How-to: Electrical wiring

If you have decided to tackle doing your own electrical work please make sure to do lots of homework.

First, you need to make sure the local code will allow you to do your own electrical. My area will allow you to wire a house if you are not an electrician as long as you intend to occupy the house after completion.

Second, know the electrical code forwards and backwards. This is not only to pass the electrical inspection but to also make sure you and your family are safe from potential electrical hazards in the future. Even though it is a burden, electrical codes are there for a reason.

Third, I would highly suggest that a DIYer rough-in a house but leave the actual hook-up to the electrical panel to an expert. I especially encourage hiring a professional to do the meter hook-up on the outside, as many areas will not even allow DIYers to do this.

As for the rough-in, make sure to be plentiful with electrical outlets as you can never have too many of these. Keep all of your wire runs neat and above all make sure to keep a diagram and label all wires that have been run. If I had a dollar for every hour that I wasted trying to figure out what wire went where after I ran it I would be rich.

My final bit of advice. Copper has gone up substantially in the last few years. Make sure to lock up the house and all copper wiring before leaving the worksite. If you can get an alarm system installed in the house that would also be good. I had all the wiring in the house gutted one Saturday night when I was literally a few days away from inspection. Weeks of work went down the drain because I did not have an alarm system to ward off the thieves.