How NOT to Wire Your House!!

I woke up with the idea that the stupid wire coming down from the ceiling could be eliminated altogether. That's when I tried going from the bottom up. I ran a line from the bottom fireplace to the transformer to make sure that light worked...It did. So far, so good.  Please ignore the mess beside the house....It has nothing to do with wiring...

Then I ran a line to the candlestick on the second floor and the fireplace there... Mind you, these are separate lines.  I am not sure where I am going with them, so I cut them long just to be safe.

Those both worked....Still good.  I connected another light to the mix to make sure that it also worked. 

It is not in a candlestick yet, so I just attached it with everything else.

About now, there are a bunch of pro wiring people out there that are about to faint and probably waiting for the crooked house to explode in a puff of smoke.

This is the mess that is my wiring at present.  All of one bunch of wires from each light attached to one side of the transformer and all of the other side of the split wires to the other side....HOW NOT TO WIRE!  I am just testing things out.

By the way, when you are hooking wires to a transformer, make it easy on yourself.  If you hook them left to right around the screws they will be attached and unattached easily.  You want the wire to go in the direction that the screw is turning. 

Before I learned that trick by trial and error, I said a few bad words when trying to attach the wires.  Now it is easy as pie.....How is pie easy?

Anyway, I am well on my way to the finish line.  April and Amare are on their way over, so I won't get anything more done this morning. 

See you tomorrow.

No News Is Good News???

This morning I started getting serious about the wiring.

Now that I know that they work, I have started splicing all of the wires together.  I found another light to add, so there will be six lights, counting the fireplace.

I put the bar lights at the front of the ceiling and ran the wires down either side just behind where the door is, when it is closed.  From there, they went under the floor to the center back.

The lights on the back wall will be two tin sconces and a nicely done pewter candlestick for the desk.

I got those from my friend Sue when she was selling stuff.

Those wires will go down the wall and will be covered up mostly by the desk and/or shelves.

They run to the left corner, where I left a space for them to go down to the empty space behind the staircase and fireplace.
The fireplace light runs directly to the back of the tiles and through the back wall.

Everything is attached to the lead wires that, in turn, go through the tiny hole in the wall and that leads to the transformer.

I am happy to say that everything is ready for soldering and insulation.

Then we can start the assembly of the whole thing. 

I still need to finish the fireplace. Then it's on to the fun part...

I asked Tessie where Zar was.  She looked at me out of the corner of her eye...and said...."I am not his keeper.  I have no idea where he went.".  Then after a few moments, she added...."Maybe he doesn't like this place...Can I have it?" 

I smell a rat!

See you tomorrow.  I have to go search for Zar.

Light Her Up....

 When I went to bed last night, the chimney was still not dry...A few more days of this and I will think that we moved to a swamp.

I got the first coat of spackle on this morning...Now sit and wait another 24 hours?  I don't think so.

Time to do the dreaded electrical... It is easy, but for some reason, I find it a nuisance.  First of all, my electrical drawer is a mess.  Tangled cords and wires are not inviting

I found two Florette bulbs and holders for the front ceiling.  Then the flickering one for the fireplace.  I am not sure that I like that one.  It flashes of and on like a neon billboard.  No flickering that I can see.  I also found two tin wall sconces that will be great for the desk area, upstairs.

First, to test them out, I did side by side grafts on all of the wires and wrapped them around the posts of the transformer.  This transformer is big enough to electrify a 10 room house...I may just swap it out with the one in the townhouse.  It seems a waste of power.

Nest.  To see how they would look in the room, kind of.  I taped the florettes to the ceiling at the front.  They will be covered by the door frame.

I just left the others on the floor for the time being...  The leads weren't long enough to do anything fancy.

I do think that this will give the room enough light, even with the door closed.                

I am still not sure about the flickering fire  light. 

I am going to run the wires today and I will be sure to leave enough lead to change that one out if I need to.

Walter and I are going to a movie this morning, so that will cut a couple of hours out in the middle.  When we get back, I will go straight back to work....And I will be looking for Zar.  Tessie is in a very helpful mood and Zar seems to have disappeared again...

He isn't any more enthusiastic than I am about wiring....Strange.  Maybe it's because he uses mainly steam and gas power in his work.  Maybe I should try gas lights...Maybe not...

See you tomorrow.