Wirin'
We passed our electrical 'rough-in' inspection, now its time to install receptables and fixtures. Here I'm installing an outlet in our East Kitchen on the small appliance branch circuit.
Here's the outlet for our dining room cove lighting. I haven't built the cove lights yet, so we're using a night light. I covered the photo-sensor with electrical tape so the light would always work with the switch.
Here's the other side. This will all be hidden within the cove lighting tray.
As we wired the house, we cut out old wiring, like this in the basement. Unfortunately, as we wired we lost electrical and lighting functionality in the house.
Near the end, we had 3 working outlets in the entire house. Here's a laundry room outlet that functioned till the end. For the past 6 weeks, the house was littered with extension cords and outlet strips.
Here's a couple basement junction boxes. I learned a lot about the NEC, National Electric Code, during the rewire. These are 4x4x2-1/8 metal boxes, using Table 314.16(A) in National Fire Protection Association Document 70 (NFPA 70, NEC 2005), based on box volume, a maximum number of 12 gauge wires allowed is 13. If you look closely, there's 5 Romex entering the right box. You ask, "5*3 is 15, sup with dat?" All the grounds count as a single conductor. So the correct wire count is 5*2 + 1 = 11. Confused? Welcome to the NEC. Moral: You can't just install any old box in your house.
Here's my basement sub-panel. I'm completing the house receptacle and fixture installs prior to finalizing the breaker placement.
The inspector complemented me on my fine wirin' worksmanship.
Labeled everything. Liv Outlets, W Kitchen Outlets, Dining Outlets, Dog, whatever.
Black Friday Office Depot Freebie. Still waiting for my rebate.
Sub-panel back side, went old school with a Sharpie. Hmmm, looks like I missed one.
5 12 gauge twisting is hell on your wrists, let me tell you!
During the rewire, I cut in every single wall in every single room. 1001 is a real mess. We won't be able to pass our 'Final' inspection until all the walls are complete. I took off the entire month of February for the rewire. Looks like I'll need another month for the finish work. Here's a west kitchen outlet and the box for the sink light and disposal switch.
We needed to center the east kitchen light. I dreaded this work, leaving it for last. Turns out it was a piece of cake. A small upstairs crawl space allowed for easy access to ground floor ceiling joists. No trenching or holes drilled to relocate this light. What a relief!
All inside ceiling boxes are metal to allow for Melanie's future unknown lights. All metal boxes require proper grounding. The inspector meticulously inspected my green screw work.
We went plastic for the the front porch light. This is a 'remodel' box, meaning you can install it without tearing up the ceiling or walls. It has little wings that spread on the back side of the hole to hold the box in place. Melanie will have to find a small fixture for the front porch.
The electric code requires an outlet on the front and back side of your house. Don't know why, I guess so the neighbors don't need a really long extension cord to power their house while you're on vacation.
The attic looks like a spaghetti factory.
We continue to use candles, more for ceremony than for light.