Any tips greatly appreciated. I'd really like to minimize the damage to
the drywall as it's professionally installed and textured.


Tip #1 Consider all possibilities. Surface mounted conduit. Working from
the outside. Working in the wall without going into the attic at all. For
instance you could remove a 4 inch wide strip the length of the wall and
cover it with a 1X6 chair rail.

Tip #2 Going thru the top rail requires 2 holes. One in the wall and one in
the ceiling. You do the work from inside the shop without having to enter
the attic.

Tip #3 I don't find a lot of plugins installed in the walls very useful. I
like boxes installed in the ceiling with a short 16" cord hanging down that
I can plug into. I find that my walls get covered with cupboards and
material and tool storage. Work is performed more in the center working
with extension cords. I run my big tools off of a large 220 outlet located
near the door. That way I can work outside too. My large tools get rolled
into the center or outside to be used and rolled back against the wall to be
stored until needed again. Everything is movable and gets positioned
according to the needs of the job. I do run a circuit to the stationary
tools like my air compressor. I find one 220 outlet enough because I can
only run one tool at a time. I am a one man operation. Likewise one 110
outlet is enough as well. I use an extension cord with multiple outlets to
get the power to where I am working. I do zero work near a wall. Car work,
building cupboards, furniture all happen in the center of the room. Table
saws, welders, planers, miter saws, shapers all get pulled away from their
storage location next to the wall to the center to be used.

Tip #4 What you plan on doing would not be something I would do. In my shop
plugins located along the wall would be unreachable/unused.

Tip #5 Sheet rock is inexpensive. You could remove all the sheetrock, do
the work and replace it with new. Material cost would only be about $300
and 3 days work or so. If you do this I prefer a flat finish. Easier to
broom the muck off.

Tip #6 I also have a extension cord that plugs into the 220 outlet giving
me 2 110 volt circuits to use.