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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Don't Ask How I Did It......

I have my own way of doing things, when it comes to lighting.....That's why I say not to ask how I did it. When anybody asks me about electrical, I usually just tell them to go find a good book or a site on line. I don't want to be responsible for someone burning down their house!

I bit the bullet and went to work fixing what was wrong with the upstairs lighting this morning.....I simply went back to the lights themselves and worked my way down to the transformer. One step at a time. Lights all working individually. Surprise! Yes they were. Hooking them together one step at a time, checking on the transformer as I added each one. I had to take out the ceilings in the bath and workroom to do this, but that wasn't much of a problem....I hadn't glued either one in yet.

I had to drill a couple of holes in walls to accommodate the wires, but other than that, things went pretty smoothly.

I use what I call the tree and branch method of wiring. I can't recommend it for anybody that hasn't done wiring before, but it works for me and once it is in place, it is pretty easy to change out an individual light. Each light is on a separate "branch" and sooner or later they all are connected to a trunk wire. It works for me and seems to stay lit once in place. I did the castle that way back in 1989 and everything in it still lights whenever we plug it in.

Tessie headed straight for the bathroom. She stated, "At least now I can see the dirt. If you would just hook up the water, I could get clean. You are going to do the rest of the bathroom today, aren't you? Aren't You???"

Zar on the other hand, man that he is, headed straight for the workroom. I think that he has plans for working in there until I get back to the Clockwork Cottage. I caught him inspecting my wiring job and he grudgingly approved it. He did mumble something about getting a fire extinguisher, just in case.....


I probably shouldn't show you the rest of the house, what with the state it is in right now, but let's be honest. It is impossible to work on one floor without moving everything from that floor to the next one down.

I have decided that the transformer is going on the outside of the house on the left. That is the easiest place to run all of the wires. They are going to go down the stairwells and out the side in the bottom of the living room. At least that's the plan so far. Knowing the way that I do things, that plan could change at any time....

Anyway, today is Wednesday. Walter is playing golf and I am going to the Mini Witches meeting. So much for getting the bathroom done... Please don't tattle to Tessie.

See you tomorrow.

5 comments:

Ara said...

Love your work on both rooms!! You would thing Tessie could just zap herself clean.....

Kathi said...

Funny you should mention a fire extinguisher. Maybe I need to keep one handy too! LOL
Your lights look great. You are a genius!

April said...

When are you available to work on the electricity in our kitchen? Would the tree branch method work for us too?

Caseymini said...

Sure April. The tree branchy thing will work for you too. We will start with the light in the refrigerator and the oven light and work in from there to the trunk....You may have to crawl under the sink to turn the lights on...I'll be right over. Tell Seth that I am on my way!LOL

miniacollection said...

Wonderful! I like the bathroom light very much with the decoration on the ceiling.
Geneviève