It's Electric! Part 2: Switches & Stuff

I'm in a concise mood. I'll keep this short.

Wife and I just plain don't have any light switches.
Father and I have cooked up a plan to remedy that though: bust holes in the wall and pull wires through it!

We only had a ceiling fan switch and a back porch light switch.
But when we are done, we are going to have not one, but TWO light switches, plus fan, and two additional for the new over-sink light and under-cabinet lights. YES!!

In case you don't know what a hole in the wall with wires hanging out of it looks like, it looks like this:

As Bro would say, teehee!

And that is all I have to say today. :)

It's Electric! Part 1: Outlets

Father is the hero of the electrical work. I did a lot of dreaming up what I wanted/needed, but I basically put Father in charge to figure out how and if we could make it happen. With his genius and my... my... well, with his genius we are getting it done.

The Old Junk

Our three old kitchen outlets were all run with old, crunchy, cloth-wrapped, not-so-grounded wire. Some of the outlets even crumbled and fell apart when I tried to pop the cover plates off. Yucky.

Left of sink: This is the only counter outlet we had, and I'm keeping it. But it's getting delicious new wire.

Fridge: Sorry, but I'm putting cabinets in front of you. You gotta go.

Microwave at the table: Remember that one? It will become the new fridge outlet, and it's getting new wire too. Muwahahaha!

The New Stuff

Father and I are adding at least four new outlets (dedicated gas stove, two counter outlets right of sink and dishwasher) and a power drop for the new vent hood.

To power all this stuff, Father and I cut, drilled, pulled, and spliced our way through the house... basement to attic. When we were done we had a sub-panel box in the basement to feed everything up.

Most of the old wire was stapled heavily to the wall frames, so pulling it out was tough. Trying to feed the new wire blindly through walls is not such a cake walk either, but Father has all the tools and knows all the tricks. I own a screwdriver and I can sort-of juggle, but that's about all I have to offer.

Oh, and that doesn't even touch the lighting and switches...

Squeaks, Honks, and the Tiptoe Dance

I really like old squeaky houses. There's just so much character in creaky staircases and door hinges.

But when the squeaks get too high pitched and mousy, or too low and turn to honks, we have a problem.

Our squeaky floors had gone way beyond warm antiquity to something more like, I don't know... a bullfrog choir... or dying geese. I'm not sure which.

Father suggested I use some screws to tighten things up a bit, so I took an evening to do just that. After measuring the location of all the floor joists from the basement I mapped out their location on the floor with some line guides.

I rubbed a little soap on the screws to help them go into the hardened wood a little better.

It really turned out to be quite easy. I just drove a few screws and then jumped around on my tiptoes listening for more honks. If I found one, I drove more screws.

Screws. Tiptoe dance. Screws. Tiptoe dance.

By the time I got done the floor was SILENT! Oh man, what a sweet victory!