Monday, January 28, 2008, posted by Q6 at 10:10 PM
I've lived in this house for ten years now, and I'm convinced that it was built after electricity was discovered but before it became popular.

This house has plenty of outlets, and switches on the walls, . . . but the switches control some of the outlets, and there's NO OVERHEAD LIGHTING in any of the major rooms (bedrooms, living room, dining room). I grew up in a house where the light was in the center of the ceiling, not on a stand halfway across a dark room; but I've lived with that, and adapted to it, and everything was fine.

Then I tried to make toast.

Electrical wiring is every bit as complicated as the schematic drawings make it look. There are several circuits throughout the house, and certain things are wired to certain circuits. Presumably some thought goes into what should be on the same circuit so that no one circuit has to carry too big a load and trip the breaker. WARNING: if your microwave is running, and plugged into the same circuit as the toaster, the entire house will die when one or the other machine finishes its cycle. After doing this for a while, I finally broke down and called an electrician.

Now anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm not an idiot when it comes to do-it-yourself remodeling. I've learned quite a bit, and learn more each time I do something. The only thing I won't do myself, however, is electricity because the risks are too high. Screw up painting, and it looks like crap; screw up carpentry, and things might break; screw up plumbing, and it's an expensive mess; but screw up electricity, and you die. So I don't do electrical. (I'd like to thank the fine four-man team from Archilectric for coming out for eleven straight hours in one day to get the whole job done in a single shot.)

I now have wiring set up for ceiling fans in the bedrooms (I'll go shopping for them this weekend), I have recessed lighting in the living room and library (on dimmers!), and I have switches connected to ceiling fixtures and all the outlets are constant.

And the microwave is on its own circuit now, so toast is back on the menu.
 
3 Comments:


At 9:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

SAVE FERRIS......i mean SAVE PERCY

 

At 6:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

Mmmm...toast.

I love the light!

 

At 5:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

ahh....toast....one of life's greater achievments!