Old House Rewire Primer

So we just bought a circal-1930s house, and one very large project looming is redoing the eletrical. The house has a mix of BX, cotton-wraped romex, and some very cracked romex running around the house. combine that with some very odd additions for outlets, bad light switch placement, it's just going to be a large project.



My father in law, a licensed electrician, has promised to do the rewiring of the house this summer. The problem is I plan to do some major renovations in the coming years (namely the kitchen).



I am already drawing up floor plans now so I can stategically think of where to put needed outlets, but should they be installed at this time? Is it worth the headache to install new outlets now and put them in their proper locations when the reno comes?
      

QUESTION:  can I run (2) 14-2 romex wires in (1) 3/4 BX Armored cable?



SETUP: I am finishing my basement and a few main floor circuits are intermingled with the basement lights and outlets.  In finishing the basement, all basement electrical will be on its own circuit. Therefore, I need to rewire some main floor items.



For instance, the main floor living room outlets go through the den area below in the basement. The 3/4 BX cable goes through the ceiling to the outlets.



PLAN:  I plan to cut the armored cable shortly after it comes out of the ceiling (main floor floor) and just connect the first floor outlets in a series using the proper bushing and BX cable ends. I will strap the BX cable ends down and the romex as soon as it comes out.



The electrical inspector already gave me thumbs up on doing this for the electric oven and cooktop (bigger wires of course).



I searched and couldn't find anything to this specific question.



Any input?



B
      

I completed my whole house rewire last Fall (took 2 years and severely tested my wife's patience). I read 5 wiring books in the early stages but read Rex Cauldwell's Wiring a House with his above code suggestions near the end of the project and now im obsessing about some of the stuff I didnt do. What do you guys think of some of the suggestions, specifically,



1. Driving 8 ground rods and the wire must be continuous (I drove 4 but the #6 copper wire from the panel to rod 1 is 1 wire and the #6 wire from rod 1 through rod 4 is another wire but both are properly clampled to rod 1 with an acord clamp). Funny, even with 4 rods there is almost no current through the rods versus 2-3 amps through the traditional cold water pipe ground



2. 1 circuit for each duplex receptacle in bathrooms. Since I have a quad in each of the batchrooms, that would be 4 circuits instead of 1 (code allows an unlimited number of bathroom receptacles on one circuit which does seem odd)



3. Nothing shared with kitchen counter receptacles (ie kitchen wall and dining room on their own)



4. Dedicated circuits for everything - I added dedicted circuit for fridge, microwave and dishwasher/disposer, but did not separate the dishwasher disposer onto 2 circuits. There used to be what I called "Circuit X" which did kitchen counter, microwave, dishwasher, disposer, fridge, 2 kitchen counter outlets, dining room and 1 outside outlet. Wife frequently blew that one. Circuit X was divided into at least 5 circuits during the rewire



5. No switch loops - did 5 of these to save on carpentry/avoid certain box fill problems. Now 2011 code says no switch loops without a neutral. Oops?



Just wondering what you guys think.
      

Okay, I am fairly new to wiring but its not the wiring I am wondering about.  It is running the wires.  I have 2 rooms in my house, 2 story and an attic, on the main floor that doesn't have any overhead lighting, only can use floor or table lamps right now.  The ceilings are about 10 feet tall.  There are outlets in the room so I do have power I can tap into for the lighting, but how do I go about running the wires up into the ceiling?  I do know I have to cut the hole for the lighting but will i have to put cut flaps in the drywall where ever there is a brace to drill holes to run the wires.  I am going to go from the middle of the ceiling straight back to the wall and then down to the switch that I will put in and then down to the outlet to tap into for the power.  I am just trying to do this the easiest way to minimize any drywall repair that will be needed.  Any help or suggestions from anyone is greatly appreciated and if you have questions please ask and I willl try to answer them.
      

Hi guys. I'm Dan, and I'm in Knoxville, TN. I know running power to a shed is a very common topic here. I've been doing tons of reading and feel pretty comfortable with the requirements, but I have two questions I haven't been able to find a clear answer to.



First, my situation: I'm having a 10x16 shed built in my backyard, to be used primarily as a woodshop. I need more than a single circuit, so I know I need a subpanel and two grounding rods at least 6' apart, bonded to the subpanel with #6 bare copper wire.



My house has 200 amp service, and the main panel is in the garage at the opposite corner of the house from where the shed will go, so it would be pretty inconvenient to run a feeder from, there. But there's an existing 100 amp subpanel in the basement, presumably installed when the previous owner finished the basement. I'll be running a 60 amp feeder from that subpanel to the shed.



My total run will be something like 75', so I'm running #6 THWN for the two hots and neutral, and #10 THWN for the ground. I plan to bury it in 1.25" schedule 40 PVC, buried 18" deep.



My first question relates to how I need to run the wire when it's not underground. The basement is finished with a drop ceiling, so I plan to run the feeder across the drop ceiling, out of the house, down to the ground (it's a walk-out basement), then underground the 26' to the shed. I assume it still needs to be in conduit for at least the part that runs up the wall of the house. But what about inside, when it runs through the drop ceiling to the panel? Does it need to be in conduit for the whole run? Or would I just staple the four wires to the joists or something?



The other question relates to the trench. I've got a rain gutter downspout that discharges right at where the shed will soon be, so I'm running a 40' length of 4" PVC to pipe that water past the shed. It will be buried just about 6-12", just enough to run under the shed. Can I run the power conduit in the same trench (obviously, deeper)? Presumably I'd dig the 18" trench to the shed, lay the schedule 40, then add a few inches of dirt to bring it up to about 12" deep, and extend the trench past the shed at that depth, then lay the 4" drain pipe and backfill. Or do I need to dig two separate trenches? Is there a rule about how far apart they need to be if so?



If anyone sees any other flaws or concerns with my plan, please do speak up, I want to do this right. Thanks!



Dan
      

We are in the process of redoing the area around our pool. As part of this we are adding a pool house and hot tub (separate from pool).



I have a couple Elecrtical Contractors coming out this weekend to price/put together a plan. Along with talking to several indivuals, I've been lurking around reading and trying to gather info but feel the need to have as much info available prior to getting these estimates and plans. Please excuse any incorrect verbage i might use and appreciate any corrections to my terminoligy



So this is what i have 



The pool house is approx 100 ft from the house.

It will have a few and outlets for blenders, minifridge, tv etc

the pool equipement consites of a pump, heater and a sand filter. The pump and current heater run off standard 110 lines (however if i upgrade this I dont know if the new one will require a 220 line



The pool light seems to run off a standard line as well



The hottub requires a 220 40amp line



There will be landscaping lighting as well as 2 more outlets for accesories



The original setup prior to last year had what looks like 6 or 8 guage (3 wire) directly buried about 6-8 inches under  ground. it was running what look to be two 20amp circuits from the main panel inside the house. This wire got split to two separate outlets near the pool. One went directly to the pool equipment and on directy to the pool light switch and some landscaping ighting.



With all the enhancements we are making i'm wondering what the best approach will be.



I assume a sub panel in the pool house that has one "main breaker" and has its own ground. Then one run to the pool equipment and one run to the hottub and a couple runs to the accesories i mentioned.



I have seen several replies on here where individuals talk about  "if they were doing the job this is how they would do it". Id be interested in some responses



What type of wire would be best to get it to the pool house

Does it run right from the main panel in the house?

Does direct burial make sense or shold i put it in conduit? I'm already digging a trench three feet deep for water and RG6 (which will be pushed thru conduit)



Any question i should make sure i ask the contractors?





Thanks in advance for any input
      

I'm currently working on a house built in the 1930's. The electrical is a mess with a combination of a switch panel  and a fuse box with most of it still being knob and tube. I'm running a new electrical line to the air handler in the basement. This is due to it currently being tapped off a light circuit which also feeds an outlet in the kitchen, a bedroom, and half the outlets upstairs. (There's no rhyme or reason to the current electrical setup). 



  My main question is I'm running  12NM through bored holes in the studs to the air handler. Once I get to the handler and run it down to where it enters the appliance and switch box will I run in to codes problems. Should this run in the basement be inside a conduit or is NM cable okay? 

  Any guidance would be appreciated. 
      

hi everyone.



i am installing 4" recessed lighting throughout my main floor.  my house was built in the 40's and the previous owner installed drywall over the existing lath and plaster ceiling.  so I've cut a trench down the center of my room to drill floor joists to run wiring and cut my holes for the new lights.

the lights are fire rated and do not require insulated cans for a traditional installation in a drywall ceiling.



question i have is with the additional 1/2 to 3/4" of lath and plaster above the drywall, should these lights now have insulated cans or should i be fine with the cans I've got?  there is no insulation in ceiling.



any suggested would be appreciated.



thanks

d
      

Help!  We decided to raise the ceiling in our kitchen for some new taller cabinets. We have 30" cabinets with a 7' drop ceiling. By taking out the drop ceiling we can go to an 8' ceiling with 36" cabinets.  We just had the ceiling taken out and now I see I got a problem!



This is a 2 story home, the wall in question is a load bearing wall (runs through the center of the house) The main breaker panel is in this wall (the panel opening is in the adjacent family room)



As you can see in the photos I cannot extend the wall up because all of the home wiring is in the way!  I expected I might have to run longer wires but not this. 



Some ideas we've thought about...

notch the double 2x4s (not sure how much I need to notch or allowed to)



build a cove (box) and leave the wires like they are (might be an eyesore in our new kitchen)



put up a large crown moulding along the entire wall (would be the only crown moulding in the house)



extend the ceiling up 6-7" instead of 12" (should leave enough room for wire to stay)



I'm leaning to the notching option if I can find a way to reinforce that section.



Any ideas?



thanks!
      

We are just beginning to start with our kitchen remodel. Today, I mapped out all the circuits and this is what I found.



Circuit # 7 - 20 amp circuit to 1 back splash outlet then to 3 kitchen wall outlets, then to a closet outlet and closet ceiling light and then to a side  porch light!



Circuit # 8 - 20 amp to Dishwasher and Disposal



Circuit # 9 - 20 amp circuit to microwave and kitchen ceiling lights. 2 patio recessed lights and dining room ceiling light.



Circuit # 12 - 20 amp circuit to another back splash outlet then to 2 dining room wall outlets.



Circuit # 14 - 20 amp to Refrigerator only



Circuit # 18 - 15 amp to GFCI outlet in garage then that feeds 3 outlets for 3 bathroom outlets and 1 outside patio outlet.



I going to have to add 1 more back splash outlet due to increase in counter space. I'll put the microwave on a dedicated circuit. So I need 2 additional breakers but I only have 1 blank spot in the breaker panel. I guess I can add one of those slim tandem breakers.



So my question, is it ok to have additional wall outlets on the same circuit as a back splash outlet?  If it's ok I'll lighten up circuit # 7 by putting some of those wall outlets on the additional back splash outlet.

Oh, I have 2 20 amp circuits I did not get identified yet! I'll get to those tomorrow.



thanks!