It’s Electric! BoogeyWoogeyWoogey

This last weekend was a big step forward in the “making our home more modern and safe” department. Most of the old covered wire is in the trash and we’ve learned some pretty interesting things along the way.

Fast Fact #1:  No matter what electric project you’re tackling you’ll probably need a box to put that switch or outlet into.  When you get to the hardware store you’ll have two options: Old or New.

I hear you: “But Jessle – all the boxes are new.  I don’t get it.”  I didn’t either.  In fact, Cho and I purchased 20 or the wrong boxes because this isn’t something that we had ever had to think about before.  The big difference is in the application of where you’re using it.

New construction boxes are nailed directly into the stud which means unless you’ve done a complete tear down of a room (IE the demo’d kitchen we are currently remodeling) or building up brand new from the ground you need boxes from the other group.

Old construction boxes allow you to cut a hole into an existing wall and pop them right in using a clip to keep them in place.

Oh and if you’re still caught up on the title, please complain to the “Don’t Care” department.  I hear they’re really helpful over there.

Here’s the gross and gnarly sockets we had to work with:

This is what they had used to cap off their cables. Tape.
Oh, also, they grounded the wires by wrapping the ground back onto itself. Wonderful.

Here is the growing mess that is the breaker box.

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