Step 2: Remove the outlet that some jackass of 60 or 70 years ago put not only at the midpoint of the wall -- the very spot where it is least likely to be useful -- but also right in the freaking baseboard, thus wedding a general eyesore, the bracing challenges of impracticality, and the excitement of wondering if the carpet might someday catch fire.
Step 3: Drill holes through the wall studs to reroute the existing wiring to the desired location of your new outlet. Using a keyhole saw, it is easy to cut a hole for the new outlet box!
Step 4: Then, drill a bunch of additional holes and run some new wire to a location where you want to add a second outlet box. NOTE: You should probably only be doing this if you know a little bit about wiring.
Step 5: Slap in your outlet boxes and wire up the outlets in the usual fashion.
Step 6: Then return to the hell which is the area behind your new outlets, and spend what seems like the rest of your life rebuilding the wall so that it covers your work. NOTE: I suggest testing the new wiring scheme to make sure it works before sealing it back within the wall.
If your project has been successful, you should look like this:
...and your new outlets should look more or less like this:
7 comments:
Lath and plaster walls? We had those in Cincinnati....
Nice work! Can't tell you how many houses we've lived in there the guy doing the wiring never thought to use a level, so the outlets all had this kind of /_/ feel to them....
Where, i meant WHERE. sheesh
Nice work! And I'm glad to see you were protecting yourself from dust inhalation with a dust mask.
I'm fixing some water damage in our living room ceiling this week--which means I'll also be "spend[ing] what seems like the rest of [my]life rebuilding the wall [and ceiling] so that it covers [my] work. Then, of course, we have to repaint the ENTIRE room. Bleah.
We have a power outlet in the middle of the floor. The guy who built our house with his bare hands wanted to put a floor lamp there, so he wired it through the conrcrete floor. It makes for a great conversation piece.
One of the elegant old houses in the Clifton area of Cincinnati--where I attended a party-- had a button in the middle of the dining room floor...intended, of course, for the hostess to signal the cook and serving maid to bring in the next course (or clear away the previous one.) It was wired and still functional....
@Ben: I'm actually really bad about using a dust mask. But this was a good day to play by the rules.
Have fun with that living room!
@Unwise: I'm always torn between admiring idiosyncracies in architecture and the thought that, since houses last longer than people do, perhaps they ought to be built so that there's more than one place to put a floor lamp. I guess, on balance, I'm a little jealous of your floor outlet.
@Elaine: I TOTALLY want a button with which I could summon servants. Floor, wall, ceiling... wouldn't really matter!
But what if the asshole didn't install an outlet in my house 60 years ago since the house was only built 10 years ago? What should I do then? Will these instructions not work?
And oddly enough, I look like this ... but not after installing an outlet.
Love this post.
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