Hot wires and such

Sheldon goes to North Dakota for several days every summer to visit his family and I always take advantage of that time to embark on home improvement projects that he would likely forbid. He just returned last evening after six days and since he did not travel there last year I had a two year backlog of projects. It was an ambitious list and I actually accomplished more than I expected.

The first priority was to paint his bedroom. During the bathroom remodel last year there was a serious screw-up in the shower installation adjacent to one of the bedroom walls which required cutting out a huge piece of the wall to correct the error. They did repair the drywall and sprayed matching texture but it was never repainted. 

It has been several years since I painted the room in a blue-grey and so I had to find a close match. I went with one called ‘Lighthouse Shadows’ which is quite nice and a shade lighter than what was on the walls. Of course this necessitated repainting the entire room. I had to move a couple of things out and also pull the heavy bed away from a wall.

I started around 8:00 on Saturday morning and was done by 11:10. Only a few minor touch-ups remain where I dripped or accidentally got some on the white ceiling.

With the bed away from the wall I was ready to start another project — replacing all the electric receptacles as well as the light switches. For a long time I have wanted to do this throughout the house because I am not fond of the standard beige that is used in most homes, and with my Nordic design fetish, I insist on white.

I had doubt whether I would ever actually do this myself rather than have an electrician called in to tackle the project which would no doubt be costly as there are 35 receptacles and 17 light switches that I counted. The biggest priority was to replace the switches for the ceiling light and closet light and then the five receptacles in that bedroom. If I could do that successfully then I would have confidence in doing the remainder of the house at my leisure.

After watching a number of instructional videos online I was ready to begin. I shut off the power to that room and got my tools ready which included a flathead screwdriver, a Phillips screwdriver, needle nose pliers, and most importantly, a tool to check for voltage present in the wires which has proven to be an essential necessity for any project involving electricity.

In shutting off the power to the room I assumed that would cover the entire room. But I went round with my tester checking each wall outlet. When I got to the last one which was behind the bed I got a beep and a red light indicating voltage present. Wow! I didn’t expect that!

There is another room on the other side of that wall and apparently the circuit for that room includes that one outlet on the shared wall. Lesson learned: never assume anything. This was, however, not the biggest surprise I would experience.

I started with the light switch that controls the overhead light. I knew my first attempt was likely to take significantly longer and then I hoped once I got into a rhythm I could get these done in about 5-7 minutes which would make it theoretically possible to complete all 17 in the house over the weekend.

That first light switch was certainly a challenge. The incoming wires were secured with a clamp inside a small hole on the back of the receptacle and were impossible to pull out. I learned that you can release the clamp using a small screwdriver to press into an opening that would release the clamp and the wires could be pulled out. After struggling with that for several minutes I was finally successful.

I also noticed the old receptacle did not have a grounding screw like the new one. Two of the wires were attached using the push-in clamps and a 3rd one was attached to a screw so I assumed that must be the ground wire.

After wiring everything up and getting the receptacle secured to the wall I went out to turn on the power so I could test it.  There was light and I was proud of myself.

I shut off the power again and did the second light switch for the closet, and then decided to try one of the electric outlets on the wall.  That was was a bit more difficult as there were 4 wires plus a ground wire but I got it all done.

After switching the power back on I went to test everything. The overhead light still worked. Hitting the switch on the closet light did nothing. I tested with my voltage meter and got no reading. Then I tested the electric outlet that I had just replaced. Nothing. No power. I then removed the receptacles leaving only exposed bare wire and got no reading whatsoever with my voltage tester. Not only that, but every other outlet in the room was now dead except for the one that was on the adjacent room’s circuit.

I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and now there was no light in the bathroom either! Now I was completely frustrated and baffled and my progress came to an abrupt halt as did my self-esteem. The remainder of my day was spent troubleshooting this and double checking my wiring.

Sunday I had a friend come over to take a look. She is considerably more experienced with this kind of thing than I am, but she was also perplexed.

The master bath already had a pre-existing problem with a GFCI switch located in the garage that periodically shuts off power to the two bathroom outlets and most often happens during a storm. Restoring power is as simple as pressing a reset button on the GFCI but that wasn’t working for several months now. The electric razor and toothbrush have had to be charged in another room.

Knowing that I was already going to need an electrician to determine the cause of my existing problem I decided to go ahead and make an effort to replace the GFCI receptacle. I got that wired up and still no success with hitting the reset button. My friend checked that, tightened my ground screw, and suddenly the thing worked! Any bit of good news and success was welcome.

Meanwhile I was getting into a panic mode because the last thing I wanted was for Sheldon to return home on Tuesday and find a bunch of live wires hanging out of the wall in this bedroom, and especially after I had been instructed NOT to do ANY electrical work since I am not an electrician. That humiliation would be too much.

On Monday morning I was able to get in touch with an electrician who had availability at 11:30 for about an hour. I was apprehensive because I had no idea what the extent of the problem might be, or if it was something he could resolve in an hour.  

He arrived on time and I explained my problem. He took one look at the first light switch I wired up and said, “Well, there is a problem here.”

The only wire that had been connected to a screw terminal on the old switch that I assumed was a ground wire was actually a live wire meant to relay power down the line to other switches and outlets on the circuit, which included the bathroom light next door!

The electrician rewired that one, did the same with my closet light, and then checked the duplex receptacle I had wired up. Actually, that was the only one I had wired correctly!

He finished all of this in about 30 minutes, I turned the power back on and everything worked again! The ceiling light, closet light, and the receptacles all had power again. He was nice enough to explain my error and gave me some tips for continuing this project so that I don’t make these mistakes again.

While I understand the most basic things about electricity I never had a clue that one entry point into a room was the relay for everything else in the room.

Now it was Monday afternoon and I knew I had to finish the other our duplex receptacles within the next 24 hours. I got right on it. I did the second, third and fourth receptacles on this circuit. Sure enough, when I took out the fourth one which was the end of the run, there were only two wires plus a ground wire rather than four because that one had nowhere to relay to. It all made perfect sense now.

Then I shut off the power in the adjacent room for that one outlet behind the bed and rewired that one with a new receptacle, tested for voltage and it was all good. Just to be sure, before I moved the bed back against the wall I plugged in the Alexa assistant and nothing happened.  Fuck! At this point I was about ready to have a screaming fit.

I walked away from this for awhile to really ponder things and then wondered if perhaps Alexa had an ‘on’ button. She did! So everything was fine. I was never so happy to get that bed back into place and start making the room look normal again. 

Sometimes I can be so outrageously stupid and I will admit that I am completely incompetent when it comes to anything mechanical, although generally I do not struggle with off/on buttons on gadgets!  I am pathetic with assembly instructions, I can do next to nothing in terms of engine work or anything of that nature. Basically I can use a hammer, a screwdriver, and a drill. I can hang pictures. I can paint. And being queer I can have design ideas to die for. Anything else gets dicey. For example, I also wired up a new switch for the closet light in the master bedroom. I was a bit stunned when I finished and pressing the top of the paddle switch (normally the ‘on’ position) would actually turn the light off instead of on, and vice versa. Clearly I had mounted the damned thing upside down! So I had to fix that.

Last year when I was replacing all the door hardware with new knobs and hinges there were several instances where I mounted the hinges upside down and had to redo them. It’s embarrassing. 

Although I really wanted to have more light switches in the rest of the house completed before Sheldon’s return, I was thankful that at least his room was done before his return, and I am armed with the knowledge required to continue with the other rooms whenever I am ready.

It was an outrageously busy six days. Aside from painting the room and rewiring the electrics, I stained a wood shelf in the master closet and sprayed two coats of polyurethane finish. I’m not sure the difference was worth the effort. Originally my intent was to paint it white so it would match all the other shelves in the closet. But it was an interesting piece of wood and I wanted to try staining first. Now I am thinking I will paint the underside white and make it into a reversible shelf and then I can decide which looks nicer.

Another project was one that wasn’t on my original project list. It just popped into my head while I was painting the bedroom. I wanted to take down all the air vents from the ceiling, clean them, and repaint them white. I managed to get that done as well in between other projects. It was quite easy and quick to remove them, give them a wipe down or a scrub if needed (one of them in the kitchen was hideously filthy) and then quickly spray them white and let them dry. The drying phase took about 3 hours so I was free to resume work elsewhere while they dried.

What is interesting after all this is that I actually enjoy electrical work more so than most other projects. Plumbing comes to mind. I despise plumbing and have absolutely no desire to attempt it. If Sheldon ever goes away for a few days and returns to find new faucets in the kitchen and baths there will be no doubt whatsoever that I hired a professional.

Meanwhile, during this project, nine more door handles arrived so I can resume that project of replacing the door knobs that I only installed late last summer.

Someday this will all be just the way I want it.