Basement Electrical

   

We have been working long hours in the basement.  Well, Lee has been working long hours.  I have been working medium hours.  In my defence, I have to feed the animals...and us...and write this blog!

Lee, somehow or other, has learned to do just about anything an electrician can.  We have done remodels on all of the houses we have owned and he has done the electrical work.  He added a plug here and there and next thing I know he is doing whole rooms.  This has saved us close to moolah dollars, by my calculations.

The framing is mostly done and now we have to put in the boxes for plugs and switches and Lee has to figure what we want where and string the wire.  We are putting in a lot of recessed lights.  I counted 25.  So those have to be wired and put in.  In  order to figure out what lights go where and where to put the switches, Lee stapled orange tape that we use to tie up baby trees in the appropriate spots in the ceiling.

   

He has books to tell him how many lines have to be on their own circuits.  Each bathroom needs its' own circuit.  And then there is the kitchen! 

Some switches need three-wire cable and some need two wire.   It is made of copper, so you don't want to buy too much...very pricey.  We have to figure where we want televisions and run cable for them.  They will be wall mounted, so boxes for them, too.  Don't forget the heater for the bathroom...and all the vents.  So he does the brain work and I do the grunt work, rather the electrician assistant work.

  

He tells me where to drill holes through the studs and I do it.  He cut two pieces of wood to guide me.  We had some issues with the planning department over the permits, so we want the inspector to be impressed and find nothing to complain about.  The holes for the plugs and switches will all be the same height.  No higgledy-piggledy work for us!

   

The hardest part was where there were four 2X6s all together.  There was no way to drill through them all with any bit we had.  We finally had to buy a bit extension and start from either side and meet in the middle.  I'm pretty proud that I (we) figured that out!

Tonight we buy a couple of contractor's packs for the recessed lights and a bit more lumber for the framing.  We made a few decisions after the contractor left, so it is on us.  We can do (and have done) framing, but we didn't want to do the whole thing and REALLY didn't want to figure out the framing for around the ducts and the tray ceiling.

   

We are getting bids for dry wall soon, so need to finish up all the stuff inside, or behind, the walls.  It would be great to have the walls finished and painted by Thanksgiving!