resources for electrical planning

[Bill Dufour]

If the doors open inward next to the door is a good place because it will stay clear where you can get to the panel. Remember to add outdoor outlets. and at least one wall outlet controlled by the light switches.
Bill D.

[Don Jarvie]

To the right of the door next to the window would be my suggestion. I went up and over for most of my wiring since I have a half cathedral ceiling. I found it a bit easier.

Its tough to visualize everything without a building so other than the panel you can wait until the building is up. You can have some rough ideas of where you want things to go but once it’s framed you can really see what it will look like. Also run some conduit under the slab to the middle of the floor.

If you can run cable out to the shop do. I’ve found WiFi not to be very reliable but that’s just me.

[Nathan Callender]

I personally like having surface mounted EMT in a shop. It is easy enough to reconfigure and expand, and from experience, there are always changes to the shop that you can't ever anticipate. So, at least for the too circuits that might be something to consider.

[Thomas Crawford]

I personally like having surface mounted EMT in a shop. It is easy enough to reconfigure and expand, and from experience, there are always changes to the shop that you can't ever anticipate. So, at least for the too circuits that might be something to consider.

I'm considering getting a panel that is surface mounted so that I can run conduit out of it later if I really need it. With the spray foam it will be basically impossible to re-run through the walls. I ran conduit all over my garage so I'm at least average at bending.

[Thomas Crawford]

To the right of the door next to the window would be my suggestion. I went up and over for most of my wiring since I have a half cathedral ceiling. I found it a bit easier.

Its tough to visualize everything without a building so other than the panel you can wait until the building is up. You can have some rough ideas of where you want things to go but once it’s framed you can really see what it will look like. Also run some conduit under the slab to the middle of the floor.

If you can run cable out to the shop do. I’ve found WiFi not to be very reliable but that’s just me.

I'm going to test the Wifi first, I got the Eero this year which is nice. But if its no good I'll do Cat-5 or Cable.

[Thomas Crawford]

If the doors open inward next to the door is a good place because it will stay clear where you can get to the panel. Remember to add outdoor outlets. and at least one wall outlet controlled by the light switches.
Bill D.

I'm thinking the doors will actually open outward so I can have my bench tucked up close to it. Some sort of locking crossbeam on the outside for added security when I'm out of town.

[Jim Becker]

I'm going to test the Wifi first, I got the Eero this year which is nice. But if its no good I'll do Cat-5 or Cable.

I just got quality network connectivity into my shop using a mesh network system. (Velops from Netgear in my case) But mesh systems do have distance and material limitations that affect whether you can deploy to an outbuilding. I'm fortunate that I have a relatively short "line of sight" between the node in my shop and a node in the house.
----

On the service panel, surface mounting could be a very good idea for exactly the reason you state. Our addition is closed cell spray foam and I know for a fact that it's nearly impossible to put in new wiring without cutting the wall open. Using conduit for the machine circuits also means they can "go away" in the future if you or a subsequent owner no longer needs them. It also makes it easier to make changes over time as you mention. You could be "thoroughly modern" and run a horizontal raceway instead of boring old round conduit, too. (Just be sure to use the correct wire type in the conduit )

[Bill Dufour]

My. mother in laws house had the main panel in the garage. The builder ran two empty plastic 1.25? flex plastic conduits up through the top plate and a six inches into the attic space. That way it would be easy to pull a few more power cables if ever needed. Probably cost under $5.00
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

My. mother in laws house had the main panel in the garage. The builder ran two empty plastic 1.25? flex plastic conduits up through the top plate and a six inches into the attic space. That way it would be easy to pull a few more power cables if ever needed. Probably cost under $5.00
Bill D

That's always a practical idea, at least when a flat ceiling is involved. I did that in my previous home for communication cables...got permission from the builder (after signing my life away) to put in the conduit from the basement to the attic before things were buttoned up. The OP is planning on a vaulted ceiling, however, so there's no attic.