A Few Small Electrical Projects

Today I worked from home so that I could get two projects complete:

1) Get an estimate for scraping and repainting of the wood trim around my door and windows on the front of the house.
2) Get two electrical projects completed - First, replace the 220 V outlet that had been available for my stove with a 110 V one that would work for my new stove; Second, get the motion sensor flood light out back fixed/replaced.

I didn't even have to meet the person who came to take pictures of my trim for the estimate.  He was going to come at 7am and just take a few pictures, but I never saw him.  I was feeling sick this morning and stayed upstairs longer than usual, so I didn't make it down until about 7:30am.  I'm eager to get the estimate and see when we can get the work scheduled!  The paint on the trim is pretty chewed up, and I think that will make the house look a lot better.

For the electrical work, I hired Generation 3 Electric again. Both projects were small, but they required more prep work than I had allowed time for this morning.

First, when I moved in, nothing on the electricity panel was labeled.  The few breakers I had identified have been by accident when something tripped or by much trial and error.  So, this morning, after I got back down, I had about 40 minutes until I had to log on for work, and I needed to identify both the stove outlet and motion sensor breaker.  In reality it took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to do that and 28 full trips up and down all the stairs.  The good news is that I have about half of my panel identified now!

The electrician arrived just before noon.  What should have been a much simpler job was complicated once again by the fact that my kitchen isn't accessible from the basement.  He wanted to run a new, smaller wire for the stove outlet, but we could not figure out how to do that since the wire disappeared to somewhere inaccessible and then reappear behind a wood panel behind the stove.  I told him I didn't want the outlet to cost more than my stove did.  He agreed, and we came up with a work around that we were both OK with.

The motion sensor was a disaster waiting to happen.  I think a child must have installed the original one.  The mounting box was both the wrong shape and only approved for indoor use.  The light bulbs - same.  If the original sensor had any protection against the elements that would prevent the sensors from being clogged, it was long gone.  So, he ended up replacing the entire thing and putting outdoor approved flood lights.

He finished about 10 minutes after 2, which made me 10 minutes late for my meeting.

And then karma made me pay for that by bringing my way a serious sales complaint to jump on that has been consuming the rest of my day.

Here are the pictures of what was completed today.

My next project I'm planning is to replace the fence in my little back "yard" area and get some pavers installed to make the floor level.  The timing will depend on how much the trim estimate comes in at.  I was able to track down the person who owns the house next to me and gave him a call today to talk to him about that project, since it will impact his renters while it is going on.