Let there be light!
We don’t have permanent power at Dragonstone yet (we are currently pulling an extension cord over from the house garage; we will work with an electrician at some point), but Steven has moved forward with power-related work: installing interior conduit, back boxes, lighting, and wiring!
To figure out where to put the conduit inside, we had to plan what kind of lights to use. And to plan what kind of lights to use, we had to figure out how much light we need. The recommended foot candles for a workshop is 30-75, so we aimed for 60, with the plans to install supplemental lighting in the work area (back of the garage) where Steven is going to build my gorgeous Starbucks mug shelf someday. <— insert heart eye emoji
We went with 8′ long LED tube lights, placed every 8′ on center on the trusses. While we waited for the lights to arrive (they were originally going to be a long delay because they are understandably non-essential), Steven installed the conduit for them. The lights arrived in early April and Steven was so excited to get them early he installed them all after work that week!
This is with the garage door closed – plenty of light, but we’ll eventually add more in the back (workshop area) and some in the clubhouse area
Next to the garage door, the lights are perpendicular to the trusses
Since then, Steven’s been working on installing more lighting conduit, and conduit for different switches around the garage. Let’s roll that sexy conduit footage:
Light switch conduit
Garage door and power conduit
Lighting conduit
Oops, spoiler, you can tell this conduit ALREADY HAS WIRING IN IT! That’s what Steven worked on Sunday – pulling wiring inside, and to the floodlight locations on the outside of Dragonstone.
Before he started the wiring, he built this wire spool rack, so as he pulls several wires together, they easily come off the spool. Much easier than doing it by hand!
Here I am, helping (those are my feet).
Steven is waiting to hear back from the electrician on the next steps. It’s either:
- Install main electrical panel and finish the wiring in the garage (he can do most of that on his own)
- Trench and install service from house to garage (need electrician’s help)
Or those two items in the opposite order.
And of course, there are other to do items on the short list:
- Decide on our coach light locations and install the electrical boxes (we ordered a sample light to check out)
- Brick installation
- Driveway apron framing and radiant heat tubes
- Finish shingles
The garage is looking great! And I like that photo of you helping 🙂
Thanks!!! Ha, yeah, I was helping big time after my Sunday long run 😉
Very clever idea for the wire! It’s so nice to see all the light in there – I’m one of the more light the better types, and I think I could see to knit in there. 😉
Show your carriage lights! Of all the lights we chose during our house renovation, carriage lights were the one thing we kept. Boy howdy did we have trouble with size for a lot of our lights.
I thought so too!
That’s how we are with the lights. And he needs to see well for when he builds my beautiful shelf!
I will share the coach light when we pick the final one out! Right now Steven has a Photoshop file showing 20 different ones on our house (we’ll change those out to match). We’ve already ordered one, not liked it, and sent it back. It’s been hard to find one in the right style, in the right size (GAH, it’s nuts as you know!), and with the electrical in the right spot. I like the vintage-y look with a modern take, and we kind of have to stick with that with our brick, but with so many options, it’s still hard to find the right one.
Boy, this has all impressed me, but DIY electrical work impresses me the most. I would be not have the confidence to do that! The lights look great, though! For some reason it never occurred to me that you’d have lighting in there. The whole thing looks so great!
It impresses me that Steven tackles all this, but especially that, too. Electrical seems SCARY!!!! But he knows what he’s doing!
Thank you! It will have lights, and power, and an electrically powered garage door at some point. And we’ll put a system in so we can control it all from our phones like in our house 🙂