It’s been a race against the clock for home rennovations at the House of D. As soon as Baby D rolls in time is expected to be in short short supply, so we best clean up our to-do list ASAP.
We’ve had four goals for the year:
- Shed. DONE
- Basement electric work. JUST FINISHED
- Pantry renovation
- Utility Sink
Today’s post discusses #2 with its extra bonus pneumatic system.
The problem: Ain’t no outlets in the basement.
When our house was built there were only two outlets put in the basement. This makes having a little workshop extremely inconvenient. In fact, for these first two years of living, the workshop has been running off the outlet for the water heater fan. Further, the lighting was terrible: a single bulb lit up each quadrant of the basement. No bueno. Admittedly, I am not very familiar with electric work but figured its something that every dad should know how to do. So after some quick conversations with Dad D, Sander, and a few of my electrical peers I got to work.
The solution: Add in a 15amp and a 20amp circuit, spotlights, and a bonus pneumatic line to the garage. Check it out:
I added two outlets on the right wall, one on the rear, and two on the left. There are also now beautiful spotlights above each workbench blasting extra light to the workspaces. Here’s the air compressor:
Note the small manifold on the right with black pipe that goes up and to the left. This busts through the wall to the garage. The compressor is plugged into an outlet controlled by a switch in the same gang box. That’s a three-way switch with one switch in the basement and the other in the garage…
where we have a reeled air hose! DANG! So now I can quick turn on the air compressor from the garage if I need to refill tires or do some autowork. It’s beautiful!
I feel extremely accomplished. Next up, the pantry and the Utility sink!