The Quarky Engineer

Here are some 360 degree photos of the current state of construction. We are getting closer!

Ceiling is done, and some tile has made its way into place. Fireplace is getting stone.

700,000 lumens of shop lighting, and 3500 sq ft of shop flooring! Two color patterns, one for the shop and one for the lower garage. For the upper garage I’ll do an epoxy of some kind.

I like these tiles in part because it makes working in the garage/shop much easier on the feet. will put a small insulation layer below these as well, which gives it a little more give. I have the same tiles in my current shop, and installation is pretty easy as they snap together.

It has been a few weeks since I a new house update – Things slow down a little bit over the holidays, but things are still progressing. We decided to stain the ceiling wood before installing it, so over the holidays the painters took care of that, which was a good activity when less people are around as you have to wear a respirator when doing that kind of stuff.

The ceiling is getting the wood installed slowly, and that task should be done by the end of the week. Tile work has started in a few places, and the heated floor is awaiting city inspection.

My vault door arrived and was installed. It was a bit challenging only because of the mass. That door weighs about 1000lbs, so it takes some care to move it around.

The concrete pads around the side of the house were poured as well as the pad for the generator (which has buried conduit for the gas line and the electrical).

I have completed my analysis needed to select the can lights I am going to use in the new house. I figured since I need 250 of them it was worth doing some testing. I have put text in the descriptions with each of the pictures below explaining the data and the conclusion.

A couple of notes – These are can light inserts, not bulbs. You can also put in reflector and a standard edison style bulb in a can light, but there isn’t any compelling reason to do that. I suspect the results would have be similar with bulbs.

The LEDs I tested were all available at Home Depot, and no doubt there are many more brands that could be tested. The CE brand is a brand manufactured for Home Depot (I believe by Cooper Electronics), and I think only available from them.

The prices for each insert are very close with the exception of the CE 4-pack, in which the lights are almost half the price of the rest.

Summary – The idea that ‘you get what you pay for’ does not appear to be true in this case. The performance of the cheapest CE light is on par, if not better, than most the other lights here. When considered on a value/$ scale it is even better.

Note this is not a test of longevity, and it is possible that a longevity test will reveal some yet to be detected weaknesses. I am skeptical of that, however.

The winner, at least for me is this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-5-6-in-Matte-White-Integrated-LED-Recessed-Trim-5-Ways-4-Pack-NS01aA11FR1-259/303780877

I ordered and picked up 250 of them from my local home depot, and they even had that many in stock. They did suggest that at this spending level I should sign up to be a ‘pro’, which reduced the price another $200.

Happy to discuss more and answer any questions.. and of course happy to take in any more data and observations.