Home Improvement Today?

Been working this week on replacing this 40+ yr old Porch on a 100+ year old house. Was able to peel of the layers to get to a solid 8x8 beam.
Don't know how the old porch was standing. Only supported by 2 2x4' on the front edge resting on bricks in dirt. Same with stairs. Joists were 2x4 24" on center and posts were just toenailed into the decking.

I added 12" so the posts and stairs would land on the asphalt. New one is only 4' x 7'.

I hate working with synthetic decking products btw. Customer likes shiplap and wanted solid material on side of stairs, so I gave it that look.

 

Just ripped up my deck and redid it. Probably the worst part of the home we bought last year. Didn’t feel like sanding it all down and restaining. They used nails so a lot of them were popping up. Figured with the baby Trex was the way to go. Still gotta do the facia boards

 

Little bit of electrical work today. The 100' of CAT6 cable going from the router in the living room to my PC in the master has developed a bad spot in it. So, I ordered some new cables, but I also want to add another wireless router in the garage. Despite being close to the router/modem it drops out more than I would like. Probably due to the brick wall. So, I also ordered a network switch to be able to add another router and go to my PC. So, easiest spot is a closet in the basement which is right under where some cables already run. Had to add an outlet to plug the switch in. Since it only draws .06Amp I just tied it into an adjacent 15a circuit.



When running wire an adding a box, do yourself and the guy after you a favor and leave plenty of wire!



Finished. Will clean up cabling when I get all the network stuff in.



Being an old house, things have been tied into and added over the years. Found a couple old receptacles on the same circuit that were in need of replacing. I keep a stash of new ones and new covers.

Going back to my previous comment, I want to shake the hand of the electrician who put in this box probably in the 70's. Left me plenty of wire!



Before you ask where the ground is, it's a metal box, so the grounds are attached to the box which obviously ground the box.


Also had an old recessed can light above the fire place. The old trim had some goofy directional light thing to display what used to be on the mantle. I don't need that so I bought one of those LED conversion kits. Plenty of light now!

 

Wrapped up the decking and railings yesterday and part of today.

 

I'm getting ready to start replacing all the windows in my house. Ordered them a month and a half ago. Time to see if I measured correctly.

Any tips for a first timer

 

They sure did some funky stuff wiring 3 way switches back in the day...



Had 4 to do and somehow figured out the wiring on all first try. Luckily the common screw on the old switches weren't completely worn away. You would think it would be a standard color, but not in 1965. It was the wild west

Also had an outlet that wasn't properly grounded to the box. Grabbed a pre made pigtail and corrected it. I've come a long way on that kind of stuff. Learned most of my wiring in Mississippi that there was no local codes.

 

South breezeway entrance

 

Did I mention I facking hate cutting hog wire fence with the bolt cutter? It can't be good for the wrists. Then oops 1/4" too long. Screw that, angle grinder worked great!

 

Angle grinder (Battery powered is preferable) with a cut off wheel is how we do it for production speed on large slabs.

 

Dirt goodness!

 

Well, I won't be doing any outdoor projects for a bit.

 

I feel that. We've been in triple digits for ages now. Humidity is making it worse.

 

it was a balmy 84F here today

 

code requires 6" minimum BEYOND the box. many guys somehow seem to interpret that as the maximum from where it enters the box...

also, that old outlet that you posted-- you really should change that so that the wires splice to the other wires, and then use a small jumper to go to the outlet from the splice.

it should look more like this.


the reason for this is if you connect only to the screws, you're entirely relying on that little tab above the screws to support the load of whatever gets plugged in downstream of that outlet, but also because the screws are not as solidly connected as wire nutted splices, and relying on each consecutive set of screws creates more failure modes in the circuit, which can more easily create fires.

i can't know all the details of that specific installation, but with romex, that picture can be(mostly) code-acceptable. there's an exception in older code that allows one to run a white as a current carrying conductor/switch leg, as long as it's re-identified as a hot wire(usually scratched over with a black sharpie). this is where that installation would fail inspection-- they didn't identify the change, but to be fair, most electricians and inspectors really don't seem to care.

newer code does require a neutral to be 'accessible' in every box-- many houses built well into the 90's aren't compliant.

 

Last house I owned (not lived in) had knob and tube. Wire in the box was super short, this house seems to be a luxury. I'll keep the pigtail thing in mind. That particular outlet doesn't ever really get used and the other leg of the wire goes to a light that is LED, so not much draw.

 

With usb and gfci, even a 2 gang box gets tight. This is one reason I did so many independent circuits in my kitchen. So nice to not daisy chain. Kinda wish each room had a sub panel really.

 

Second time in the 10+ years I've lived here we've had the hottest summer on record with the most consecutive days over 110. I'll be trading desert and cacti for palms and beaches or lakes and pines very soon though.

 

Yeah, but its a dry heat...
My response to that is always "So is my fucking oven, but I am not going to go sit in it and read a book"

 

I vote for Lakes & Pines.