Update July 26
I'm not really sure if I should put new pics at the top or bottom. I'll side with our instant-gratification nature and put them at the top for quick-viewing.
It's been a LONG time since my last update, lots of things have happened and I've been (still am) ridiculously busy. I've been wanting to update this thread, however, so here's some more pics.
This is the Lobby. The first floor is over engineered with double, staggered, 2x4 walls on 8 inch centers. They also overlap each other a bit, so that means effectively 4 inch centers. The stud itself eats up 1.4 inches of that center to center, so they wind up being so close together that you can't really even fit your hand between the studs. Imagine how fun it is to drill. I wound up buying a 4 foot spade bit and a 4 foot extension, and just drill in from the end of the wall from the hallway
In Canadia, we have to vapour barrier all buildings on the inside. It's dry here in this part of Alberta (not sure if the other parts are or not), plus most of the year is in 'heat your house' mode, so moisture is constantly trying to get OUT of the house. These 'poly hats', like the one around this 4x4 box, have to go around every box on exterior walls and ceilings. The buildings wind up being super air-tight as a result.
Here's an example of how I, and my foremen, teach our apprentices to 'cut in' boxes. It's something that will never been seen once the drywall is on, but it goes along way to building a reputation of quality with general contractors.
This is what helped us from dying of exposure, 1.2 million BTU boiler with rads at several places along the first floor. It was still cold, but much better to work at -20C than -30C.
This is a pic of typical suite branch circuits. These days yellow wire denotes 12 gauge, orange denotes 10 gauge. No crooked or spiraling wires are allowed.
All those branch circuits go to the mechanical room on their respective floors. We have sub panels there, fed from the Main Distribution Panel on the first floor (for this project it's 2000 amps, 208/120v 3 phase). From the MDP, we sub feed with aluminum cable, called ACWU up here. It's exactly like BX, only coated with a weather-proof, bury-rated jacket.
We then drop them into the tubs through 2 inch rigid conduit, which makes it an acceptable fire-stop (plus it looks nicer).
I'm not really sure if I should put new pics at the top or bottom. I'll side with our instant-gratification nature and put them at the top for quick-viewing.
It's been a LONG time since my last update, lots of things have happened and I've been (still am) ridiculously busy. I've been wanting to update this thread, however, so here's some more pics.
This is the Lobby. The first floor is over engineered with double, staggered, 2x4 walls on 8 inch centers. They also overlap each other a bit, so that means effectively 4 inch centers. The stud itself eats up 1.4 inches of that center to center, so they wind up being so close together that you can't really even fit your hand between the studs. Imagine how fun it is to drill. I wound up buying a 4 foot spade bit and a 4 foot extension, and just drill in from the end of the wall from the hallway
In Canadia, we have to vapour barrier all buildings on the inside. It's dry here in this part of Alberta (not sure if the other parts are or not), plus most of the year is in 'heat your house' mode, so moisture is constantly trying to get OUT of the house. These 'poly hats', like the one around this 4x4 box, have to go around every box on exterior walls and ceilings. The buildings wind up being super air-tight as a result.
Here's an example of how I, and my foremen, teach our apprentices to 'cut in' boxes. It's something that will never been seen once the drywall is on, but it goes along way to building a reputation of quality with general contractors.
This is what helped us from dying of exposure, 1.2 million BTU boiler with rads at several places along the first floor. It was still cold, but much better to work at -20C than -30C.
This is a pic of typical suite branch circuits. These days yellow wire denotes 12 gauge, orange denotes 10 gauge. No crooked or spiraling wires are allowed.
All those branch circuits go to the mechanical room on their respective floors. We have sub panels there, fed from the Main Distribution Panel on the first floor (for this project it's 2000 amps, 208/120v 3 phase). From the MDP, we sub feed with aluminum cable, called ACWU up here. It's exactly like BX, only coated with a weather-proof, bury-rated jacket.
We then drop them into the tubs through 2 inch rigid conduit, which makes it an acceptable fire-stop (plus it looks nicer).