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Going bigger would most likely lead to another issue and another zoning restriction. If I pull a separate service to the garage it has to be 10 feet off the property line AND get a variance from the city. Apparently they do that to prevent people from turning garages into tiny houses or Air B&B rentals.
Oh the joys of living within the ever expanding set of rules for City Life.

The 220 service is welder and plasma cutter, so I can't run both at the same time. If I did full load with both maxxed out would be 80 amps.
Here are my power hogs
TIG Welder 50A
MIG Welder 30A
Plasma 30A
110 v compressor 15A
11000 btu A/C 15A (I think, need to read the label again)
lighting circuit 10A (going LEDs this time around)
general purpose circuit 15A

At the old house I had about 150 amps worth of breakers on several circuits with a 100amp main breaker in the primary panel. I ran the TIG welder on a 30A breaker a few times and never tripped it. Had welder, A/C, every light, and band saw going and didn't pop the 100amp main.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

The National Electrical Code allows for "overloading" the breaker box - this year, it's called a "panelboard" - with the idea that not everything is turned on at the same time.

Unfortunately, they don't say how much the box may be overloaded, which means that whether it meets code is entirely up to the whim of the inspector.

The licensed electrician who did my house, and the city inspector, didn't see anything wrong with putting more than 300 amps of breakers in a 100 amp box...

The old garage in SC according to the electrician and inspector could be overloaded any amount as long as it was protected by a 100 amp breaker in the primary panel. In that house my primary panel was outside the house with a house subpanel in one of the bedrooms and a subpanel in the garage. If I recall correctly I had 170 amps of circuits in the garage.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

National Electrical Code allows for "overloading" the breaker box
You need to verify your local building codes. They have codes that are all over the map on this stuff. Go to city hall i.e. and ask for inspector's verification for design/build. I just had to take out a 50 amp subpanel in my father in law's garage before selling the house. All the garage had was three ceiling lights and 4 outlets.
Could save you time and money!
DaveW

Happy New Year folks.
Not much to report here except that trees are finally down. I hired a guy to take out the 2 big ones. There was an 80 foot poplar and over 80 foot gum tree. Both had to come down in pieces to keep from hitting the house.

I took down four other trees in the 50-60 foot range. They were farther back on the lot and as long as they fell where I pointed them, no danger to the house. Sunday was bright and sunny with no wind, so we dropped those 4, limbed them out and cut into firewood in a little over 3 hours. My brother came over and I sent him home with two loads of firewood.

Still talking with concrete contractors and having some difficulty finding one who knows the building code.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Finally reached a concrete guy who knows and understands the building code. Contract signed, and IF it doesn't rain in the next couple of days, we break ground on Thursday for a monolithic slab pour.

Footings will be 12" wide and 12" deep on top of compacted fill with crusher run stone leveled and compacted on top.
The slope in 2 directions requires a combination of digging and filling that should be interesting to watch.

The slab will be 4" reinforced concrete above footer height so a total of 16" thickness supporting the structure and transferring load to soil.

After grading and forming everything stops until the city inspector puts his stamp on the building permit, then 8 hours of hustle to get 22 yards of concrete poured and finished. Then everything stops again until the inspector signs off again.

Fingers are crossed that the weatherman has it wrong and we don't get rain / snow mix on Saturday.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Update.
They were supposed to come last Thursday. We'd had a full week of no rain, the mud had dried up in the back yard, life was good.

Contractor calls that the dump truck had broken down and wouldn't be able to drop off the load of crusher run.


Saturday ice storm, Sunday rain

They finally showed up this morning and started grading.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Tommy, let me know when you get tis project started, Im not that far away in Statesville and my weekends are free since closing down 8Eight Fab.

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30 years old, not sure what I want to be when I grow up…

Thanks Josh,
I want to have a barn raising party once the concrete is in and cured. Talking with Anne, I think with a few friends we could have the box up and sheathed in a weekend easily. I've worked on several Habitat houses and we've put up a whole house in a Saturday with a 15 person crew.

Then roofing, Then siding, probably not during the barn raising weekend. It all depends on how fast the box goes together.

I figure the biggest PITA will be hauling shingles onto the roof deck and a close second will be hanging vinyl siding.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Tommy, The last time that I re-roofed, I had the 26-ish squares of shingles delivered to the rooftop for a very reasonable fee. You might look into this.

In the roofs that I have done, the climbing and stepping off the ladder to the roof was always the absolute worst part of the job. Except for the one time that I was trying to get the felt underlayment layed down before the storm came in. The wind hit the tar paper roll I was holding like a sail and I slid down the wet plywood sheathing. That was exciting.

If you were closer, I would help you (supervise).

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

I hadn't thought about getting the shingles delivered separately, that's a great idea.
My original plan was to go through the plans with the contractor department at Lowes, Home Defect, and 84 Lumber telling all three that I was open quoting the bid and they should quote their best price for the bundle with winner take all.

Last time a did a mid sized shed a rollback showed up at my house and a big ole bundle of supplies slid onto my driveway 30 seconds later.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Woo hoo
Concrete guys finally showed up again. Digging the footers today and "hopefully" getting it formed up.
I'll wait until we get past "hopefully" before I call the city inspector.

Weather forecast for next 2 days is more rain, so no chance of concrete before Friday or Saturday at the earliest.
These guys have missed 2 weather windows so far and now I'm wondering if it will happen before I have to travel for work. I REALLY want to be here for the pour to be sure they set the J bolts correctly.

Feels silly that I'm micromanaging these guys, but first thing this morning they had the marking stakes set in the wrong places. marked off for a 20x26 and too close to the property line.


A little Spanglish and a drawing later we got it right.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Saturday update.
Tuesday they got the footers dug and checked the levels with a laser transit. Need about 6" of crusher run sandstone added to the back left corner. They managed to cut our phone and cable lines in 4 places doing the dig even though everything was marked, painted and flagged. Basically they don't care if they cut the cable because they don't want to hand dig anything.

Called it a day around 2pm and said, no worries, we'll knock it out tomorrow...

Wednesday about 11:30 one guy shows up waiting for the stone delivery. He's going to get the stove dumped on the pad, then dig up the driveway and have the same truck haul out the busted up concrete....

About 12:45 truck shows up with sandstone, rough crushed, not screened, and with chunks of stone up to about 18" diameter.
"Oh, couldn't get screened material until tomorrow, and well, I'm busy tomorrow with other stuff."

He dumps the stone on the driveway instead of the pad. So I go out for a little chat.
Me: I thought you were going to dump on the pad so he could dig up the driveway.
Truck driver: Why would I do that? It looks a little soft and I might get stuck. Ya know, we've had a lot of rain lately...
Me: He can't dig up the driveway and load you for the haul out with the stone there.
Truck driver: I'm not hauling that out. He'll ding up my bed dropping concrete in there.
Me:
Me: What the actual F did you think you were hired for?

no response.

I go back in the house. Truck driver leaves, concrete guy calls his two helpers to see where they are.
A few minutes later concrete guy drives away, so I give him a call...
Me: what's up you going to grab some lunch and then knock this out or what?
Concrete guy: Helpers aren't coming, guess we'll see you tomorrow.

Thursday call concrete guy, no one answers.

Friday call the owner's cell.
Me: Hey, it's Tommy, the job at 4403 Tenby. What's the plan on getting this done?
Owner: You know, the weather has us kind of behind and juggling jobs. I'll call the guy leading your project and call you right back.
Me: ok, let me know the plan. Need to get this moving and arrange the inspector.
Owner: ok, I'll call you right back.

It's Saturday, beautiful, bright sunshine, still haven't heard squat from the owner.

Contractors suck.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

So this past week I spent at work in Michigan and froze my butt off all week.

Meanwhile concrete folks showed up.
Dug footings, Inspector came and measured, footings not deep enough. FAIL

Finished digging footings, and for some reason decided to fill in part of the fitting with crushed stone to only have footings 12 inches deep at the fall away lower back corner. Inspector came, saw fill, grabbed the probe rod and pushed it in up to the handle.... FAIL

Concrete guys come out, dig out the crushed stone. Inspector came back Measures, probes, PASS

I'm still in Michigan, concrete guy calls and says "It passed, we're pouring this afternoon."
My response Oh Hell No! Not til I get home and check your work.
Concrete guy It passed, we're good to go. Weather is good..."
OH HELL NO! Not til I check it.
Concrete guy Ok we'll schedule for Monday morning pour. You'll have plenty of time to check it over the weekend.

I get home from Michigan and see this.



My wife asks what I think.
It's not square.
WHAT? How can you tell?
I tell her, We'll measure to see how much, but it's enough I can see it.

I grab my tape measure. It's almost 1" narrow at the back and EIGHT INCHES OUT OF SQUARE.

I call concrete guy. Hey, you'd better cancel the truck for tomorrow. It's narrow at the back and 8 inches out of square.
Concrete guy an 8th out of square, no big deal.

Not an eighth, 8 INCHES
You have to shift the frame and there will be some more digging because the footing isn't big enough to fix it.
Concrete guy, I'll call the guys, but no way it's that far off. You could see it if it's 8 inches off.

NO $HIT!!!!

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

When I lived in Michigan I almost froze my butt off in Hell.....

_________________
***************
Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.