Real Estate Update

Hi Pete,
those sidewalk scooters ain't safe! My daughter got me one for my 83rd birthday, it's trial run made it all the way around the block before the thing flipped over backwards rather than climb up a bull-nosed sidewalk kerb.

Totally agree Fred - I certainly wouldn't put anything larger than a 650cc engine on a scooter.
;)
Pete
 
Wow that’s very expensive. I certainly wouldn’t be heating with electricity at those rates.
Oh, it comes down a lot overnight, and for a couple of hours from 2 - 4am it's dirt cheap, but certainly the daytime cost is prohibitive.
As it was designed to be, to promote less use during the day.
 
For the wiring installation, I am using a technique that I saw on YouTube in which all the conductors are run inside the walls but the boxes are surface mounted on the wall interior side. That way, you just cut a hole in the plywood with a 1.25" dia. holesaw and poke the wire through and directly into the back-side of the steel surface-mount device box.
That's the way I did mine, apart from where the wall is solid and I had no choice but to run conduit.
It's a standard enough way of doing that here anyway, so it just seemed natural.
 
Hi Pete,
those sidewalk scooters ain't safe! My daughter got me one for my 83rd birthday, it's trial run made it all the way around the block before the thing flipped over backwards rather than climb up a bull-nosed sidewalk kerb.
Might need wheelie bars ?
 
Oh, it comes down a lot overnight, and for a couple of hours from 2 - 4am it's dirt cheap, but certainly the daytime cost is prohibitive.
As it was designed to be, to promote less use during the day.
Sure. Everybody knows that the wind doesn't blow, and the waterfalls (hydro plants) don't flow during the day...:shrug:
 
Hokey dokey sportsfans - here is another small update on the Great Canadian Pole Barn project.

I decided to take a mental health day on Wednesday this week and my two good friends Angus and John (@lakeview and @totalfool, respectively) came down to the County Estate to give me a hand with the bottom course of 1/2" G1S spruce plywood panelling.

Since I had developed a nasty eye problem the day before, they took on the saw duties while I continued with wiring the interior set of 110v electrical receptacle boxes. Each 4" square galvanized surface mount box has two duplex outlets one of which also has two USB charging ports (these are sort of cool actually) so I won't have a lot of cords and cables strung around the shop. I will get some photos of a box and show you how they come out.

We had a great day and I really appreciated the help!

AGS_JRB_PRF_2 - 22-Mar-2023.jpg


Mrs. MaxPete served us a tasty lunch and then came out to snap a couple of photos. As you can see, @totalfool (right) is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan - which means that he doesn't read the newspaper very often.
AGS_JRB_PRF - 22-Mar-2023.jpg
 
Sure. Everybody knows that the wind doesn't blow, and the waterfalls (hydro plants) don't flow during the day...:shrug:
Hi Tebo,
all power supply systems work most efficiently under a steady load. The bigger the system the less it likes it's load fluctuating. And the electrical grid is just about a country's biggest system. That's why Grimly's power costs less in the middle of the night. To encourage him to install heat storage systems to keep his house warm using less costly off-peak power.
 
What are your plans?
Nuttin fancy...just adding on 30x28 to the existing 24x20. Had to move the wood shop out long ago and now have too much "infrastructure" installed in there. So this is just gonna be bike parking and wood shop and paint room and....:shrug::laugh2:
 
Hey JP - that is going to be quite to palatial workshop - looking forward to updates!

Hokey Dokey sportsfans - its time for another update on the Great Canadian Polebarn project.

After the big 3-man plywood extravaganza of a couple of weeks ago (and many thanks to @totalfool and @lakeview for their stalwart assistance), I have continued with the wiring - and now, I think, it is largely complete - except for the 220v power (see below).

..although, not without a "close encounter of the knife kind"...(is that why they call these pictures "thumbnails? Gee, its a good thing I'm a doctor).
P_B-110.JPG
As I noted earlier, each structural post (12' high PT 6x6s on 8-foot centres) has a 4"x4" double-duplex surface mount box with four 110v receptacles. One device in each double-wide box has two USB charging ports. These little jaspers went on sale at Home Despot and they really are great. Anyhow, with this layout, I won't need a bunch of charger blocks scattered around and getting lost (I'll bet there are a a crapload of them hiding out with all the 10mm sockets and wrenches that I have mislaid over the decades...) and the use of extension cords (aka the "ideal tripping hazard") will also be minimized.

If I had it to do again, I think I would use all deep boxes instead of a mix of shallow and deep - as some of the boxes have a fair number of connections in them and it isn't easy to pack them in.
P_B-109.JPG
The receptacles are on three separate circuits (2x20A and 1x15A): the in-floor heating system is on the smaller breaker with two receptacle boxes, then all of the boxes on the north side of the building are on a 20A circuit and the same on the south side of the building. Each circuit in the building is protected by a GFCI (ground fault circuit indicator) device, shown at right in the photo below, in case of an incident involving water or, say....bodily fluids (who, me?).
P_B-115.jpg
There are also four exterior receptacles (one on each side of the building) which are fed off the north- and south-side 20A circuits. It is very unlikely that I would be using many of the receptacles simultaneously except for light loads such as chargers, so there is plenty of capacity everywhere on-site. There will also be two 220v heavy power circuits wired-in soon on double 30A breakers: one for the MIG welder and the other for the AC system (yet to be sourced - suggestions welcome....).

Anyhow, everything has been checked and is correct and to code.
TGQM5049.JPG
P_B-111.JPG
On the lighting side, I have already described the interior lighting which continues to work well and so I moved on to the exterior lights. Our area doesn't seem to have a lot of break-ins, but fore-armed is fore-warned so I went big with 150W LED fixtures from the Hyperlites Wall-E series and they are just the ticket. The lights are also GFCI protected and I have them on a timer which calculates dusk and dawn, based on the latitude and longitude (hey - I'm an engineer and I like gadgets). It all seems to work well thus far - even my two chinoise variable-speed DC fans which I bought el-cheapo from Princess Auto (Canadian equivalent to Horrible Fright). Having the internet service brought into the building was also a good thing as I watch a lot of YouTube.
P_B-112.JPG
Oddly, the photo doesn't show the lighting correctly. Those are 150W 5000K LEDs so they cast an intense pure white light and not the yellowish hue you see below. The little doo-hickey between the window and the light near the man-door is the chimney for the heating system boiler.
P_B-114.JPG


NOTE: that snow shovel has only been used once or twice all winter and only to clear off the sidewalk near the man-door one day a couple of weeks ago.

NEXT STEPS:

1) Figure out what to put on the 8' high wall-section above the plywood interior wall cladding: candidates include more plywood and snazzy, but expensive, TrussCore PVC panelling. There will be one or more big-@ss TVs mounted up there, plus the usual collection of garage art and soft porn posters. I want the cladding to be clean and easy to install (it will not be gyp-roc - I HATE HATE HATE gyp-roc) plus it must be robust as this is a workshop - not a showroom for rare china and crystal.

2) Research, acquire and install the AC system: current candidates include a full-on contractor-installed Lennox, Mitsubishi or equiv. system or a Mr. Cool DIY system. The cost difference is substantial and I sort of like the idea of doing it myself - but I want it to work as it gets danged hot around here in the summer.

As always, feedback / suggests / comments / slag-offs are most welcome!

Cheers,

Pete
 
Last edited:
Back
Top