Professional commercial electrician in Texas here, we run all outlets at 18" to center of box and I always just use a lazer, much faster than chalk lines and cleaner. You can also use a story stick, I always create one that has a mark at 18" (outlets), 48" (switches, fire pulls, other various things), another mark at all my above counter outlets height, one at 80" (fire strobes) and another at any other devices height. I use that throughout as well.
Lots of people don't even know about story sticks anymore, I found out about them recently enough to be honest and I had one of those "should have already thought of that" moments so, good on you
You need exterior outlets. Just like inside, you can never have enough and in most areas there is some code for minimum outdoor outlets to help you not use extension cords from inside the building to outside. I would recommend one on each side of your big door then at least one next to each walk door. Likely the rear of your building you won't need any. Soffit outlets are awesome for holiday nights.
I am a electrician by trade in Canada looks good to me from what the video shows. Been watching you for years on your you tube found it sweet you where into 3d printing . Your organization is what’s key to your success top notch 👍👍🇨🇦
I’ve spent a lot of money having electricians put in lots of plugs, circuits, etc. Happy with it. You can never have too many. I would have done exactly what you did as well for a dream shaft. On of those high plugs is likely for garage door opener and other for ductless heat/ac system if I had to guess.
Nice explanation of the basics idea of shop wiring. I’ve been an industrial electrician specializing in controls for the last 25 years. The one thing I can say is there’s the way it should be, code, and what the inspector wants that day. Always error on the safe side of the charts and check with your local authorities.
For connecting grounds together they make these cool green wire nuts with a hole in the end so you can leave one long and run it through to your fixture. They're easy to use and work great. My electrical inspector preferred them.
I'm DIY rewiring a 1950's house that started off with a 100 amp service and no ground. I'm taking my time with it as it is a huge undertaking, but I have upgraded to a 200 amp underground run to the house, in each room that I have completed I have doubled the outlets, used a story stick to maintain consistent height of the new boxes, have run cat 6 in each room, reinsulated, new recessed lighting (with the low profile lights that you are using), added wifi controls for the lights, added outside dedicated circuits for the hot tub and then outdoor kitchen, plus a run under the eaves around most of the house for dedicated Christmas/holiday lights (as they require voltage boosters every 75 feet or so), two junction boxes so I can run electrical to the shed, once built, and the greenhouse, again, once built. I've pulled permits for everything and have passed all of my inspections plus have become comfortable with adding and wiring breakers. Pretty sure I've saved upwards of $5k in installation and rewiring up to this point. On a side note, I would get screw plates to protect the cable that has been put through the studs. It may be overkill, but I'd rather over kill it and not have to repair or rerun cable because I screwed into it or some other dumb move.
I will go easy on you. It looks great. Only thing I have learned is not to have all the outlets to low to the ground. You have storage against the wall and getting to an outlet makes storage difficult. I think you are doing a great work and all the luck to your dream build. Thanks for great videos.
Great job...this type of content is a WELCOMED break from all the politics that seem to dominate my feed! Super fun to watch the progress and kudos to you for all your hard work. I built a similar dream shop a few years ago. If it's not too late, I'd recommend adding a handful of 120 outlets to the ceiling and then adding some retractable pull down extension cords...they are a godsend and I honestly use them more than the wall outlets I installed every 4 feet. Trust me, you won't regret it!
Recently redid the electrical in my shop and garage. For every outlet down low I added one higher up as inevitably all the lower outlets end up behind something. Having planets of outlets up high fixed that issue.
Some electricians do service loops at the boxes. I don’t know if code requires or prohibits them, I bet it hits the materials budget pretty hard. You aren’t going to insulate that cement wall? Giant heat sink I would think. Any outdoor outlets? Looks great! Shop greatness in the making!
If you hang the wire between to ladders or saw horse on a broom handle it rolls off the spool and its not twisted. Electricians have little stands for this. Well worth it. The DIY version with a broomstick or piece of conduit works well.
Done the same at home as my town allows it for one-family owners. The only possible caveat I could see is that your local code enforcement is requiring stud cable caddies in some places. Great job! Inspectors actually are your friends...
With the helps of my pops we wired my garage for an electric heater that we hard wired and were able to add 3 more outlets with one being a 20amp for my table saw and air compressor. Buddy of mine wired his garage for 220 and his jacuzzi, he's also an electrical engineer so it was easy for him.
One thing I think Frank Howarth did on his shop was run all the electrical in the wall around 4 feet up. He did plywood panels for the wall and put a separate 18 inch section over the wiring. This means when he wants to add anything, he just has to removesmarelatively small panel, he has access to all the outlet wiring or can add more and then put the panel back. I don't know if it fits code everywhere, but even with drywall I could see it being much nicer.
a good best practice tip is to always leave an extra loop of wire at any outlet, costs extra wire but in the future if you ever need to move an outlet or switch you have some extra leeway. I would have likely done the same thing as you, to pay an electrician to pull wire seems a waste. I usually will pull the wire and have an electrician friend make all the connections for me lol.
One thing i would recommend is to alternate outlets to be on different circuits. That way if you're using two outlets next to each other, you have less of a chance to trip a breaker.
A hint: If your finish walls are doing to be spray painted, either tape of your boxes or tape of the writing on your cable ends. Nothing is worse than to have to "Sound" out your wire runs because you painted over your label and have no idea what goes where.
Nice job on the wiring. Only thing I would change would be to have the lower outlets further up off the floor to reduce how much you have to bend over. I installed mine at 48 inches all around the shop. Also, I didn't see you mention HVAC wiring.
Your work is superior to 99% of residential electricians I’ve used as a GC. It’s especially important to me to get the boxes at a uniform height, the correct depth for drywall, and o stalled so they don’t flex when plugging something in!
I paused the video to make a comment before finishing watching. When measuring the from the floor up I did the same thing in my shop. However, the floor wasn't level and ended up having crooked outlets. I went back with a laser level and was surprised how far off the floor was. And on a side note, I put the outlets in my shop up to where a table top would be. And Rand a few outlets through the ceiling so I can have a cord hang down instead across the floor. Hopefully you didn't have the same problem I had with a crooked outlets.
One last thing to add, buy some in ceiling speakers and run some audio wire right now as well. Keep the audio wire away from electrical circuit wire, or buy some shielded audio wire. Bring the wire back to a spot in that "smart closet" and put in a streaming amp there. That way you can easily put on some music while you work without any portable speakers and stuff being in the way or needing to move them around or charge them. I recommend a WiiM Amp as it is fully compatible with iPhone and Android as well as all the extra services. Far superior and cheaper than Sonos.
I am always jealous of places Romex is allowed. Some things I prefer to have in conduit, but theres so many uses it would just be easier to install romex, like lighting.
Should add an extra outlet taken from the bathroom circuit down near the toilet so you can add a bidet in. You may not care about washing your bum, but given how cold garages can be having a heated toilet seat is super nice in winter.
I know this is main electrical, and not low voltage, but dont forget to run all your Cat6A SSTP (Use SSTP so you have no interference from high voltage, high amperage equipment) wires through the whole garage before the drywall goes up as well. Think of where you might want network connectivity for any CNC machines you want to add as well as a couple places for wireless access points, one on each floor. Plus you may want to run one to an upper exterior wall where you can mount an outdoor access point to shoot wifi out into your yard. edit: Ah, got 21 minutes in and now you are talking about future networking plans 👍
Electrician here. I cringe everytime I see DIY videos about electrical on RU-vid BUT… You’d make for a good apprentice. 😂 On layout, we don’t normally snap lines. (We also normally mark ‘top’ of box or ‘center’ of box) but we really like laser levels on walls with tile/backsplash. It’s a must for kitchens. I also make a “Story Stick”. It has many different names. It’s essentially a board you cut at your layout measurements. Top of the board is your switch height, and then you’d rip half of the board down to your outlet height. So you’d have 2 measurements that never change, just slap it up to the stud, mark your height and move on. Pro tip, chamfer or cut a little 45 on the bottom of the board where it touches your bottom plate/floor because dust will most likely be there and it will effective your marks. But anyways good job! I’m sure the RU-vid electricians will let you know what else you did “wrong”. 🤣🤣
Fyi, you can use romex (nm-b) in conduit if that conduit is in a dry (ie. Indoor) location, just can’t do it buried outdoors which is where people often do it wrong. On setting boxes, story stick FTW. Nice work!
Kudos Trav - most wouldn’t have the cojones to put our own lack of electrical expertise on display, but once again you demo’d that it’s about the learning process. I am curious about the metal conduit on the concrete half walls - are you not going to apply a finish surface and insulate them? And if so, why just build a half stud wall and avoid the metal conduit problem altogether?
I certainly could have, just didn’t want to eat up valuable floor space. Also most of that concrete wall sits below the ground so it should be pretty well insulated for most of the year
Nice job with this video. Also, I just installed your 3d printed Bosch miter saw dust collection kit. Works great - will leave a review. Your shop is going to be very nice. Will you be moving the print farm into the shop or keeping it separate?
I recently watched an electrician's video and learned that that guy used a 16" hammer to get the hieght of his boxes all lined up. One of those tricks like knowing what all the holes ona set off wire strippers do.
LOL! I'm far from the most anal retentive neat-Knick but geeze, I HATE WIRES! My wiring when I did a whole house down to my wire management for my computers is over the top! Glad I'm not the only one....!
Your not using floor lamps so i sould run all boxes above the height of your work counters or tools. Down low they will always be hidden and or hard to reach. Run conduit do you pull additional circuits that you will want down the road.
So weird seeing someone doing electrics on their own. Here in Norway all permanent installation of anything electrical by law must be done by a certified electrician.
Bro you dropped the ball with the windows... you never gonna sell this again unless a yt'er with the same bizz, shop also too close to the main house... does your wife has any say in this lmao
that sucks... Most places let the home owner do their own installs but must be inspected by a certified inspector or electrician which will issue a passing certificate making sure you have followed all the rules and regulations.
