Home Improvement Today?

So I began my little A/V project yesterday. I took @truchador advice and got some 3ft polyethylene sheeting and garden staples to make a pathway i could sit and crawl on without making a mess. I also got some spray can insulation to fill in the holes as recommended by @Justified. It turns out the cable line was never grounded to anything. Lightning really isnt a concern in Socal, but still, the installer should have done it.

I also found some good stuff down there. I found this cool pipe grounding thingy, and with some extra wire i had it took care of the grounding issue. I also found about 100ft of good RG6 cable, and 50ft of Cat 6 ethernet cable. Score!

I replaced the old splitter with a unbalanced 3-way splitter, with the -3.5db side going to the modem. All the cables are now nicely clipped to the framing and secured. Now I have a proper cable outlet in the bedroom.

I also used DeOxit D100 spray on all the connections. I took some speedtest screenshots before this, very interested to see if my internet speed or latency improves after all this is done.

 

Clean work

 

and an earlier picture before he covered it up.

 

There is a drainage issue in my backyard and the water was being diverted back to the house so that is my first and most important project right now. I'll be putting the same gravel down on the back wall between that corner and the back porch and replacing the downspout and splash block with a rain barrel that my wife will use to water her flowers along the fence line. You can see the rain barrel in the second picture that is along the fence line that we'll be using at the downspouts that have drainage issues.

 

So glad i saw your post and before i head under my house to fix my drier vent I will be headed to the hardware store to pick up some polyethylene sheeting as well to make runners under my house to crawl on.

 

1st day of foundation repairs 13 piers and 700sqft foam

 

If 14AWG wire ever acceptable in a 20A circuit?

Long story short, I'm yanking out the florescent fixtures in my basement and putting in simple porcelain fixtures with LED bulbs instead. About halfway through the project, I realized the wire was 14 gauge and every breaker in the house is at least 20A.

Only thing I can think is maybe a lighting loop is okay because there are no outlets to plug things in and overload it. I'm guessing that's not the case, but I don't know the code. It does sound like there is an exception for fixture wiring, but I could be interpreting it incorrectly.

If it is bad, I'll probably pop a 15 amp breaker in the panel instead of replacing all the wiring.

When I redid my garage lighting, I had to run new wire and used 12 gauge, and I'm pretty sure the existing was all 12 gauge as well. Just finding it odd that it's inconsistent.

 

My understanding (and the quick google search) is that any breaker rated at 20amps needs at least 12 gauge wire. 15amp breakers need at least 14 gauge wire. 30amp breaker requires 10gauge.

But that is probably pretty generic info and their might be caveats to it.

 

It should not be a problem for a lightning circuit that's now LED but for safety and to meet code requirements 14 awg should not be used on a 20 amp breaker. In a shop situation a larger wire makes sense since there is almost always a big draw from tools, machinery ETC.

I'm not an electrician or electrical engineer but I'd see what the amp draw is on that circuit and swap in a 15 amp breaker. How old is the house. I've heard of 14 awg wire on 20 amp breakers many years ago.

 

"NEC 240.4(D)(3) states that 14 AWG must be protected at 15A. You can not use 14 AWG anywhere on a circuit that has a 20A breaker. If you are putting 15 amp receptacles on a 20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire, then you MUST use the screw terminals, not the back stab terminals"
*Edit*:
The last part of the code as I interpret means that you can use 15A rated receptacles on a 20A circuit, this is allowed because the plug connection from whatever is going to have a 20A draw will have a different terminal configuration and will not fit a 15A outlet.
Visual-

Lastly; The breaker is there to protect the wire from overheating and causing a fire. I think you got it right when you said I'll just change the breaker back to 15A.

 

This is what I found that makes it sound like it's okay as long as it's strictly going to a lighting fixture:

(2) Fixture Wire.Fixture wire shall be permitted to be
tapped to the branch-circuit conductor of a branch circuit in
accordance with the following:
(1) 20-ampere circuits — 18 AWG, up to 15 m (50 ft) of
run length
(2) 20-ampere circuits — 16 AWG, up to 30 m (100 ft) of
run length
(3) 20-ampere circuits — 14 AWG and larger
(4) 30-ampere circuits — 14 AWG and larger
(5) 40-ampere circuits — 12 AWG and larger
(6) 50-ampere circuits — 12 AWG and larger


House is from 1957. All breakers are 20A or higher. Plug wiring that I've seen is 12 gauge, and everything that goes into a breaker in the panel is 12 gauge. Just this lighting wiring seems to be 14.

 

I have a problem with the sign...you should always use your foot when sticking a pointed shovel in dirt.

 

Fixture wire still ties into a branch circuit which has to be the 10/12/14 gauge wire from the breakers. Fixture wire is more like the wire you tie into the junction box with.

Least that's my understanding of it

 

Day one down.

 

I believe how it is now is it is 12 gauge out to an outlet and the panel, and somewhere there is a junction box that runs the string of lights. The wire from the junction box to the lights is 14 gauge.

 

I did that once on my parent's cabin with a bunch of bottle jacks and a whole lot of patience. Please keep posting pictures. As an Architect, I find it interesting.

 

Not an architect, but curious of the process, and the reason for it. Definitely more pics

 

Right on, I helped my Uncle lift my parents house to replace some of the floor joist that were rotted out.

The exterior veneer has cracks on all 4 sides of the house. The builder is honoring their warranty on workmanship and is paying to lift and properly support the foundation in the clay soil the house was built on. They will be lifting about a half an inch with the piers and then injecting polly foam to support the interior.

Here is a cross section view of how the piers work as well as the plans.

 

Project Interlude , Phase 1 , Day 2