Let there be voltage (Day 169 of 273)

On Friday (April 4th), we met with Gary Estes of Craighead Electric in Port Townsend. We got a line on Gary from Kyanne Anderson (see Day 14 blog), who built a house with her husband Roger over at the other sanctuary called Cape George Estates (another gated community, about 5 miles SW of Port Townsend). Kyanne did all her own wiring, so why couldn't we? We'll see.

Anyway, Gary is a friendly guy and a bit reserved; however, when he found out that I was a Mac aficionado he really opened up. He's the head of the local (Chimicum) chapter of the MUG (Mac Users Group), so now we had a common bond. Gary is going to lay out the wiring scheme (much like a the diagram for a wiring harness in a car), give me a materials list (first cut) and put the electrical panels in (a bit beyond my ability). He'll probably start in 2 weeks and we'll wire the garage first as a primer for my taking on the main house. After walking through the house and discussing our general needs and wants, we made some basic decisions and agreed to locate all the switched and outlets. We cut out pieces of poster board (3 colors) for the electrical boxes and stapled them to the walls. As we move about the house we'll jigger them around and see if the scheme makes sense. I don't understand the wiring of 3-way switches so we'll get a tutorial for these and other common practices in the garage.

I sent Gary the electrical plan that Darlene had drawn in AutoCad and exported as a pdf. Opened this in Adobe Illustrator and made a bunch of modifications on the basis of what we knew we wanted to change. Resaved the document and sent it to Gary. He uses a simple cad drawing program and uses my drawing as a template (underlay). Then he sketches out the wiring diagram coded with wire type. Who thought I'd become a mechanic for a giant auto that doesn't move (call it Kala Point Car). He also sent along the materials list and I opened an account at North Coast Electrical, a large supply house in Bremerton that delivers to our area (for free) several times a week. He says the prices will be as good as or better than Home Depot and we'll get first quality items (I presume this means no Chinese outlets or switches). Here's the list. Just for yucks, note that we'll start with 2,750 ft of wire (a bit more than a half mile). Pulling all that through 1" holes should be fun.

Michael-

Here is a list of material to get you started on your project. I left off the bigger wire, because that can be purchased by the foot either locally or at Home Depot.

1- bag, tan wirenuts
1- bag, green wirenuts
1- case of single gang nail-on boxes
15- 2 gang boxes
2- 3 gang boxes
5- Single gang face nail boxes
3- Adjustable single gang face nail boxes
48- IC-22 recessed cans (lights)
10- 3-0 nail-on boxes
10- 3-0 boxes w/ 16" bar hangers
10- 3-0 boxes w/ 24" bar hangers
500- Viking 100 staples
100- Viking LL staples
100- Viking 131 staples
1000'- 14-2 NMB wire
1000'- 14-3 NMB wire
250'- 12-2 NMB wire
250'- 12-3 NMB wire
250'- 10-3 NMB wire
1000'- Cat5E wire (grey)
1000'- RG6 coax
x- single gang data rings
x- Arlington exterior outlet (in-use box) for Hardyboard
x- Arlington exterior outlet (in-use box) for Stone
1- Panasonic bathroom fan
1- Aldes VS whole house fan system (4 vents, one fan)

That's all I can think of right now. Couldn't remember where the stone stopped, or I'd give you #'s for the Arlington boxes. I didn't see phone, data, or cable on your plan, so I have X for data rings. 1,2,3 or more connections can go to a single data ring using various plate configurations. Also, you may want to consider a centralized data panel. We can talk about that later. If you are considering running computer ethernet wiring, you may want to get a 1000' box of blue Cat5E also. Gary Estes, Craighead Electric.