Cordless Tool Charging Station in Ikea Wall Cabinet

Part of the garage organization project included setting up a charging station for cordless tool batteries. I wanted a central place where I could install my chargers, and always have a few batteries charged and ready to go. I wanted the charging station to be hidden from view, and easy to keep organized but out of sight.

I set up  an extension cord from the closest outlet behind my Ikea cabinets to a convenient wall cabinet, and then installed a 3/8" plywood backboard to simplify the installation of the chargers. A coat of white paint helps keep the installation neat.

Plywood backboard installed with four small angle brackets. Note that the shelves are actually straight - the distortion is from the camera lens.

Next step was to install the chargers. I've standardized on two systems - 18V dewalt for most common handyman tools, and Ryobi 18V for my yard tools - cordless lawn trimmer, cordless hedge trimmer and cordless blower (I'm a pretty big fan of these three tools).

Dewalt charger on the left, Ryobi charger on the right. Mounting on the back wall of the cabinet maximizes space in the cabinet for batteries and tools, and helps keep things organized.

Dewalt and Ryobi chargers installed on the backboard. 

And finally, in front of the chargers - lots of space for the Dewalt 18V cordless shop vac, impact and drill.

Cordless tools - out of the way, always ready to go. 

Pretty simple project, took about an hour in total. Painting the plywood took the most time.

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Garage Organization Using Ikea Kitchen Cabinets - Akurum or Sektion

One of the things that was sorely lacking in the new house was any form of garage organization - just a huge, empty, 40 x 18 x 10 foot box. Here's a photo of how things were organized following our move into the new house:

Next to no organization - piles of boxes and a big open mess.

I did a bunch of research, and looked at the garage storage systems in the big box home improvement stores. My impression of the systems offerred, both in metal and in melamine - was typically of mediocre quality, and a lack of flexibility. Typically, only one or two base cabinets and tall cabinets were offerred, so getting a good fit with my space would be difficult or impossible.

Then I went to Ikea and checked out the Akurum kitchen cabinet system. Here - lots of choice in base cabinets, wall cabinets and tall cabinets. Lots of widths, height, door and drawer combinations. In essence - exactly what I was looking for - full flexibility to implement a storage design taking into account my space available. (Note - I understand that the Ikea Akurum system will be replaced in 2015 by a new kitchen cabinet system - Sektion - but that shouldn't change the principles of implementing a similar solution in your garage). 

The first stage was to plan everything out. I'm a big fan of using Sketchup for 3D modelling projects around the house. It was quick and simple to draw my garage in sketchup, including the constraints such as the doors, stairs to the house, and two exposed beams that interrupt the flat wall surface on the side of the garage. I was able to find and upload pre-drawn models of the Akurum cabinet system, and of my motorcycle and table saw, directly from the Sketchup 3D warehouse. I had to work around my motorcycle, table saw, mini fridge, freezer and rolling toolbox. I wanted to have all my storage against one wall, to keep as much of the width free for the cars and space to work or do projects. 

Sketchup Plan of Ikea Akurum Storage System.

Once I was happy with the plan, and I reviewed the plan with my partner, it was time to get started. Due to the volume and weight of the cabinet system, I had Ikea deliver everything right to my house for a very reasonable delivery charge of about $40. The truck offloaded everything right into the garage:

Wall Cabinets, Tall Cabinets, Doors and Drawers

Then it was time to get started assembly. I had one cabinet that I had to cut and custom fit around a column protruding from the wall - so I started there.

Empty wall - ready for cabinets

I used two moving blankets to protect the cabinet components during assembly.

The first tall cabinet - fit around the wall column.

I decided to use the plastic levelling feed sold with the Akurum system to level all the cabinets. This system works really well. I made a simple jig to help me tilt the cabinets up vertically without damaging the plastic feet.

Jig for tilting wall cabinets vertical - you wouldn't need this if you had a second person to help you lift these vertically. 

Jig ties around the cabinet, allows you to lift the cabinet vertical with one person, without bearing on the plastic feet.

Plastic cabinet feet on the bottom of the wall cabinet, ready to tilt vertically. 

Once the first cabinet was raised into position, the remaining cabinets went quickly. I installed a thin strip of plywood along the cabinet tops to compensate for the offset of some ceramic tile on the wall at the bottom of the wall. This simplified getting the cabinets straight and solid against the wall.

Wall mounted plywood strip to compensate for the ceramic tile on the wall at the bottom. A laser level makes it quick and easy to install this straight and level.

Plywood strip - for seuring the top of the wall cabinets

Adding boxes to the initial wall cabinet. Levelling is quick and easy with the plastic cabinet feet.

Once all the wall cabinets are installed, its time for some doors and drawers. I went for the soft close hinges and drawer slides - makes for a polished installation.

Doors and Drawers almost complete

Once all the wall cabinets were complete, it was time to concentrate on the wall cabinets that would go above the table saw and deep freeze. I used the Ikea wall cabinet installation rail - which makes for a quick, easy, solid and straight installation.

For installing the wall cabinets - start by setting up the rail. The laser level simplifies placement and levelling

The first cabinet clips onto the rail using the installation hardware provided

Then two more cabinets clip on - the hardware for joining the boxes together is included with the boxes.

One tip for making the whole process go quicker - use an air powered trim nailer - brad nailer for tacking the back panels of the cabinets to the cabinet frames - this really speeds up the slowest part of the whole operation. Then the final touch - installing the door hardware:

This door hardware was selected from Lee Valley Tools - perfect for the garage

And now for the finished product - which ended up looking pretty well as planned in the Sketchup Model. The mini fridge fits perfectly under the wing of the table saw, and gives a nice work area when combined with the deep freeze. All in all - it took a solid weekend to get the installation to this point - 5 tall cabinets, 3 wall cabinets, 6 drawers, and 18 doors.

Cabinets installed

And the detail of the table saw - one sheet of slotboard finished in white matches the wall cabinets and ties everything together:

Slotboard to close out the installation.

Since this installation - I've made a series of improvements which I'll describe in future posts:

• LED strip lighting over the table saw and deep freeze
• 18V cordless tool charging station
• Wall Cabinets and Storage Shelving installed over the motorcycle and rolling toolbox
• Plano Hardware Storage in the Wall Cabinets

If you have any questions, feel free to post and I'll try to answer quickly. 

After about 15 months - this setup is still rock solid and very practical. I can't imaging working without it now.

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Eavestrough Repairs and Preventing Downspout Blockages with Gutterstuff

Our latest house is two stories tall, with eavestrough at both levels. It's also situated close to many mature trees, and as I quickly found out, none of the downspouts were clear and working properly. In the summer we get oak seeds (double samaras) - some people call them helicopter seeds, and then in the fall we get leaves - lots of them.

Downspout blocked with tree debris

My first season in the house I tried to alleveiate the problem by installing spherical downspout strainers on all the downspouts. These worked - for about 2 weeks. And then they become completely blocked with leaves and as the leaves rod, they gradually allow infiltration into the downspout. It was definitely not the solution I was looking for.

My second season, I went looking for a better solution. I considered the plastic or aluminum covers that you can purchase, however I was worried about two aspects - i) fit; and ii) performance - would water just sheet off the cover and overrun the eavestrough? It seemed like too much trouble to install, and would be finicky to fit.

I stumbled across a product called Gutterstuff in my local home improvement store - it's a black, open cell foam cut into a triangular shape, which stuffs into your eavetrough gutters making it impossible for helicopter seeds or leaves to get down into the gutter and block your downspouts. It looked like it would work - so I bought half a dozen pieces to try out on my eavestroughs. 

The triangular shape leaves the bottom free for water to flow to the downspout. The top surface is completely closed - preventing any leaves or seeds to get into the downspout. This is the "K Style" Gutterguard. There are other shapes available.

The open cell design allows water to flow through very easily.

Installation is very simple - the pieces are 4 feet long, and stuff underneath the nails or screws that hold your eavestroughs to your eaves. It cuts with scissors, and can be easily fit around corners or odd angles.

Gutterstuff installed in both upper and lower eavestroughs

Transfer spout filters through Gutterstuff before continuing down the next downspout.

So - how does it work? Absolutely great! I haven't been up to clean out gutters by hand in 14 months now, and everything flows perfectly. No more overflowing gutters, no more water soaked brick, no more blocked downspouts. I find that leaves may land and rest on top of the gutters, but not for more than a few hours or a day. As soon as a little bit of wind hits the gutters, the wind will sweep the leaves off the top of the Gutterstuff keeping everything clear. Water sweeps right through the open cell foam, and does not splash or overrun the gutter. So far it's holding up well under the sun with no UV degradation.

If you have a problem with leaves and your eavestroughs, I highly recommend this product, it will work.

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Central Air Conditioning Condensation Drain, Trap and Cleanout

Last summer I began having humidity problems in my house, even with the air conditioning running. A quick inspection of the fan coil unit showed that the evaporator condensate pan was not draining properly, leaving the pan full with water. As the fan circulated ventilation air when the air conditioner was not running, it would simply evaporate the water in the condensate pan, and bring it back into the house.

My condensate drain was constructed of 3/4" CPVC pipe, and the installer put in a simple P trap made of 90 degree elbows, as shown below. I tried flushing out the P-trap by putting a hose nozzle inside the fan coil unit - very awkward, and not very effective. I had to find a better way of cleaning out the trap.

Condensate drain made from 3/4" CPVC pipe and 90 degree elbows

A second issue with this drain was that there was no slope added to the pipe when it hit the floor and ran for about 20 feet.

Drain runs about 20 feed along the floor slab to a floor drain

To be able to get in and clean out the P trap, I cut the trap out of the system, and reinstalled it with two CPVC union fittings. I started by installing the top union, to be able to measure the down pipe on the other side to get the right height for the second union. When I got the P-trap removed, it was completely gunked up with scale, rust from the condensate pan, and spider webs. It was easy to clean out once removed.

Installing CPVC union fitting on the trap

Here's the finished trap with two unions installed. 

I also corrected the slope of the pipe running along the slab, to avoid water pooling in the flat runs, evaporating, and leaving scale. 

Shimming the drain pipe to get the correct slope 

Adding shims under the pipe straps to correct the drain slope.

All told, this project took a couple of hours, but it should reduce the amount of maintenance required to keep the pipe flowing, and greatly simplify cleaning out the trap. If you're putting in a new drain, consider putting in the union fittings right from the start. They're not expensive, about $4 or $5 for a 3/4" union.

Water fllowing through the drain line again.

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My Indoor Air Quality Project

I've recently started tackling my indoor air quality project - I have a number of issues that I've been working on solving since moving into and renovating a 2500 square foot home with finished basement and two levels, and I'll post about the various solutions as I work through them.

Honeywell Prestige Thermostat

What are my issues?

• Very dry air in the winter (dropping to the 20 to 24% range in the middle of winter on cold days;
• Very humid air in the summer - getting up over 60% relative humidity
• A musty odour on some days in the summer time, which tends to correspond with high humidity; 
• Optmizing the HVAC performance, especially since one of the household members has Asthma, and seasonal allergies. For this reason, we rarely open the windows to the house, and rely on a Venmar ERV (energy recovery ventilator) for fresh air exchange.

The solution selected for the dry air in the winter was to install a whole house humidifier. I've been tracking humidity levels for the past two heating seasons, and I've been getting down to 24 or 25% relative humidity, and all the problems that go with humidity this low. Cracks opening up in hardwood floor, nosebleeds and dry throats, dry coughs, and the like. The installation of a Honeywell TrueEase central humidifier has solved the problem nicely. 

I suspect that my problem with high humidity levels in the summertime have been caused by two separate issues i) a blocked condensate pan drain, which keeps condensate water removed from the indoor air from the air conditioning evaporator recirculating in the indoor air stream, and ii) my Venmar ERV furnace fan interlock - which keeps the furnace fan running even when the air conditioner cycles end, not allowing the evaporator coil condensation enough time to drip down into the condensate pan and into the floor drain. Consequently, this condensate water just gets re-evaporated into the fan coil airstream, and back into the indoor air. Net result - buildup of humidity inside the house. The solution here was to correct the drain slopes, and to add unions to the condensate drain trap, to allow for easy removal and cleaning of the trap. I needed a way to independently control the ventilation ERV, the furnace fan, and timed with the air conditioning cycles, and the only thermostat that I found that would do that, and also independantly control humidifying, is the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat.

I also require central control of the humidifier in the winter time. This lead me to look at the latest generation of smart thermostats - in an attempt to get better control over the HVAC in my home, and address my air quality issues. I found that the Nest thermostat doesn't have the capability to intelligently control ventilation, has a single output to control humidification, and has the ability to control the air conditioning to control de-humidification. Similar situation with the Ecobee 3 thermostat. Finally, I found the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat - with the equipment interface module, it has three user outputs that can control ventilation (ERV/HRV), humidificationa and dehumidification. So - part of this plan included upgrading my thermostat and ERV control to the Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat.

I'll update this post as I work my way through this project.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions. If you're interested, you can help support this site by using the following links to Amazon.com in the United States.


 

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Installing the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Thermostat and Equipment Interface Module (EIM)

I suspect that my problem with high humidity levels in the summertime have been caused by two separate issues i) a blocked condensate pan drain, which keeps condensate water removed from the indoor air from the air conditioning evaporator recirculating in the indoor air stream, and ii) my Venmar ERV furnace fan interlock - which keeps the furnace fan running even when the air conditioner cycles end, not allowing the evaporator coil condensation enough time to drip down into the condensate pan and into the floor drain. Consequently, this condensate water just gets re-evaporated into the fan coil airstream, and back into the indoor air. Net result - buildup of humidity inside the house. I needed a way to independently control the ventilation ERV, the furnace fan, and timed with the air conditioning cycles, and the only thermostat that I found that would do that, and also independantly control humidifying, is the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat.

Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ Kit with EIM, Outdoor Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor, and Duct Temperature Sensors

Honeywell Redlink Internet Gateway

I also require central control of the humidifier in the winter time. This lead me to look at the latest generation of smart thermostats - in an attempt to get better control over the HVAC in my home, and address my air quality issues. I found that the Nest thermostat doesn't have the capability to intelligently control ventilation, it only has a single output to control humidification, but has the ability to control the air conditioning to control de-humidification. Similar situation with the Ecobee 3 thermostat. Finally, I found the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat - with the equipment interface module, it has three customizable user outputs that can control ventilation (ERV/HRV), humidification, whole house dehumidification, and a fresh air intake damper. So - following my research, I ordered Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat kit with return and supply duct temperature guages, outdoor wireless temperture and humidity sensor, and the equipment interface module. In addition, I picked up the Redlink internet gateway, which allows me to control the whole system from my smartphone or tablet, even when away from home.

Installing the system may seem a bit complicated, but in practice, it's not much harder than installing a standard thermostat. The Prestige 2.0 thermostat that installed in your living space on the wall - is actually just a wireless controller for the system - like a small tablet computer. There are no relays inside this thermostat, just a small backup battery to retain settings during power failures, and two contacts for 24VAC power. The Equipment Interface Module, which installs close to your furnace / HVAC sysem, has all the relays and switching, connects to all the HVAC equipment using standard 24VAC hard wired controls, and connects wirelessly to the wall mounted thermostat in your living space. The nice thing about this architecture is that it is very easy to wire up additional elements to the Prestige thermostat system - temperature sensors, furnace / fan coil unit, ventilation system (HRV or ERV), whole house humidifier, whole house dehumidifier, an optional duct zone control system, etc) and the multitude of wired connections are all made close to the equipment, and don't all have to be run through your walls to your wall mounted thermostat. Very easy to wire up, very easy to add additional system components, and very easy to integrate the operation of everything using the smart thermostat.

The back of the Honeywell Prestige IAQ Thermostat. Note the button type backup battery in the top right corner, and the power connection posts in the center. 

This thermostat is small - slightly smaller than a dual electrical switch wallplate. Whatever you are replacing with this was probably larger, and you'll probably have some drywall patching and painting to do to make it look right. If you don't want to get into paint - there is an accessory backplate that covers the old thermostat hole. I went for the cleanest install possible, and did my patching and painting.

Thermostat powered up, while still sanding and patching the old thermostat space. 

Since the thermostat communicates with the EIM wirelessly, all the thermostat needs for connections is red and black - 24VAC and Common.

Wallplate is nice and small, terminals are a bit fussy.

Installing the Equipment Interface Module (EIM) is fairly straightforward. Find a suitable mounting place close to your furnace or fan coil, and mount it vertically. I found a good spot on the return ductwork just above my fan coil.

Cable tie holes make wire management fairly simple.

The connections you make here are your typical HVAC control connections - up to 4 stages of heating / 2 stages of cooling for heat pump systems, or 3 stages of heating / 2 stages of cooling for conventional system. It has power connections for running to the wall mounted Prestige Thermostat, 4 wired sensor inputs, for temperature sensors or switches, 3 control outputs for user defined applications - such as whole house humidification, dehumidification, fresh air damper and / or ventilation HRV / ERV.

Once installed - lots of wires running to the EIM - 2 temperature sensors wires, humidifier control and humidifier damper, ventilation ERV control, power to thermostat, control to fan coil unit. 

I found this system to be really well thought out, well architected, and logical. The EIM installs close to your equipment - and is designed to interface with all the control wires required even for a complex, multi-zone system. All the wiring is close to the equipment, so control wire runs are short and simple. You're only sending power to the thermostat, and all the switching is done close to the equipment. The thermostat communicates over a wireless protocol called Redlink - designed by Honeywell for low power consumption and reliability. The system also communicates with an outdoor temperature and humidity sensor which gives lots of control flexibility for things like ventilation, heat pump balancing and lockout control, fresh air intake damper options, and controling ventilation considering the outdoor humidity levels. You'll have to get a copy of the manual and installers guide to get a real good idea of everything that this thermostat can do - it is quite impressive. I should say here that this hasn't been designed for homeowner installation - it should probably be installed by a HVAC technician, especially if you are not familiar with HVAC controls and systems.

Controlling your ventilation HRV / ERV. I had a Venmar ERV installed when we renovated and moved into our home three years ago. Since our home has central ventilation, three zones of ductwork, our Venmar was installed to draw air from three separate places on each level of the house (three bathrooms), but the fresh air distribution runs into the fan coil return ductwork, and must be circulated by the furnace. So - the Venmar was set up (properly) with a furnace fan interlock, to force the furnace fan to run when the ventilation is running. We were running the ventilation constantly, and therfore, that forced the furnace fan to run constantly. A 3/4 HP blower fan running 24/7, 365 days a year draws a lot of power.  At $0.094 / kW-hr, this blower fan was consuming almost $1,100 a year of electricity. This lead me to my first major system upgrade,  the retrofit of an Evergreen IM electronically commutated motor. However, this furnace fan interlock would force the furnace blower to run - right through the end of air conditioning cycles - which has the effect of preventing condensed humidity on the evaporator coils from draining to the floor drain (and humidifying your air in the summer). So - I was getting high humidity levels in my home in the summer. You can set up the Prestige IAQ thermostat to force the blower fan off at the end of an air conditioning cycle - even if there is other demands to have the fan continue - giving time for this condensed humidity to drain away. However, for this to work, the ERV has to be controlled by the EIM / Prestige Thermostat. If you keep the furnace interlock connected directly to your green fan wire - it will still override the EIM / Prestige system. It is very simple to have the EIM control the Venmar - two wire dry contact from the EIM to the override terminal in the Venmar connection box, and now the EIM / Prestige thermostat is controlling the Venmar. I took my Venmar controller down from the wall above my old thermostat, and mounted it on the duct next to the EIM just in case I ever decide to control the Venmar independantly for any reason. I could have just left it uninstalled. I have three Venmar boost switches installed in each of my bathrooms - they will still force the Venmar to run, but I removed the furnace fan blower interlock, so when the boost switch in a bathroom calls the Venmar to run, it doesn't force the blower fan to run. It will still evacuate bathroom smell / humidity out of the house, the return air will just be pushed into the return ductwork by the Venmar fan.

On the Venmar AVS Duo 1.9 - shorting the OC and OL terminals forces the Venmar to run at high speed. This does not affect normal operation of any pushbutton switches you have installed on the same terminals. 

The kit comes with two temperature sensors designed to be installed in your supply and return ductwork to perform routine temperature rise logging and system performance evaluation. The system is called Delta T Alerts and Diagnostics. The installation manual provides clear instructions where to place the sensors in your ductwork in relation to any bypass ducts, humidifiers, zone splits, etc. Once installed in your ducts, they are wired to any 2 of the 4 sensor inputs - S1, S2, S3 and S4. Once added, you need to configure them in the system through the installer setup menu on the Prestige thermostat. Take note on the packaging whether they are 10kohm or 20kohm sensors - you'll need to specify this in the setup. Once installed, you can run temperature differential tests, and you can also download historical performance logs detailing the delta t of the system, with the indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity data. This is great for analyzing the performance of a heat pump, and setting lockout temperatures. You can also set alert ranges - for example, if delta T on air conditioning or heat pumping drops below a certain threshold, that could indicate loss of refrigerant or a dirty indoor or outdoor coil, and put an alert on the thermostat advising the owner to take action. Very nice feature. 

Testing equipment to determine baseline temperature rise. With this information, you can set alerts. 

Testing temparature rise on emergency backup heat.

Checking performance logs - note min and max delta T recorded for the specified interval. 

You can also download all the historical performance logs onto a USB key - for analysis in a spreadsheet on your computer. 

The completed installation, the EIM is on the top right corner mounted on the return duct:

I really like this instalation - I really appreciate the information provided on the thermostat screen. I like being able to see at a glance the indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity. The Nest thermostat has a nice industrial design, but for my needs, I appreciate the compact but useful screen display. 

Nice density of information - and you can set the screen colour and backlighting to about a dozen different colors, or any intensity level you wish. 

The smartphone application is also quite useful, but I think I'll make that the subject of another post. Ask any questions you would like and I'll try to answer.

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