Changes to the Shop/Garage

Having off-street parking for one of our vehicles seemed like a good idea when we started. It took just 1 winter to convince us otherwise: the driveway into the garage was so steep that even our 4-WD vehicles balked. Then there's the snow that accumulates on that north-facing surface. It was pretty clear that if the garage wasn't suitable as a garage during the worst part of the year, then it probably needed to serve another purpose. So, the shop grew by another 200 sq. ft. I moved several things out into the garage and life was much better.

But the garage needed a few things to make it more useful as a shop:

• I wanted 3/4" plywood on the walls so that I could easily add things with trying to hit the studs for mounting.
• I wanted more light in the garage near the garage door.
• The slope of the entrance into the garage made the last 7' useless for tools or even storage; so I wanted a false floor that was removeable in case I (or some later owner) wanted to reverse the decision.
• I needed heat in the garage.
• I needed another circuit of outlets for tools.
• Most of the year it's too dry in the garage for wood used in musical instruments; I had household humidifiers in both the shop and the garage which worked fairly well, but it's a pain to constantly refill them as they won't quite make it 24 hrs. So I wanted a 1/4" waterline to permit a larger humidifier with a float valve.
• Last summer, during the monsoons, the humidity got over the recommended 42% for instrument wood and wouldn't budge. The portable A/C unit I added fixed the problem, but I had to shut it off when I operated any of the larger tools. I needed a dedicated circuit for the garage A/C.

And the original shop needed a little attention too:

• Like the garage, I had to shut off the new portable shop A/C to operate anything else. So a separate breaker was needed for it.
• There was only one circuit for all the tool-outlets in the shop. A total of 8 outlets on one circuit breaker doesn't cut it. I needed to break the chain of breakers into 2 circuits. I'd like to have had more, but with 2 new circuits in the garage and a new circuit in the shop for the A/C, that left only 1 circuit breaker space left. I've run out of room in the box!
• Like the garage, I wanted a large humidifier with a float valve, so that meant a 1/4" waterline in the shop too.
• Getting out to the shop during monsoon season or when it's snowing is a bugger. Plus the outside sconce light beside the shop entrance keeps blowing out because the canale drips on the bulb. What I should have asked for when we were building was a portal that covered both the garage side door and the shop entrance doors.

In the fall, when things are usually slowing down for him, I called Daniel to see if he could help me out. As usual, he was there right away to see what was needed. If I'm willing to work with his uneven schedule, he will usually be able to help me out. And that was the case this time. I was going to have my 2nd cataract operation, so this was a good excuse to stay out of the shop for a few weeks.