Planning the Operation
Being the General Contractor for my own renovation project was nerve-wracking at times but also gave me a lot of control over the costs. As it approached time to start re-wiring the house, I was making calls to various electricians to feel them out on whether they would be willing to let me work alongside them while getting the house wired.
As it turned out, around the time I was getting ready to start wiring, I was acting in a play and met another actor, Alex Cherington, who worked as an electrician to pay the bills. Alex agreed to help me after visiting the project and realizing that I would be capable as a co-worker.
The first step in rewiring Chez Melendy was making a plan. I needed to map out all the circuits. This included specifying the locations for all the lighting fixtures, receptacles, and switches, and determining the amperage for each. Mapping out the receptacles was easy enough but designing the lighting for each room, was more difficult. I realized that in order to do the work myself and in a reasonable amount of time, both in terms of design and installation, I wouldn't be able to get too fancy. Leaving out the bells and whistles of a 21st century lighting design was not a problem in my mind. My intent in renovating Chez Melendy was not to create a super-modern home with an historic shell but to create a comfortable living space that was up to code.
Mapping out the circuits took some time, and there were many revisions along the way. (The picture above is not the final plan.) Alex's experience was indispensable in the planning stage, especially in keeping things within the local code. And even despite all the planning, when the wiring got under way, there would be some necessary changes on the fly, like moving a switch from one side of a door to another.
The best planning couldn't prevent a change in use later on. In an earlier post, I mentioned the outlet dedicated for the microwave that somehow ended up in a cabinet behind some wine glasses. Even with considerable planning there's always the possibility of change. In that particular case, I had to decide on the placement of the outlet before we had completed a cabinet and appliance design for our kitchen. As it turned out, we decided to get rid of our microwave altogether. Our kitchen is small, and given the amount of space a microwave takes up compared to the amount of use it gets, we opted for more cabinet space. The dedicated circuit is still there if we change our minds and want to go back to using a microwave (and eating food that's rubbery and has cold spots), but for now the wine-glasses take precedence.
When the planning was complete, I could go around the house and place the boxes that would hold the receptacles and light fixtures. Since I knew that my exterior walls were going to be thicker than the standard 5/8" sheet rock, I used adjustable boxes there. These have turned out real handy for setting the boxes at the proper depth for mounting the receptacle and face plate.
When the boxes were all placed, we could start pulling wires, first by determining where to drill holes and then by pulling the proper gauge wire from the basement at the point where the new breaker panel would be, through the walls, and to the first outlet or fixture in the circuit. Once the wire was at the first box, we stapled/secured it in place along its run, working backwards from the outlet/fixture towards the spool lying in the basement. Once we established that first run, we could then take the spool to the first box in the circuit and feed the wire to the next one, again stapling/securing the wire along its run working back from the new box to towards the spool sitting at the previous. This method saved us from having to estimate the length of the wire for each run; there was always more to pull from the spool if needed.
More wiring to come...
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