infinitevalence

We are all thinking it.

Fair point, they should not need to dig around to see the ground wires, but with the cover off extra caution is recommended. Dont stick anything INTO the box even with the main breaker off as the wires leading to that breaker are still hot.

Depending on how they ran the wire and the type of wire it may not require a professional but if you dont feel comfortable doing the work there is nothing wrong with hiring an electrician.

To verify if a ground wire was run, there are two things you can do:

1. Check existing receptacles

This means turning of a receptacles at the breaker, removing the cover and pulling the receptacles out of the box to look at the wire run. If it has a black/white and bare copper (or copper clad aluminum) then there is a ground wire in the box. If you dont see a bare copper wire or if the wire was cut short at the point the wire enters the box then an electrician is probably required.

2. Check the breaker box

To check your breaker box, flip the main breaker that runs service to your house. It should be the 50/100/200 amp breaker at the top that is not part of the column of smaller breakers. Then remove the cover around the breaker box to expose the wiring inside the box. All the wires from your house should run into this box and if you have ground wires they should be connected to the ground bus inside the breaker. Again you should see lots of black/white wires and bare copper wires that are ground wires. If they are all cut at the point the cables enter the box you will probably need to run new wire and that will require an electrician.

Citation required, only because it’s an authoritative statement in a forum dedicated to asking for help and understanding.

Plus it’s the dad thing to over explain how it causes legionnaires disease.

Have a plan before you start cutting, this will save you from multiple trips to get more wood.

How do you plan to finish it? I would suggest some 80grit and 200grit sand paper and then decide if you want to paint or stain. If you stain its worth using a pre-stain conditioner. If you plan to paint use a primer.

I also find that the quality of wood at Lowe’s is generally better for something furniture or finish quality vs Home Depot which only seems to have low quality framing and construction wood. You can get different types of plywood with pre-sanded (you will still need to do some sanding) finishes like Poplar, maple, and oak. It will cost more but if you want this project to last it can be worth the extra, plus it just feels better working with more premium woods, they cut cleaner, sand better, take stain and pain better.

Good luck ~dad

This could be a bad suggestion but do you have a dehumidifier? I would loosely stack it so air can get through, so crosshatch type stacking. Place some cinder blocks or other heavy weight on top to keep it from warping, and then put a dehumidifier in your garage.

Honestly having a dehumidifier is worth it regardless of this project so you should probably buy one anyway. They can turn a not so fresh smelling room in to a much better smelling one. They can help inhibit mold and fungal growth. They can even help reduce cooling costs depending on how they are connected and vented.

~dad