There are two areas of DIY home improvement that give me pause: electricity and plumbing. The consequences of making mistakes are just too high for my own personal comfort level. Things like hanging drywall or refinishing floors are not going to kill anyone while you are on the learning curve. But not properly wiring your house? Well, that might.

As the years have gone by, we have become slightly more adventurous. Installing light switches, new lighting fixtures, replacing outlets. Hmmm, maybe we really aren’t all that adventurous after all.

I have friends who did all of their own electrical wiring when they built their house, which is a different than a remodeling situation in that all the walls are open. They had to have a licensed electrician come and inspect and sign off on the wiring. This gave them the best of both worlds, they did the job themselves and saved a lot of money and also had the security of knowing that their job was done correctly and to code.

For those of you who are interested in tackling your own wiring projects, here is a website that can answer your electrical wiring questions. EZ DIY Electricity

The website is written by Wayne Gilchrist, a Montana licensed master electrician. Recent posts have covered the following topics:

• Wiring a Hot Spring Bengal Spa / Hot Tub
• Ez DIY Electricity January Giveaway
• Installing a Dedicated Circuit for an Air Compressor in a Garage
• Adding a Receptacle for a Garage Door Opener

Plus there are vast archives available for your perusal.

Mr. Gilchrist also has options for you to consult with him personally via telephone, email, or instant message should you have a question that is not answered to your satisfaction on his website or if you believe that your situation is somehow unique. The fee for this service is small when you consider how much it costs to have a licensed electrician come to your home.

Here is a link to wiring diagrams that might be handy for those of you attempting to install a light switch or something simple.

This is one website that I am adding to my favorites. Who knows, one of these days I might just decide to tackle an electrical project greater than changing a light switch.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 1:52 pm and is filed under DIY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.