Let's Power Up!

Firefly Pendant Light

After updating a couple of rooms in my house I got to the conclusion that I need to know more about electricity! 

Let’s face it, painting a room, arranging the furniture and accessorizing, all those things are big and create a huge impact, but if you want to go the extra mile … A good lighting plan would make any room look way, waaaay better.

When the kitchen was updated, I knew more lighting solutions were needed there, one fluorescent fixture in the middle of the room was not enough.

The lighting plan in the kitchen started with he fluorescent light being changed for a pendant fixture, adding spot lights (can lights), under cabinet lighting, installing a new outlet in the kitchen island, and moving the other one to a new location.

My big issue?  I knew nothing about electricity.  😕

My easiest solution was to give that job to my Mister! J  He is the one who changes the bulbs when they go cuckoo, installs new fixtures, and takes care of the electrical issues in our home. Who better, right? Well, not so fast!

When I explained to him the electrical plan of the kitchen and gave him the honor to tackle that project,  he just gave me that “are you crazy?!” look!  and told me to call for estimates. :(   He was willing to move the outlets and maybe, just maybe install the under cabinet lights, but the can lights for the ceiling, Nope.

The estimates for labor would have taken 10% of my low budget. Not counting that I had to buy the fixtures!

So, I convinced my man to work together, taking our time to learn, do it ourselves, and do it right.  Sure enough he took his time,  6 months!!  He befriended the Master Electrician at our closest home center, who became one of our main sources of information.

Well, this is the First lesson I learned and I want to share it with you, so we can stop being afraid of electricity:

Mapping Circuits and Indexing a Service Panel

 Having a map of the circuits in your home will make your electrical repairs easier and safer.  This map will show you all the lights, switches, appliances, etc. connected to each circuit.  
Once you have all the circuits on a map, you can index the main service panel so next time you are going to change a fixture you know exactly what circuit needs to be shut off.

This job took me about a whole morning to be completed! (About 4 to 6 hours).

You can begin by making a sketch of every room in the house, if you have a blue print, it would be much better.  Don’t forget the exterior of your house, attic, garage, hallways, and utility areas.

Something like this would work

I went by floors, it was easier for me; Main Floor, Upstairs and basement.

Indicate the location of the electrical devices on each sketch, switch, appliance, fan, heater, etc.

I decided to draw my own sketches!!  Look at all those crooked lines!

At the main service panel, number each circuit breaker or fuse.  Turn off all the circuit breakers, but leave the main shutoff in the ON position.

Begin by turning ON one circuit at a time, you can also check the amperage rating printed on the rim of the fuse.

Go around your house turning on each switch, light, and appliance to identify the ones in that particular circuit, labeling them.

To test all receptacles for power, use a neon circuit tester, checking both halves of the receptacle, indicating which circuit supplies power to each receptacle.  There are times when each half is powered by a different circuit.

Outlet - Receptacle tester  - similar

On the circuit maps, write the circuit number and voltage.  It would be good to also indicate the amperage rating of each appliance, switch, light fixture, etc.  That would help later on to determine if you can add more charges to that circuit or not. (I cheated. I didn't do that. It would've been a full day checking that stuff.)

Tape the final index to the door of the main service panel.  You can add your own descriptions of what goes into each circuit. 

Finally, restore the power to all circuits.

That was my first step and I am glad it's done. I couldn't find things that belong to my number 10 circuit?  I'm still looking for it! :)
I hope you Power Up and take this first step too!

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