Home > Video Channel > Wiring the Victorian Home

Wiring the Victorian Home

Bob meets up with Greg Roulette the electrician who is working on the rough wiring of the house. Greg ran all the circuits back to one central location, the circuit breaker panel. Greg demonstrates how to rough wire the breaker panel, which has ground, neutral and hot wires that are being "made up" in the panel box. They also discuss how wires are sized throughout the house. For example, the kitchen requires 20-ampere circuits, which are 12-gauge wire. The higher the number on the gauge of wire, the thinner the wire is. The discussion moves onto the question of can the homeowner do this themselves? Yes they can! The homeowner must obtain a permit and abide by all codes just as the electrician must do!
Get Adobe Flash Player to see this content.

Chapters from this episode

Clip Transcript For:

Wiring the Victorian Home

  computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" -Now you should be just about finished up with all these, huh?"

" -Oh yeah, we're we've got the panel tied in over there"

" -Yeah."

" -And"

" -So the entire distribution of wires throughout the house is coming together down here in the basement."

" -Right."

" -I love the way they just popped right through these joists, and then this is the central control as it were."

" -That's right, this is called the service entrance and what we here is all the branched circuits terminate and this is where we, as you said, the brains of the of the house."

" -Yeah, normally, the homeowner comes here and has to deal with the circuit breaker when something goes amiss, but we're not at the stage yet where you're, you're putting in breakers. What are these called?"

" -These are called the neutrals and what they do is they tie in with the, with the grounds on this part."

" -Okay."

" -And the other wires that we see here dangling around are"

" -Well that's been, in lay terms, what is called the hot wires."

" -Yeah, okay."

" -And what we here is, we have different gauges of wire and as you can see, this is quite a thick one up here."

" -Uh huh."

" -And this is the drier outlet."

" -Okay, so this is gonna be in the laundry room."

" -That's correct, as opposed to our thinner, thinner wires"

" -Uh huh."

" -and those are our general lighting wires."

" -How do the numbers correspond to the gauges?"

" -This, this is a 10-gauge and this is a 30-amp circuit."

" -Okay."

" -This here is a 14 wiring, 14-gauge"

" -Yeah."

" -let's say 15-amp circuit."

" -So the higher the number, the thinner the wires were?"

" -That's correct."

" -And this is what we'll use throughout the rooms in terms of plugs on the walls"

" -Right."

" -and in terms of lights."

" -Right, general wiring."

" -But what about in the kitchen where you're plugging in toasters and stuff."

" -Well, your kitchen requires more of a demand and what we have is a thicker gauge. We call this as the 12 wire, and the 12 wire allows 20 amps of [unk]."

" -Okay."

" -And that's required in the children and also in your laundry room for your washer plug."

" -Alright, of course you can't finish these up just yet right now, so you have this circuit."

" -That's correct, yes."

" -One quick question though, can a home owner do this himself or do you have to bring in a licensed electrician?"

" -Well, a home owner can wire his own house and he can do that with a permit, but has to have an inspection. All the work, all the electrical work has to be inspected."

" -So as long as before you liven it up, you get it inspected by your town inspector. You are allowed to do all of these, correct?"

" -That's correct."

" -Right."

 [-]


More Videos »Related Videos

How to Replace an Outlet
How to Replace an Outlet

Outlets should be checked periodically for wear, cracks or other signs that they should be replaced.

How to Replace a Motion Sensor Light
How to Replace a Motion Sensor Light

Replacing an outdoor lighting fixture with a motion activated spotlight can conserve energy and increase home security.

How to Replace a Ceiling Light
How to Replace a Ceiling Light

Installing a new ceiling light fixture can greatly improve a room's aesthetics and illumination.

How to Install a Ceiling Fan
How to Install a Ceiling Fan

Replacing a light fixture with a ceiling fan can bring comfort and energy savings to the home.

More Content »More Content

Replace Circuit Breaker

…trips the 15 amp circuit breaker when I run it on…
…I have 12 gauge wire into the current 15 amp circuit breaker that I can replace…
…or converted a circuit breaker. I would like to…
…the gauge of the wire into consideration…

Replacing a Ceiling Light
Replacing a Ceiling Light

…circuit. Go to the circuit breaker and locate the circuit…
…circuit. Turn off the circuit breaker. Step 2: Remove…
…Step 4: Unscrew the wire nuts. Remove any electrical tape from the wire nuts. Now, unscrew…

Installing a Ceiling Fan
Installing a Ceiling Fan

…to the circuit. At the circuit breaker, shut off power to the ceiling…
… Carefully unscrew the wire nuts from each wire without touching the bare…
…energy savings. Turn the circuit breaker on.

Replacing a Motion Sensor Light
Replacing a Motion Sensor Light

…the circuit. Flip the circuit breaker switch. Step 2: Remove…
…supply. Carefully untwist any wire nuts to expose the wires…
…Step 9: Install the ground wire. First, install the bare…
…circuit. Turn the spotlight circuit breaker back on. Adjust the settings…

Browse Topics

Click on a letter to browse content by topic alphabetically.



About  | FAQ  | Contact  | Sitemap  | Privacy Policy  | Terms of Use  | Help

© BobVila.com 2009