For those that have renovated their garage down to the studs or those wanting to, what are your thoughts on running electrical through the studs behind the drywall versus in Armorlite or metal conduit on the outside of the drywall? Seems like there would be a lot more flexibility with the outside the drywall option and make insulating/drywalling the garage so much easier. Is there a code issue in DFW/Texas that I am not aware of with the conduit option?

Taking cost out of the equation, pros and cons you all have found with either.

Agree with the above comment.

Also did this with my garage rebuild:

- Installed two massive led overhead lighting fixtures. Guy thought I was crazy, but I hate not having enough light in a garage.
- Installed a few ceiling plugs. One for garage opener spot and others for drop down cords in the middle areas, Sometimes wall plugs get blocked with stuff.
- Few plugs near all the doors on both sides
- also installed plugs higher up on the wall, versus the normal spot on the floor. In the house, the floor plugs are great to avoid plugs and wires being in the middle of the wall. In the garage I did not care about staring at plugs on the wall. Also keeps me from having to bend over to plug something in.
- plugs above workbench if you have a planned spot.
- plugs for garage fridge/ irrigation system area (FYI: if you put your plugs mid wall like above, please remember that some fridge plugs are not that long and start at the bottom of the fridge.

Dedicated circuits for fridge and deep freezer. Separate circuits for each half of the garage.

Once you put in enough outlets - walls, ceilings, more on the walls, etc - it seems like conduit mucks up everything. You can't push things all the way against the wall, any shop air lines now have to navigate around metal conduit, and your wall cabinets you decide you need in 6 months now have to consider conduit. No bueno.

Alright, definitely going the in-wall route based on the comments above. Below is the layout I have been working on for what is hopefully the last garage layout project I have to work on. Been through three other garage storage exercises and as my hobbies have increased, the needs have changed. I have marked out some ideas for electrical but would like some feedback based on the layout.

I love your level of detail and layouts. A couple of thoughts.

- If you're running all new circuits, go ahead and put all 20A circuits. You're not going to save much by putting 14AWG and 15A breakers in. In fact, if you buy Romex, it's cheaper per foot to buy a bigger roll, so just buy enough 12AWG for all of it. Plus, I'd want things like the dust collector on the 20A circuit. There's no benefit to going 15A in my opinion.
- I'm assuming the dust collector is on a separate circuit than any tools you're using for dust collection. But if not, separate them.
- Have you considered plumbing from your air compressor over to various work areas? You could plumb this inside the wall before you close it up and it would be super clean. Also, some kind of noise enclosure for the compressor?
- I like the fact that you have noise abatement. Would it be as effective if installed on the ceiling? If you put it up there instead, it could save you some wall space for other future items.

I love those lumber racks. So nice.