What to do before drywall?

[whaler2001]

My house under construction is about 4 days away from Drywall (next Monday.) I've paid attention to all the little details in the house, but not in the garage.

Plans for this garage (20x24) is just to park the wife's vehicle, and four wheelers and bikes. But, i've added recipticles for my beer fridge and cable. What would you do BEFORE the drywall is put up?

I've got a ton of 2x6s left over... i'm thinking about running them around the top 1/3 of the non-car wall for future shelf/cabinet mounts.

Thoughts?

 

[e-tek]

Outlets all the way around. Wire it for LOTs of light, an exhuast fan (good to dry it out of you bring wet cars/stuff in, and/or to evac dust) and maybe some 30Amp wire for bigger stuff in the future.
The 2x6s are a good idea too.

 

[bww_mnm]

* speaker wire?
* if panel in garage (like my house) and if unfinished above, a 2" conduit to panel for future wiring?

 

[DYNA BILL]

Insulate, Insulate, Insulate!
Most houses don't have insulation on the outside garage walls unless you specify it.

 

[jeremybrooks]

+1 on speaker wire (terminating in low-voltage boxes).

Also: run some cat5 and RG6 in there. You can run all kinds of signals over the cat5, and you may want some TV eventually, right?

 

[mattrogers]

You might want to add in a 220V outlet somewhere. If you acquire a tool or appliance that needs that voltage later on, you'll be good to go.

 

[Kevin54]

Speaker wire, wire for cable tv,

an outlet for garage door opener and outlets in all four corners of the garage either up high on the wall or in the ceiling,

outlets every 6' around perimeter approximately 4' high to eliminate bending over,

if you have two garage doors add outlets between the doors @ high and low,

if you are going to have a computer or a bench, add multiple outlets in that area, add outlet higher up for electric clock if you ever have one

Make a layout of your electrical circuitry to save for future reference. Take pictures of all four walls showing wire runs and stud placement. This will save so much time if you have to make future modifications.

 

[ddawg16]

Garage door opener? You want an outlet on the ceiling and one on the wall next to the torsion spring in case you want to use a Liftmaster 3800.

And everything else mentioned above.

Oh....and take LOTS of pictures before they drywall....makes it easier to see what is behind the drywall at a later date.

 

[kert]

You might want to add in a 220V outlet somewhere. If you acquire a tool or appliance that needs that voltage later on, you'll be good to go.

Or a portable generator. That way you can backfeed all the circuits even if you can't run everything on them at once.

 

[MikeGyver]

Run the low voltage garage door wires in the walls.

 

[void_of_light]

First post but figured it was worth saying.

Sensor wire for the garage door. One down each side leading up to the opener. Sure beats having it stapled to the wall after the fact.

 

[racerbob4]

We have a 24 x 24 garage in construction. We have a 220v outlet on the back wall and each side wall, 4 110 outlets onback wall and 3 on each side wall. Also wired for two ceiling mounted 220v heaters. Storage upstairs has two boxes for pull chain lights and 3 110 outlets for miscellanous and the compressor. Also overhead door is wired and boxes for whatever lights we finally decide to put in. Thinking about speaker wiring.

 

[BHR4CE1]

Plan on some cord reels in the ceiling. I did it and can't believe how often I use them! Run LOTS of CAT 5/6 It can be used for tons of stuff in the future. I got a few "what the hell" comments during my build (see below) for running so much wire...but now that it is all done, i couldn't be happier!

 

[Burn1]

Wall mounted urinal and utility sink. Wish I would have put both of those items in the garage when I had my house built.

 

[DRP6833]

...outlets in all four corners of the garage either up high on the wall or in the ceiling...

OK, ya got me with this one. What would these be used for?

 

[mikeyr]

OK, ya got me with this one. What would these be used for?

I use my plugs up high in the corner for the TV to get the TV mounted on the wall high out of the way, I also ran cat5 and speaker wires up high to each corner putting the speakers way up on the wall out of the way. The cat5 was because I planned on someday getting Sonos net speakers (got them now). Each corner up high near the ceiling got a plug, cat5, rg6, just in case. only used 2 of the 4 but its nice to know I can move things around in the future.

I over wired my garage for power too, 3 50amp 220v in different locations and way too many 110v outlets.

Each of the ceilings lights have a switched outlet for the lights and a unswitched outlet that I hung drop lights from, prior to the final drywall I went up and put in some sturdy hooks for the droplights and then let my drywaller work around the hooks (ain't pulling those things out), he was not happy about it but this way I know they will stay.

 

[SuperSocket]

Or a portable generator. That way you can backfeed all the circuits even if you can't run everything on them at once.

Is this a troll or serious?

 

[DaleK]

Attic/ceiling access for later

 

[DRP6833]

I use my plugs up high in the corner for the TV to get the TV mounted on the wall high out of the way...

Now that makes sense! I'm in the process of adding outlets in an unfinished 2-car attached garage and hadn't thought about this option. Thanks!

 

[whaler2001]

Good stuff guys.

I've got Cable wired, phone, 5 outlets, and speaker wire is happening this weekend.

Love the idea of the 2" pipe to the panel (which is in the garage) coming out in the attic. I had not considered that for future expansion!

So many good ideas here!

 

[bop_pa]

Well if you know where your cabinets and workbench will be you should take a little time and add in blocking between the studs as a nailing strip to screw your wall and base cabinets to. It will be much easier to install your cabinets with the blocking. I would also make sure the builder fully mud and tapes your drywall. Ready for paint. Mant times they tape it for the fire inspector approval but not ready for paint. They try o skip a step. Stay of them or it will be more work for you later.

 

[Kevin54]

Good stuff guys.

I've got Cable wired, phone, 5 outlets, and speaker wire is happening this weekend.

Love the idea of the 2" pipe to the panel (which is in the garage) coming out in the attic. I had not considered that for future expansion!

So many good ideas here!

I think you need more than just 5 outlets. I have that on just one wall. One thing to remember is the wire has to go that way anyhow, so it's just the matter of adding a box and the outlet receptacle

 

[bww_mnm]

OK, ya got me with this one. What would these be used for?

TV?
Compressor?
Wall mounted vac?
Heater?

 

[Demon4x4]

Damn, you guys make me want to rip all the drywall out of my garage. For those of you that have multiple outlets per wall (mine only came with one outlet per wall, and one ceiling mount outlet), are you running them all on the same breaker? Or perhaps, one wall per breaker?

 

[Kevin54]

Damn, you guys make me want to rip all the drywall out of my garage. For those of you that have multiple outlets per wall (mine only came with one outlet per wall, and one ceiling mount outlet), are you running them all on the same breaker? Or perhaps, one wall per breaker?

I split mine up with one wall per breaker, or if I have a few items plugged in that I know will stay plugged in, say a stereo, tv, and a computer, then I may split one wall up to two breakers.

As far as one of the members above asking why an outlet in each corner up high or in the ceiling....corners are normally wasted space, so one ends up mounting a TV or Stereo in a corner. I've seen some garages with the rope lighting around the top perimeter, so an outlet in the top corners works out. It also makes a good places to plug in a neon light or two. I have a neon electric clock, so I have an outlet up high to plug it in. When I wired mine I wired one outlet and cable box up high in one corner of the garage and wired another over between the garage doors and have another small TV out there. I can turn both on to the same channel, get stereo sound, and if I'm working on something and have the PowerBlock on Saturdays, I can see it from either direction.

 

[2chipped]

Is this a troll or serious?

Uh no,he is serious.
Using an generator outside(keeps the exhaust fumes outdoors)with a short cord and main breaker turned off.

To the op....1 quad every 4 ft@ 4'4 high ..220 in every corner..1in conduit@5ft with a box every 10 ft ......1/2 conduit running from opener to switch.

 

[no2tracks]

I put a couple of outlets on the outside too. It's a lot easier to cut them in before the rock.

 

[garagegeek]

I did a lot of things already mentioned here, but here are a few more..
1. Instead of running only Cat5/6, Rg6, I ran Smurf tubes so I could run other kinds of cable in the future (HDMI, fiber, etc)
2. Strike plates covering all electrical wires along with pics to keep from damaging them later
3.Firestop putty for all holes where wiring goes through to ceiling.
4.Foamed anywhere where insulation wouldn't fit.
5.Interlock kit for electrical panel wired to the exterior for generator.
6. Outlet/s run to exterior of garage. (I put one up high under my gutters for Xmas lights.

 

[nmanitou]

Run a natural gas line (if available) for future heat. You might not think you want it now, but it's much easier now than later.