Let's see your Man Castle

Ok so I tore into the box last night and discovered this mess



Does that look like burns to you?



Back together



Conduit that feed through the wall doesn't reach all the way to the box, maybe 1.5" shy. I can't figure out what this these wires even run to, they go through the wall and down into the ground outside of the house.



Still no where near perfect but its the best I could do to just tidy up the wiring safely, I'll have my guy check it all this weekend. My real fear is that I'll find more birds nests like that in the house, I'm going to poke around and make sure...



Here is the first wall finished. No tape or mud, it would really throw off the aesthetic of the place
Those gaps aren't crooked cuts either, some sheets are unlevel at joints by a quarter inch depending on where the studs are

WOW!

Nice score. I've got two rolling red metal work carts that I don't really need, but might want to have back at some distant point in the future. If you want them in the new cave 'till that day - and that day may never come - PM me.

Hey go:ahead

I have a copy of the 2009 IRC (the current code that controls in Santa Fe) here at the office that you are welcome to thumb through if you can make heads or tails of it.

I would cap the brownish wire too, just in case it gets hot later.

Looks much better!

Jim

You should buy a 1.5inch octagon box extension ring to allow you to get a locknut on the conduit in the back of the box. It appears to have only one bare ground wire from the romex, If so, tie that grounding wire to the junction box. Also the 2 white wires appear to be showing bare conductors, they need to be trimmed to the correct length, retwisted and wirenut reinstalled. When I am trying to do my best work I will wrap scotch 33 or 88 tape on all the conections over the wire nut and around the wires to help prevent the nuts coming off or the wires from seperating. Tape or wirenut all unused wires.The 1/2 inch knock out hole on the left side needs a pushpenny or plug in it to help contain a fire inside the box. Use diagonal cutter to trim cleanly the outer jacket on the romex. Other than all that, it looks good.

This last comment should be at the top of the page.

Change batteries in smoke detectors when you change your clock for daylight savings.

What kills me the most is I can't figure out what it goes to or why, the hunt continues!

Thanks! I'll open the box tonight and touch it up.

You think that's bad? Wait till I get some pics up of the switch & outlet box I opened last night, pulling all that apart and redoing it correct is going to be its own project

Nice garage. I am not familliar wit US domestic electric schemes, since I am from EU, but to me it looks like an atempt of a 3 phase outlet, so you may want to check it out, I may be wrong but just an idea

there should be a 1/16 thich sheet metal plate covering the holes where wires pass through studs, and where the studs are notched shown in the pic (post #5040). just my 2 cents. i'm quoting the 2011 NEC from NFPA 70 the sheet metal plate is to prevent screws or nails from puncturing the wire assembly.

huh, hadn't seen that before

Go back to #5032 and click the hyperlink.

Pull the wire back to the panel if you can and go new wires and plastic boxes,

starting over with new circuits is always a good idea if you're not sure what feeds what. you could be adding to someone else's mistake which may result in an electrical fire. all circuits in a garage need to be GFCI protected unless it is a hardwired lighting fixture. again quoting fromNFPA 70 which is the NEC.

I guess you missed the part where it's a rental

I'll tell you this though, it's now MUCH better/safer than it was. I have one more box to redo and then I'll be done with the electrical.

I've been meaning to post new pics but I keep forgetting to bring the camera to work. All the dry-wall is done and I rebuilt the large ceiling hanging shelves. I'm ready to build the workbench (finally!) after what was hopefully my last lumber yard run. I also scored a nice 8' kitchen counter top for $70 due a small chunk that got broken off in shipment, my garage counter is going to outshine the kitchen


This is the workbench I'm planning on. Should be heavy enough with that counter and most importantly I'll be able to take it with me when I eventually move.
http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/tablefig.htm

^That looks like a good bench, and yes, make it 8 feet long as you are planning to do!

At no time has ANYONE ever said, "I wish my bench wasn't so long".

The problem for me with an 8 foot bench is only about 3 or 4 feet of it are clean, the rest collects crap. I had a huge bench in my shop, I ended up selling it on craigslist and building a smaller one as I got tired of having crap on it all the time. Now I am forced to keep it clean so I can use it.

I have a 4' bench and it's covered, as I'm lacking storage. I'm thinking of doing Gorilla Racks, instead of base cabinets. Another inmate used such a system with totes for storage. I have ~36' of wall that can be lined with shelves/counter space. Pulling a tote to get what I need seems a whole lot nicer than getting on my knees to dig through a base cabinet. I'm thinking of hanging shelves, overhead for more storage. I have 10' ceilings, so I have plenty of options, up top. If I have so much crap that I fill that much counter and storage space, I need to go on Hoarders.

OK, time to finally post a few pics of my slice of heaven...

Guess what color we're going to paint it???