My sparky came around last week to run the wiring for the garage.
It was only after he ran all the cords that we stepped back and realised what I’d asked him to do – install 19 power points in my garage!
The whole garage is around 9m x 3m (29ft x 10ft), so I laid out a point basically every other metre along each wall, and a couple at the end. Once you factor in that each point is a double outlet, the total number adds up quickly. 19, woah, I’m rapt, it’s more than I expected but highly desired.
In the old garage, I had 3 single power points. But I could only ever use one of them, as spiders had taken over the other two a few years back. I do live in Australia don’t forget. I ran extension cords and adapters everywhere, it was a real mess and a pain to try and switch tools around so I could use them.
19 points and plenty of bench space means I’ll be able to keep tools plugged in all the time. I’ll be able to walk from the drop saw, to table saw, to drill press, to belt sander, etc; and not once have to unplug and plug in again. Of course I won’t have everything running at once as that would quickly blow the garage fuse, but not having to drag cords around will be a godsend.
Whenever I walk out of the shop I will flick the safety switch on the fusebox which will cut power off to the points. No chance of the kids playing around and turning tools on.
I have a few hours free on Tuesday afternoon this week, my fingers are crossed that I can get some plasterboard up in that time. All that stands between me turning the power on and using tools again is a five minute connection job that can’t be done until the plaster is up.
Cross your fingers for me, I’m hopefully on the home stretch!