Rewiring a shed for reloading room.

[boomer81]

I have a old cinder block shed in my back yard built like a brick shithouse10x10x8 Heavy duty door. The electric company were chopping tree limbs this spring and dropped a tree on it took out my electricty fucked alot of shit up. Ive settled and im having it rewired. Its gonna be my reloading shed and personal gun smith shop. Moving all that out of the garage. Im thinking new lights. electric ceiling hanging heater what else would yall do im no electrician at all. i hate it i was shocked bad as a kid so i dont mess with it. Any light reccomendations etc. Want it to be safe.
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[mtrmn]

what part of the country are you located? I notice a lack of air conditioning but you mention a heater. Must not be anywhere near louisiana. Here, an air conditioner and ceiling fan comes even before lighting.....
I recently replaced all my fluorescent lighting with LED tubes. 75 x 50 shop with 14 8-foot dual-tube lights. More light with less amperage, and I never have to replace those damn ballasts again. When I flip the switch every one of them fires up immediately. No more flickering, half-lighting, and all the other crap fluorescent lighting is famous for. So, go LED from the get-go and you're done with it.
Get your electrician to install twice as many plug receptacles as you think you need, and don't put them a foot off the floor. I install all mine 48" off the floor so they won't be hidden behind stuff.

 

[boomer81]

Good point ill get a window unit most likley. That makes me rethink some table and outlet placement. Dont want air blowing powder everywhere. Thanks alot

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Cinder block buildings are notorious for being damp... exactly what you don't want in a reloading room or gunsmithing room.

Consider putting some furring strips on the walls and some foam hardboard insulation... and finishing the interior nicely. Keep down the temperature swings that will let humidity build up. In one segment of my garage, I don't have A/C, but I have a dehumidifier that drains out through the wall. That helps a lot! And I never have to empty it. But a nice room-size A/C would be a good investment.

Wiring is not hard. And you can do all the wiring first, then hook up your panel. Just leave the breakers to the end. You can get a small 8-breaker sub panel at Home Depot for a few bucks. Run all your circuits, test them with a 12V battery. Then at the end, hook up your panel and connect it. So you are doing everything 'dead.' When I did my reloading room, I wired it all before hooking up two power feeds. Easy as pie. The last two wires I shut off the main breaker to the building, wired them in by flashlight in about 10 minutes and all good. Only after I had tested the wires, BTW, did I put the pine walls up! You don't want to find a dead short... after you put up the walls!

But wiring is very simple. There are probably Youtube videos showing the steps.

One other tip.... draw yourself a wiring plan. Doesn't have to be fancy.... but decide how it's going to run. What is going to run what.

I bought LED Track lights, btw. Worked great! 6 little spotlights on a single track. Point them any direction. Then some strip lights on the benches.

There is a good thread in Reloading called "Building the Perfect Reloading Room." Lots of pictures and tips.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Mike Casselton]

LED lighting
Seal the concrete.
Do the furring strips as pointed out above.
Finish the ceiling and it will help control heat/cool and humidity.
LED lights, and lots of them.
Put up cabinets to keep things you're not using cleaned up. Check Craigslist.
LED lighting.
Do a finish job on the walls.
Add flooring. You can get laminate for under 80 cents per square foot if you shop around. Buy clearance and it's really inexpensive.
Put an outside light on it.
Add a window for natural lighting and it won't feel like a prison cell.
If you like music, add ceiling speakers and something to power them.
Get a remote controlled A/C unit. You can turn it on and off from your work position.
Lastly, LED lighting in case I forgot to mention it

 

[Nodakplowboy]

All of the above suggestions are very good. A couple of thoughts:

Furring strips should be thick enough to hold a 1.5-2" screw at a minimum. When attaching the strips to the block, use a exterior grade construction adhesive and concrete tapper screws. the more the better. Attach 16" on center. Insulate with fiberglass or spray foam, then staple a 6mil poly vapor barrier to the studs (strips) and sheet with whatever interior material you like or can afford. The vapor barrier will hold down the moisture leaching through the blocks. Repeat on the ceiling. If sheeting with sheetrock, do the ceiling first.

Consider running the wiring through plastic conduit on the surface as opposed to burying it in the wall. Rule of thumb for wiring a shop: there is no such thing as to many receptacles. Surface mounted wiring is much easier to tap into at a later date. Run the main feed(s) next to the ceiling then tee down for receptacles, switches, etc. Consider a 100 amp service, you may want to run a couple of GFI outlets to the exterior. You'll need to get the wiring inspected unless you have no plans to insure the building and contents.

Window(s). You'll need a 14" concrete saw to properly cut the rough opening. Windows are nice, but unless you plan on living there, I'd skip it.

Wall mounted A.C. unit will also need a sawed rough opening and framed in with 2X's, wide enough to fit flush with finished interior wall and exterior wall. 110 unit should be enough.

I have a few more thoughts. PM me if you wish. Have been down this road before, many times.

 

[boomer81]

Led track lighting for sure. One good thing is it has a very good lifetime metal roof on it to match my house. I already did the floor with that quickcrete epoxy you know the shit with the optional flakes in it. If i used that on the wall how would that work for sealing it. Also a dehumidifier for sure
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[MtnCreek]

Think of the most power hungry thing you might ever want to run and get a big enough box now. A big air compressor uses a lot of juice.

 

[P-Squared]

Hey, instead of a window AC, consider a mini-split heat pump. The only opening you will need is a hole for the line set and the condensate drain. Cold in the summer, and warm in the winter. I doubt you would need much more than 1 to 1.5 tons.