn the power off to a plug as I was going to add another to it and do you think I could figure it out which one it was....nope. Ended up turning breakers off until I had no power to the plug.😕. One other thing I noticed at that time was some of the labeling was done in pencil...while pencil fades, and some of the labels are now impossible to read......and my eyesight is not as good as it used to be so that does not help either. I did rewrite a bunch of them in pen at that time. Most of the new wire that was run during the kitchen reno is labeled with black marker before it goes in the panel. But I noticed the other day some of that is not very legible anymore either, the marker seems to soak into the plastic sheathing over the wire and turn into a blob of colour.

I have attached below the pics of the last of the conduit run in my basement over to the main panel. I had a few things I had to work thru, first was moving my air conditioner line out of the way, luckily it had lots of slack in it to adjust it to where I wanted to remount it. Next was a flexible heat duct line to a vent in the living room which was pretty simple. And the last thing was a few wires around the panel I had to move to make room for the conduit to run beside to panel. The conduit is 1 1/4in out from the plywood as I was not able to get all the wires to not run behind the conduit. When I did a kitchen renovation almost 20 yrs ago, we added this 200 amp panel with this whole garage build in mind to be able to sub 100 amp out to the new garage. My old panel was only a 60 amp panel with the old twist in fuses at the time of the reno. I do wish we would of run the conduit down the wall during the reno, it would of been nice if it was there ahead of time neatly tucked out of the way.....you win some you lose some.

Here are a couple pic of my garage panel and my hydro runs in the walls.

I had to fix some plumbing at my parents house 5yrs ago, the house is about 80-yrs old and has a 2nd floor addition put on in 1975. So needless to say some of the water lines are abit of a mess and all kind that don't even get used any more, just dead end runs. But at that time I had never used pex so I was a little scared of it so I went with what I knew and used copper. Now that I have used pex in my house and I think back I sure wish I had used the pex and sharkbites to fix some of the stuff it would of been so much easier. Jeff

Saturday I got my youngest to dig a hole in the mud as we worked at doing the required ground line and ground plate for the garage panel. The hole depth needed is 3ft. The plywood you see is to cover the holes for the ground plate and part of the trench for the conduit that goes to the house for my electrical inspection. I have to leave them exposed for him.

My house water has all been done in cooper but as I have done some work I am slowly changing it over to pex...it is so easy to work with. I decided after some research to go with the Sharkbite connector to go from the copper to pex instead of soldering a copper to pex connection. This is quick and easy as you just slide it over the copper or pex, you just have to make sure there is no burr on the cooper to cut the O-ring and you go to the proper depth. From there is was just rerouting the lines out of the way. In this pic I have also moved my electrical box for my smoke detector and I have added the extension to set the level even with the ceiling tile for electrical code compliance. This was not necessary when it was just an open ceiling but with the drop ceiling now in it is required. Lastly I dry fit the conduit in place and I think it looks much neater and more functional for when I have to push and pull the wire thru the lines.

Before I posted about the work in my house doing the electrical I was not sure I was going to go into that part of the garage build in any detail. It is kind of boring and it involves more thinking and planning then actual work and progress, but it is still part of the build. I changed my mind just to show that it is not always as cut and dry as running wires to the panel and your done. It has always been a beef of mine when you look something up on line, youtube or whatever platform you want, that they always skip some of the details or an obstacle that slowed them down. You watch how something is done and you go out and do it and there alway seems to be about 4 steps they skipped or did not explain. So with that thought I have started to add the electrical part to my garage build for everyone that is following along, maybe someday someone down the road looks at this thread and if they are planning or looking at a build that this helps them to include this in there plan and to not underestimate what is involved getting hydro from your house to you garage. This part of the build is also a little more expensive then I had originally budgeted.......electrical stuff is not cheap.

Before the question comes up as to why I just did not move the conduit over one set of floor joist..... I have an led light panel down the left side and lots of wiring from my house runs down that next set of joist along with some duct work at the very end that i would have to contend with.

Here is a picture of my initial attempt at my conduit run in the basement. I thought it looked pretty amateurish and I was also not going to be able to get my ceiling tile back in place. Between fighting with the conduit and the smoke detector box and trying to heat up the conduit and put some bends in it did not work as well as I had hoped. With moving the electrical box back one floor joist and being able to move the water lines over one set of ceiling tiles I should be able to run a straight pipe with no bends to get by that area. The pipe is flexible enough that I should get the result I am looking for and still look neat and tidy for the inspector.

Just a couple small things to update but without pictures. Over Christmas holidays I got all the wiring with plugs and switches installed. When it stops raining around here I have to dig and install a ground plate 3ft deep outside for the ground for the new panel in the garage. Code requires the wiring from the house panel to the garage panel all be in conduit which is turning into a bit of a chore to run in the house.....to many obstacles in the way. Looks like I have to move a hard wired smoke director and my copper hot and cold water lines that go to the kitchen sink and dishwasher to be able to get my conduit to fit between a load bearing beam and a drop ceiling. All this is not that difficult but it all takes time to plan what is the best way to do things and to make sure what is done will satisfy the electrical inspector. I will try and remember to take some pics tonight. My water lines in the obstructed area will be changed over to pex which will help make moving them out of the way a lot easier. I have previously done pex in my house in a couple of places so I have all the stuff to do the job.

Here are the pics of the blown-in insulation in the attic space. I also redid my attic access board with a piece of 3/4 plywood. Then I used a couple pieces of left over foam from the floor and used some PL to glue them down to the backside of the access door to insulate it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who has followed along and peaked in to check on my progress I never thought I would be nearing 10,000 views on a garage build. Thank you everyone. Jeff

I don't have much to show in progress this week, installed electrical boxes and wire in the walls, not that entertaining for pictures. But I did stop by at my neighbour farmer buddy who is having his own new garage built (50x93 with 18 ft ceiling) to see his infloor heating that he just got up and running yesterday, so I got a few pics of that which I will share with you. His infloor heating is in 2 sections, so the one pump and 3/4 pex line is feeding the other manifold that is near the center of his shop and the 2nd pump is feeding the manifold you see in these pics. His boiler is also supplying hot water to a bathroom he installed in his shop. He has the temp set to 65 and it was pretty nice standing in the shop.

Yes the opening is boxed to hold back the insulation. My plan was to take a piece of the left over floor insulation and glue it down to the back of the hatch.

I think if your first time driving a Model T is in a TT truck you would be very disappointed in your experience. Slow as molasses, a Model T car will run circles around a TT truck.. As for value, $500 to $1000...so much stuff just not right or missing. The couple people who I know who have them, they just sit in the back corner of the building.

Best Wishes Steve on a successful surgery and recovery. As someone who had back surgery 18yrs ago (L3/L4 disk herniation into the sciatic nerve) my best advice for recovery is to listen and do what the doctor tells you. I was told to not do anything for 6 weeks and I did just that. When I went back for my Post OP meeting with the Dr. he asked me to touch my toes and I could hardly bend over and barely got my hands to my knees. The Dr. said perfect, he could tell I listened to his instructions, Dr told me you would not believe how many people come in for Post OP 6 weeks later and can almost touch there toes which tells him they did not listen to his instructions to not do anything, and those are the people who are back in the same boat with back issues 2 yrs later and complain the back surgery was not successful. Best thing I did was have my back surgery and hope yours turns out as well as mine. Jeff

The blown-in insulation got done in my ceiling yesterday. They put 14-16in in which gives me an R value around 50. I will get a pic from the attic in another day. I need to get some insulation on my entrance panel for the opening.

I have corrected my 120v and 240v in my previous post .... just a bad habit from talking to my old neighbour electrician of saying 110v and 220v.

The topic of the amount of outlets and locations of air compressors lines has been an interesting topic that I have had with my buddies around home. It seems like the guys who built their garages 15+ years ago were outlets everywhere and air line drops everywhere, guys with new garages lean more towards the change in technology where there is almost no tool you can't get that is not battery operated, the idea of 120v plugs every 4 feet is overkill. The same with air compressors, one guy said to me that all he uses his air compressor for any more is to add air to tires on his vehicles and for and an air gun to blow things off. Both things for me kind of depend what you are planning on using your garage for, if you are doing wood or metal work you needs plugs both 120v and 240v to meet the needs of the equipment and an air-line to each spot also. If you are into body work like many of us play around doing, it is all air tools while then you need a compatible size compressor and lines run acordingling especial if you have a sandblaster. My oldest son who has been working in the home and barn construction industry for a few years now absolutely detests my tools that need to be plugged into a wall socket or and air compressor, for him it is battery only. He cursed my air framing nailer everyday when we were building the garage. Guess what I get for Christmas and Birthdays from him...so sort of battery operated tool and I don't mind one bit. I am at the point I actually have more battery operated tools then I do air tools. My current layout has 20 120v plugs including 2 outside GFCI's and I plan on adding 5 240v wall plugs and there will be 2 in the ceiling for my lifts for a total of 7. I also will go by the old adage that is easier to put them in now then to try and add them later.

Just some little news today as I got my Electrical permit. As an home owner in Ontario I am allowed to pull my own permit and do my own electrical work. I do have 2 inspections that are required and they are a rough-in inspection and a final inspection. The rough-in Inspection take place after all the outlet boxes and all branch circuit wiring is complete prior to any wiring is concealed. The final inspection is done when it's complete to make sure it complies with the Ontario Electrical Safety Board. Inspections are done by the ESA (Electrical Safety Authority). My neighbour was a Licensed Electrician up to 3yrs ago so I have him to use for guidance to make sure I am doing thing properly, he has helped me out previously when I did some renos on my house.

I will have to admit I had not heard of RapidAir previously to this. Did a google search and I have to say that is a nice solution for adding air lines to the garage. I will have to do some more research to see where I can get it here in Canada. Thanks for the suggestion Gary. Jeff