No more extension cords
I’m pleased to announce, after nearly 100 years, our house now has “real power” on the first floor. Today I installed 10 15-amp receptacles in the living/dining area and hooked them up to the panel, which I installed last March.
When I moved in a few years ago, there were about 5 receptacles total in these two rooms, and maybe 2 or 3 of them worked. We’ve been living without those since May when we began this project by demoing everything in sight – including the wiring. It was a good feeling to say goodbye to that post and pole wiring, but for the last 6 months we’ve been using a dizzying array of extension cords to run just about everything on the first floor – off of a single 20-amp circuit. Yes, it blows.
With today’s work, we now have two circuits, with more to come. I’ll be adding a circuit for lights in these rooms, and several circuits in the kitchen for various counter appliances, built-in appliances, and lights. YAY!
6 Comments
Trissa·December 9, 2005
This is another “huge” accomplishment. I can’t say how nice it is to be able to plug a lamp into the wall and not have to unplug it when I need to use the shop vac. Yahoo! Thanks, Nick!
kim·December 9, 2005
Congrats! It’s amazing how the “little things” like working electrical outlets can make life soooo much better.
Greg·December 9, 2005
I’ll never forget the day I told some folks at work, with an air of superiority, that “I now have electric ceiling lights in every room of my house”. They looked at me like, “Uh, yea, most people have had that for the past 100 years!” This stuff is just lost on people like that. We can appreciate the significance.
Aaron·December 10, 2005
I sit here in my living room next to a bright orange extension cord that is powering the Christmas lights in our front windows…jealous.
kris·December 10, 2005
Yay! We know just how good that feels! Isn’t it a strange feeling when your “project” starts feeling like a real home? I still walk into the bedrooms in our house and turn the light switches on and off—just because I can…
deb·December 11, 2005
that’s so great! we’re almost at that stage in the basement… and your tree looks beautiful too!