I bought an almost new "McCulloch" MAC-335 at a local auction the other day for AU$100, which is about half the price of a new one. The seller was the State Police department, so I assumed it was unclaimed stolen property. Unfortunately, I wasn't observant enough at the inspection to see that the chain-brake didn't work properly (i.e. I didn't start it). I only realised it was stuffed when I got it home and tried it... sometimes the chain wouldn't stop when I pushed the brake handle forward :(( As a chain saw novice, I initially thought the smoke coming out of the case near the chain's drive was just exhaust, but the smoke got worse after a minute or two, and then the chain-brake wouldn't work at all. When I looked at the casing on the chain-side, the sticker that the auctioneer had put on the case was bubbling and the case was melting! (I can only assume they put the sticker there to cover up previous heat damage to the plastic case!) Removal of the casing revealed a charred mass of melted plastic inside, which had seized up the chain-brake mechanism :(( To rub salt into my wounds, when I rang around for McCulloch spare parts, I was told McCulloch went out of business ages ago, and it would be nearly impossible to find any spare parts. I then found out that the McCulloch brand (in Australia) now belonged to Electrolux. When I rang Electrolux they told me they had sold it to Husqvarna! I took the saw into a guy who said he might have McCulloch parts from wrecked machines. He took one look at it and said it was in fact a re-badged Poulan, a brand name also now owned by Husqvarna! If I had read Dock's post on March 24 I would have saved myself some grief :( So off I went to a Husqvarna distributor and, after a bit of searching, he found out that the McCulloch/Poulan/Husqvarna parts I need are available for AU$80. The moral of the story is... Do your research before buying a brand name and buyer be VERY aware at auctions.

i just got through doing this too. it was super difficult to find because you need a pretty tall chandy to look ok in the two-story, but then most of the tall ones would look too massive for a foyer! i went with an inverted two tier chandy (with the base being smaller than the top) so that it would feel less heavy when you enter the house. i think my chandy was slightly larger than the rule of thumb recommended width, but it was ok since the larger width was up high and not down low where it would feel more heavy.

Thanks for the photoshop. In the pic above the ledge to the right is a pony wall that overlooks the foyer and to ledge on the left is a small plant ledge that isn't used. That area was originally suppose to be a 3-4ft deep plant ledge. On the other side of that wall is a bedroom so we opted to have to plant ledge be part of a closet for that bedroom which just a small plant ledge that's maybe 12-16in deep. As far as the light I would be going with orb to match the rest of hardware in the house.

Fluorescent is still the best bang for the buck or use a fluorescent fixture with LED lamps (but compare the LED lamp output to comparable fluorescent). Unless you’re going to be spending a LOT of time in your garage, energy savings are minimal. From there you have general lighting and task lighting. Off hand, I’d saying four, 4 lamp, 4’ fixtures would be sufficient. Then add task lighting over, say, a work bench. 8’ fixtures tend to be a little more expensive, so are the bulbs. Then you have to transport an 8’ glass tube when you need a replacement. I’d go with 4’ fixtures. If you are in a cold climate and don’t plan on heating the garage, look for low temperature fixtures. While you are at it, you might think about adding some circuits for general use receptacles. Two 20amp, 120v circuits would probably be enough unless you have a big compressor or planning on adding some stationary tools.