So I've been talking for a little bit about putting together something on swapping out outlets and switches and have hesitated simply because I wanted to include pictures and animations and a YouTube video link and Smell-o-vision and...well, you get the idea.

At some point though, a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow, so let's dive in.

Warning: Never open any electrical box, light fixture, appliance etc without disconnecting power first.  You should confirm that the power if off by using an electrical tester in good working condition.  Your wiring may be non-standard and if at any point, you become confused, concerned, worried, light-headed, hungry, bored, sad, etc.  you should stop and consult an electrician.  All of the information below is presented without warranty.  Read everything before you begin.  If you are unsure that you can do this work safely, do not do it at all.

OK.  Let's go ahead and take a look at light switches today.  A lot of people have trouble with old dimmers or want to install a dimmer switch on a light.  The new NEC (National Electric Code) may be moving to require dimmable lights in every area that does not require fluorescents, so while no jack-booted inspectors are going to run around town kicking in doors and flipping your lights off and on, you may want to get ahead of the curve.  Also, this project will only cover single pole switches.  If you have a light or outlet that is controlled by two or more switches, we can talk about that in the comments or I'll do another blog on that soon.

For this project, you'll need:
a new switch
a flat head screwdriver
a Phillips head screwdriver
a wire tool or pliers

First, turn off the power to your light switch.  You should confirm that the power is off by using a voltage sensor.  Non-contact voltage sensors are cheap and easy to use and can be picked up at any hardware store.

Once the power is off, go ahead and remove the plate cover, that plastic or metal thing that is held in place by a screw in the top and bottom.  If you've got a round dimmer switch, pull the knob towards you and it should come off.  I like to set the cover plate nearby face down and set the screws inside it to make sure they stay put.

Now you can see the switch.  Take another pass with your non-contact sensor at this point to make sure there's no current.  Now, there is a screw near the top and bottom of the switch that keeps it connected to the outlet box.  Many of these screws have a blue square of plastic that acts like a nut to keep them connected to the switch itself so they don't get lost.  Don't worry if you lose one or don't see it.  Now turn the screws and pull the switch out of the wall.

At this point, you might see one of a few things.  A standard switch has screws on the sides where the wires connect.  Some dimmers have two black wires that should be connected to the house wiring with wire nuts (little plastic caps).  Electrical tape is fine for some things, but not for connecting wires.  Don't do it.  Ever.

A word of caution here: if you have a post war house, you may have aluminum wiring.  Aluminum wires require special switches.  If your house wires are not visibly copper, et a switch that works with aluminum wiring.  A simple replacement at this point should be easy.  Disconnect the house wiring from the switch by loosening the screws on the sides.  Connect them to the new switch in the same way.  Wires should be looped around the screws clockwise to avoid having them slip off.  Tighten the wires.

If you've installing a dimmer, the box should tell you how to connect the wires in the back.  Now, the electrician's trick at this point is once everything is securely connected, turn the breaker back on and test it, being very careful not to touch any live wires or let any bare wires or terminals touch the box.  This is not necessary, but can save some time if you've made a mistake.

Once everything is connected, gently push the switch back into the box, making sure the wires stay connected.  You can help "fold" the wires back in using your other hand.  Once the switch in back near the box, use the screws to set it.  Turn the power back on before you put the cover plate back on and make sure everything is working.  Reattach the cover plate (and the knob if there is one) and you're all set.

Let there be light!

Every once in a while, I come across something that I have never seen before and cant figure out.  Sometimes the context helps to solve the problem.  Sometimes a Google search will bring up the answer.  Other times, you end up with something that you just can't suss out.  This is one of those times.

This little guy was in the crawlspace under the the house I'm working on.  It's got old phoneline connected to the bottom and cloth coated electrical attached as well.  There was nothing in the center when I found this and it looked to have been out of service for some time.  The two red antenna are 7amp fuses.  I can't make out the rest of the markings.

Normally I come with answers.  This time I come with questions.  And answers.

The beauty of the house is that no one has done much of anything to it for the last 100 years.  When I went to dig up the foundation, I found the old ceramic circuit "panel", with a blade switch and two places for fuses.  It was literally laying in the dirt under the new panel, which had been installed about 20 years before.  I'm planning on hooking it up in the shop to control something in homage to the house's history.

If you've got questions, fire away.

So I was getting ready to put together something for this week and got stumped.  I'd love to get into putting together some very simple "how-to" posts, but most of them require pictures and frankly, with the sheetrock going up on the place I'm working on now, I don't really have a spot that I can dedicate for shooting them.

So this week, I'm putting up the rock and have a buddy coming out this weekend to help put on the lids.  Should be a good time if I don't kill myself.  Then I'll get to trim it out and hopefully be done with this beast.

Fire away with any questions on finish work or any other home repair question and I'll do my best to get you an answer.

Electricity is the heart of modern life.  While you can’t have a city without plumbing, our modern way of life is truly enabled by electricity.  Everything you do it touched by it and a century after it began to make its way into our lives, we still haven’t figured out everything we can do with it.  It makes each of us masters with an army of electrons ready and willing to do our bidding.  Cooking, cleaning, lighting, heating, cooling, and freezing, electricity does our work.

In your house or apartment, your power comes first through your circuit panel.  This is where the power is separated out into a number of wires to feed different parts of the home.  Also on the panel, the breakers or fuses limit the amount of power that can be drawn across a line.  This keeps you from burning up your lines and your house and can also keep for from being killed by electrocution.  It won’t save you from being electrocuted, as anyone who has done a lot of work on electrical can tell you, but it can still save your life. 

After the panel, the power goes to your light switches and outlets ready to work.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’d like to go through a few simple electrical projects around the house and in the process walk through some of the basics of household wiring.  Anyone have any projects they are interested in doing or some troubleshooting stuff they need an extra set of eyes on?

Since I’ve been on a plumbing rampage lately, I thought we’d continue by hitting sinks, and showers and tubs (Oh my!).  These are all basically the same thing on different scales; a bathtub or shower is just a walk-in sink.  So how does it all go together?  We’ll follow the water…

Under your sink or inside the wall near your tub, there are a couple of shutoff valves that control the hot or cold water.  They are there to give you a way to isolate the appliance so it can be replaced or repaired.  I’m not going to tell anyone to bust open a wall to see the valves for their tub, but if you look under almost any sink, you’ll see the shutoff valves.  (The exception here would be old wall mounted faucets like the ones Nancy mentioned a few weeks ago.)  The shutoff valves come in a number of flavors depending on the age of your house and the folks who installed them.  Most of you will have a couple of silver oval-shaped knobs that control the water flow to the faucet.

So if the valves under your sink are open, the water is free to move through the pipe to the faucet valves.  These come in all different flavors but they all do the same thing when they are working: Stop the water.  There are ball valves, compression valves, gate valves, etc. When you get into kitchens and bathrooms and tubs and sinks, there are about 20 ways to stop the water, so let’s just call it a valve.  Most of these are chosen because they are durable and easy to repair.  Some use rubber washers, others use ceramic disks to block the valve, others just use well-fitted metal.

So now the water has left the faucet or showerhead and is headed into the bowl/tub/pan/sink etc.  There may or may not be a one more valve at the base of the bowl to stop the water.  This is the valve that holds the water back so you can take a bath or fill a sink.  (As a side note, you’ll never see a valve like this in a kitchen because they tend to catch stuff and more stuff goes down the kitchen sink than the bathroom sink or the shower/tub drain.)  If you’ve got a valve on the drain, you also have an overflow in the sink or tub.  That’s a little opening that (in theory) will keep your tub or sink from overflowing its edges by leaving an opening to the plumbing system right below the rim.

Once the final valve is open, the water flows into the P-trap below and into the house waste lines.