Show me your garage renovations prior to power wall installations

[medicine]

Hello,

I bought just over a 200k house in small city in Missouri. This is not likely a forever home and whatever renovations I do, will not likely add much to the value of the house.

I was planning a DIY renovations.

I want to support Tesla, but until out of student loan debt, I will likely only be able to afford the powerwall 2 and some solar panels that I will likely just put on the south side of the house or on the south side of the small property.

If the roof needs to be replaced, I'd love to get a Tesla roof, but I want to renovate the siding before I do that.

The garage currently has plywood walls.
It smells like old plywood.
No amount of opening the garage door for airflow seems to get rid of the smell.

I'd like to try a DIY renovaton of the walls, possibly insulate them better.
After / during renovating the walls, I'd like to
1) get an electrician out to get ready for an electric car charging area
2) get ready for powerwalls - as many can fit in the garage.

Is there a fire risk to keeping the powerwall in the garage vs on the outside of the house vs on a free standing wall next along the drive way?
Do I have to contact insurance company prior to installing massive lithium batteries in the house? Does it change you home owners insurance rate due to fire risk?

Can you show me your garage renovations prior to your powerwall installation for inspiration?
Do you have before and after pictures?

What kind of material did you use for the walls?

Do certain types of wood have lower fire risk / smell better?

I'd like to mill my own wood and dry it, possibly even cut it in a way so as it dries, the paneling tightens on it's own -

from a guy I watch on youtube:
"Each wide flat sawn board was hung by a single nail, center driven and shallow, just to hold it, as a woody pendulum upon the wall, along with its brethren till the battens could be affixed. All wide boards sure to be set bark side out and tree tops turned up. The battens now would be firmly attached, either with pegs or corded and knotted wedges between these wide boards, into the purlins behind. Each wide board would cup as it dried, as they do, outward towards what was the bark side of the tree, pressing itself forever hard against the battens. Now not needed, the nails were removed, and carefully saved yet again in their rusted old can till the next barn needed a bit of their time."
Sometimes we shake hands… - Mr.Chickadee

Thank you,
looking forward to seeing your before and after photos and cost for renovation if you know a ball-park

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

Congrats on the new home.
1. If you haven't already done so, inspection for wood rot and termites might be in store.
2. Ventilation vents may have been removed over the years. (e.g. original door had vents, but rollup door was replaced and vents never added back.).
3. My garage is finished with dry wall, but was done by the builder (just like the walls inside the home). May want to get versed on modern construction methods for fire risk. (e.g. fire breaks within the wall).
4. I understand the fear of Lithium Ion. My daughter sleeps above said risk... EV and soon to be Powerwall.
5. Should investigate replacing the main panel for utility service upgrade to support enough EV charging. Then contact the Tesla design hotline to get a good feel for the replacement panel to better support solar and battery backfeed. I challenge you to install a no main breaker panel to get maximum backfeed potential.
6. You know return on investment is 7-9 years paying cash for solar in California (7 yrs if you buy an EV to qualify for preferred rates), and no ROI for batteries unless heavily incentivized (and you have the perfect service panel previously installed... hehe long story). I doubt future renters, if used as investment property, will care. They will be shopping for price and neighborhood. The condition of the cooktop likely bears greater weight than a powerwall or solar.
7. Do a self-home energy audit such Home EnergySaver (from one of our national labs). I attacked upgrades based on the ROI from Home EnergySaver.