Ideal electrical layout?

[Lakeozark]

I am attaching a layout of my garage - It is being framed and roofed right now.
My G Contractor quit on me as he screwed me on the bid -So I am now the GC and have no clue about electrical.
I need to save money so I need to do the ordering of parts, material, etc.

Any ideas on a typical layout for electrical on a garage similar to mine?
# of electrical outlets? 2 or 4 gang? Obviously I am going to have several near the workbench, but anything some of you maybe WISH you had done but didn't?
4' high on electrical boxes all around the garage every 10'?

I am putting fluorescent fixtures on the 12' ceilings so I am going with about 20-24 4' T8 units. How many can be done "daisy chained"?
I will have an electrician complete the project - but I want everything sitting there and ready. I have my laborers that can rough the boxes, etc.

Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

 

[Sworks120]

I went with double gang boxes every 4' around the entire garage. One side was wired for 15A, the other for 20A....it is overkill by some but I never have to string extension cords. I also installed three outlets in the ceiling, one for the opener and the other ones for cord/light reels. On each of the three walls I have 4" boxes installed and wired with 8/3 for future use. Your lights will most likely have to be on two breakers as you can only have 10 devices per run if my memory serves me today. I also wired 5.1 surround sound and a place on the wall for a plasma, again all just in case my dreams come true. You may want to consider ethernet outlets if you have that option in case you wish to have a shop computer for looking stuff up or streaming music, etc.

 

[TWX]

When I wired my old work area outside, I put two circuits on the one wall, each 20A, where the double-wide outlets had one outlet from each circuit wired in. I did this so that if a couple of people were working it wouldn't mean that both were cut off necessarily if one went overvolt.

My current shop has some surface-mount conduit with a single receptacle every foot. There are two circuits worth of this, one going one way, the other the other way.

I plan to put a GFCI protector on to each circuit, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[jbs]

I have duplex receptacles every few feet. I used multiple circuits, and alternated outlets on each circuit. I also color-coded the outlets by circuit. If you are going to drywall, I also recommend putting either the top or the bottom of the box at 4' height. That way you only have to measure/cut one row of drywall. Some pros might also recommend keeping the boxes away from the seam to make taping/mudding easier, but I **** at it, so I'm slow no matter what.

Edit: Forgot- for the lights, a continuous load must not exceed 80% of the circuit capacity, so 16A (16A*120V = 1960W) for a 20A circuit. Calculate this based on the actual draw (look at the ballast) of the lights you'll use (this will be somewhat greater than the 32W/bulb rating).

 

[larry_g]

Don't forget outside lighting for the door ways. Circuits for the door openers. Outlets high up for neon or other garage art. I left the wall open above my panel with a screwed on cover so that I have easy acess to install additional circuits as needed. Have you lanned outlets outside for weed trimmers, vacuum cleaners, or whatever. If your building a workshop then plan power to whatever tools you desire, aircompressor, table saw, welder, mill, lathe, three phase converter.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[brewchief]

Talk to your electrician before you go buying a bunch of stuff, some will not work with product they didn't supply. If they are OK with you supplying materials they should be able to give a pretty good list of what's needed.

I don't know many electricians who want to do only part of a job, most will want to do it all start to finish. If you want to save a buck see if they want you to drill out any studs and do basic grunt work. Giving them a clean, swept out space to work in will also cut down on time and thus cost.

You may want to keep your wall outlets just above 48" so if you have a sheet of plywood, drywall or whatever leaning against the wall in the future the outlet isn't blocked, this is of course dependent on the buildings future use. I would consider it a must in a woodshop but not a big deal in an auto shop.

 

[Lakeozark]

i didnt think of extras up high for later...would like some neons someday. great idea
also didnt realize A*V=Watts...been a long time since electronics class in the military.
I will mainly be working on older cars and jeeps so i doubt I will need too much special equipment.
i plan on a ceiling (eventually), think I should mount the T8's on the rafters or hang them until I get that up?
I will have an airline as well as a 2 gang in the ceiling for drop over where I will be working so I will need to factor that as well.
Great ideas so far!! Thanks