DIY Network

Electrical Work: Planning and Placement From "Be Your Own Contractor" episode DBYC-106

In this segment of DIY's Be Your Own Contractor, the do-it-yourselfers further discuss the process of planning their electrical work.

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Planning and Placement

• Michael Buchtel (figure A) had considerable experience as a field electrician, and currently works as an electronic radar technician, so he's qualified when it comes to electrical work. Like Alan Sain, Michael felt confident enough to do essentially all of the work himself for his home. Both Michael and Alan stress the importance of advance planning when it comes to electrical work. Planning will help you avoid getting in over your head with electrical work that exceeds your budget. It will ensure that electrical fixtures and resources (breaker boxes, outlets, switches, light fixtures, etc.) are placed locations that are both safe and convenient.

  Michael did all of the electrical work in his 4500-square-foot home in Williamsburg, Virginia. The main power-feed to the house runs into two 200-amp panels in his upstairs home-office (figure B). These provide all the power to the house. To control the downstairs circuits, he ran a separate 100-amp line out of one of the 200-amp panels to feed a third downstairs panel. Because he knew exactly where he wanted to place the downstairs panel for convenience, he devised a way to conceal that panel with a piece of framed art (figure C).

  Figure A

  Figure B

  Figure C

  
  

• Michael also made sure that every room in the house was accessed separately on the breaker panel, and every breaker was accurately labeled (figures D and E). If electrical work is required later on, the power can be shut off only to the room where the work is being done, and the left of the house can still have operating power.

  Figure D

  Figure E

  
  

  Figure F

• Skip Weahunt advises do-it-yourself contractors to avoid the common pitfall of concentrating on architectural design, floor-plans, landscaping and other major considerations and ignoring important considerations with respect to electrical design. He also warns that the electrical design provided by some subcontractors may serve only to provide a code-based plan intended to meet minimum requirements of the local building department and inspectors. This bare-bones plan may not accurately reflect your family's needs. There may be additional needs and factors taken into consideration, and this needs to be communicated to the electrical subcontractors that you may hire.

• Skip notes that failing to specify your exact needs to the contractor up front may open you up to extra expense later in the project -- if something has to be revised or reworked. Extras can be billed at a rate that the subcontractor may set, so your costs can add up quickly.

• For Skip's home in Fair Oaks, California, lighting design was an important consideration in the electrical plan. In every well-planned home, lighting design is important because, in Skip's words, "lighting is so critical to how the house actually feels." Skip's lighting design included special lighting that worked well with the room layout and interior decorating scheme (figure F). His electrical plan was finalized as a joint effort between his electrician and interior designer.

Some do-it-yourselfers hire professionals to do the rough-in wiring on their house, then install the interior wiring and receptacles themselves.