Physical Wiring -- old work

[TechieSooner]

What a project this house has been!

I've pulled about 1.5 miles of wire over the last year. I've got Cat6, phone, and coax in each room downstairs, and I've done a ton of high-voltage wiring, too. I don't have a work log, but you can find pictures of the remodel on my Picasa albums.

Because of the extent of the other work we're doing (and planning), I've ended up dropping the sheet rock in most places. Once that's done, the wiring is mostly a snap ... until ducting gets in the way.

You may have no choice but to take drywall out so you can get to certain spots and then patch and paint.

I'm surprised to read such narrow thinking on the forums here.

At any rate, looks like that house ended up being a pretty big deal to overhaul!

 

[mikeblas]

My response was to "Each house and structure is so unique that it would be impossible to write something that would work all the time." I thought my point was clear—maybe you're interning on a political campaign this summer, or something—but I was refuting the assertion that diverse situational knowledge can't be recorded or advised, or that something must work all of the time to be of value. That kind of thinking is inherently limiting.

At any rate, looks like that house ended up being a pretty big deal to overhaul!

One of the tipping points for opening the sheet rock was deciding to replace in-ceiling luminaires with smaller units throughout the house. Another was finding some rodent damage that needed to be cleaned-up, including the replacement of a couple of high-voltage runs. The idea gained momentum when the cutting revealed even more problems, like abandoned circuits and missing or failed insulation.

Even after that decision, a book describing common construction practices would have helped me understand the carpentry I was drilling through.

The outside deck will be done soon, and we'll start focusing on the inside: a new stairwell, first, then remodel the kitchen.

 

[mikeblas]

After 18 months in the house, almost all of it with active construction, we're about half-way done with the remodel. Because of the construction we've decided to do, we've dropped most of the drywall in the house--and even taken out a few walls to improve sight lines to the view.

Even with the walls off, there's still some creative fishing to do around the carpentry, plus all the regular problems, like this five-gang switch box in the kitchen.

The previous remodel left this awsome cluster fuck in the wall in the master, behind a closet and drawer system that were added. There's two pieces floating in there; one is 18 feet too long, and the other was about 4 feet too long.

After finding evidence of severe arcing and perhaps a fire, I decided to remove the old Murray 200-amp load center and replaced it with a new Square D system to match the old one.

I probably should have worked harder to fit a larger low-voltage center than this one, since it's already even more stuffed than it is in this picture from a year ago. We've gone from two phone jacks and two cable outlets to Ethernet, phone, and cable in every bedroom, plus double runs to the three televisions, the amplifier rack, and so on ...

Outside, I added waterproof circuits for the low-voltage lighting in the deck railing we've had fabricated. I also pre-wired for a hot tub circuit, including the stupid visible cut off switch.

Anyway, I did end up finding a great book to help with the trickier parts of pulling wires. Wiring a House: For Pros by Pros by Rex Cauldwell is pretty much your typical home wiring book ... but it also has a couple of great chapters with great advice for doing complicated pulls, tricky fishing, and reaching existing lines in a safe manner.

 

[poopooegg]

Mike, you have a beautiful home. Keep up with the good work.