Lights in the Closets

Mike installed the lights in both closets and the switches.  It was a lot of slow work, but everything is officially wired and working.  We thought it would be fun to share some a few highlights of this project with a small peak into the wiring process.*

Mike likes to put switches at the end of the run to save cable and to fish fewer wires.  Here he saved about 6 ft of cable, which might not sound like much but it adds up fast.  And when electrical cable runs about $60 for 100 feet, it's pretty expensive.

Here we have the box for the light in the office closet.  The wires on the right are from the switch and the ones on the left are the feed (coming from the breaker box).

Mike connects the fixture to the wires...

... And attaches the fixture to the box in the closet ceiling.

Here's what the light looks like completed (though the globe has to be removed for patching and spackling).

Mike did the same thing in the guest room closet light:

And here's what the guest room switch looks like, wired and ready without a switch plate on it.

Now we're in the middle of plastering the holes.  Because they are so big, it takes a lot of coats - if you do really thick coats of spackle too soon over the patch, the whole thing gets too heavy and falls down (we know from our vast experience of spackling mistakes!).  The best way to patch larger holes is with several thin coats of spackle and build up the layers.  It takes more time, but it's well worth it.

*We are in no way experts in electrical work.  All stories, notes and images are for entertainment purposes only.  This post is NOT a tutorial on electrical wiring.  Do not attempt to do your own electrical work without proper instruction and always consult a professional.