Starting to finish my basement... Electrical Q's

[scottyb]

I have a 12 x 36 area in my basement that I'm planning to finish. It's a newer home that came studded (metal) in the basement. I am somewhat handy, meaning I'd like to do as much of this myself as possible.

The room will just be an open area when I am done (no bath, no bedroom). As a result, the city has said that I don't need a building permit :)

First on my list is electrical, so I am seeking some advice. I don't have much experience in this area but have read up on the subject and feel that I could comfortably run all of the wiring to the switches/outlets. However, I don't think I'm capable of hooking into the circuit board.

I've been reading up on ESA requirements, and it seems as though I need to either get a permit and do it ALL myself, or hire someone, have them get a permit, and have them do it ALL themselves. Ideally for me I would run the wiring, and hire someone to hook into the panel. Am I reading the requirements correctly? I want to do this all legit, as I'm not sure how long we will live here.

If I hire someone to do the whole electircal job (say 10 outlets, 2 switches, no changes to lightling) what should I expect to pay? I've been doing some budgeting and have earmarked $2K for this... is this reasonable?

Thanks for any input!

[Drthorne]

Installing a new breaker and hooking it into the panel is pretty simple, if you know someone that can wire the panel part for you then just tell the ESA inspector you did it (as far as I'm concerned if the ESA approves it then there shouldn't be a problem no matter who does the work). I think you should be okay with your $2k budget for a complete install by an electrical contractor

[scottyb]

Any other thoughts?

[j27lee]

What you're putting in isn't complex at all. Depending on the number of lighting fixtures you have, you could probably get away with 2 circuits. It's nice to stagger the outlets on the 2 circuits so that every other outlet is one one circuit and the remaining ones on the other.

Your materials would probably be in the $200 range for wiring, marretts, outlets, breakers and switches. Wire the room yourself, and then if you're not comfortable, find someone to tie in for you.

[glaswegian]

Sorry to butt in here, but how did you deal with the crack on the basement floor? My house is a year old, and am looking to seal the few cracks in the floor, before framing

[don242]

I have no idea on the costs to hire someone to do the job. It is a very simple job to run a line (or two) for outlets and lighting and does not require much. Adding the circuit to the panel is very easy as well. $2K sounds like a lot to me for something that should take only a couple of hours (unless you have a long difficult way to reach the electrical panel) for a professional to do.

That being said, electrical is not something you want to do a poor job on if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. An important thing (aside from connecting everything properly) to watch for if you do it yourself to to be sure not to nick the wires when stripping them. Nicked wires create hotspots since electricity runs on the surface of the wire. I nick in the wire can cause heat buildup. Not always serious but it is something to be alert for if you do it yourself.

Hooking up to the panel is very straightforward. Turn off the main breaker and open the panel and look at it. You will see that it is less complex than you think.

Circuit design is pretty straight forward. The only difficulties you may face depends on the location of your switches in your circuit. Depending on the circuit design you may need a length of 3-wire. You can usually avoid this by changing the design a little.

Again, if you don't feel comfortable, then hire someone. Obviously call around for some quotes first.

[cjbenedict]

I am currently renovating a room for myself in my basement. I've knocked down the wall between two smaller rooms to make a larger room, and I am planning on running all the wires myself. My original idea was to also have an electrician do the connections, but I might end up doing it myself if I feel confident enough.

I've purchased a few books to get some insight into the proper ways of doing things. One thing that was suggested to me when I posted a similar thread was to get the book Electrical Code Simplified Ontario. Amazon.ca has it for $13, but the front cover has $14 printed on it. I've only started reading it, but I recommend it as a good starting point.

http://www.amazon.ca/Electrical-Code-Simplified-Ontario-Knight/dp/0920312365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197041946&sr=8-1

As with anything that you haven't done before, the job always seems bigger and more complex before you start. I've put off renovating my room because of that reason. Read through the book, then go into your basement and look at everything, the studs, the ceiling, the panel... figure out a plan of attack and see if it is easy enough to tackle yourself.

Cheers

[glaswegian]

Still no answer for how to fix the basement crack eh? Someone must know how to go about this, the right way and what product to use for a DIYer

[scottyb]

I am currently renovating a room for myself in my basement. I've knocked down the wall between two smaller rooms to make a larger room, and I am planning on running all the wires myself. My original idea was to also have an electrician do the connections, but I might end up doing it myself if I feel confident enough.

I've purchased a few books to get some insight into the proper ways of doing things. One thing that was suggested to me when I posted a similar thread was to get the book Electrical Code Simplified Ontario. Amazon.ca has it for $13, but the front cover has $14 printed on it. I've only started reading it, but I recommend it as a good starting point.

http://www.amazon.ca/Electrical-Code-Simplified-Ontario-Knight/dp/0920312365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197041946&sr=8-1

As with anything that you haven't done before, the job always seems bigger and more complex before you start. I've put off renovating my room because of that reason. Read through the book, then go into your basement and look at everything, the studs, the ceiling, the panel... figure out a plan of attack and see if it is easy enough to tackle yourself.

Cheers

I appreciate all the insight so far. I have picked up that book from my local library, and glanced through it (obviously I will have to read thoroughly if I want to do it on my own). Question for you: Are you going to get the permits yourself from the ESA to do the work? I've heard the inspection is much more tough when you do the work on your own as opposed to hiring a pro.

[cjbenedict]

I am planning on getting the permits myself, and to do the work myself. Originally I was thinking of running all the wires and getting an electrician to do all the connections, and if it gets to complex I may still do that, but the plan at the moment is that I will be doing it myself. My room will have a half-dozen outlets, a set of pot lights and a couple of flourencent lights, so I'm only running two or three circuits, it shouldn't be too complex.

You're probably right, the inspector will probably be harder on me than an electrician... but I'm going to take my time and try to do the job right, and have bought three other wiring books so that I can cross reference how different people are doing the same jobs. Hopefully I can find the best and safest practices by reading from several sources.

[cjbenedict]

For cracks in a foundation - if the crack is not very wide (less than 1/2"?):

I used a product called Crack Pac that was special-ordered by my local Home Depot. It is a liquid resin in a caulk tube that you inject into the crack.

How it works: You clean up the crack, and put epoxy sealer on the outside of the crack. For vertical cracks you paste on injection ports every 4" along the crack. The epoxy drys in 10 minutes. You then attach the resin to the lowest injection port (via a provided tube) and let it flow into the crack. The resign is very fluid, it flows into every part of the crack. When the open injection port above starts to ooze the resin, you close the one you are attached too and move to the next higher injection port to add more resign until you reach the top of the crack.

Once dried, you hammer off the injection ports and grind down the epoxy, and add cement parge or whatever to make the foundation look pretty.

The product dries in 24 hours and claims to bond the concrete stronger than it was before. I used it on my foundation last summer and will find out how well this claim stands up.

http://www.simpsonanchors.com/Catalog/adhesives/eti/crack_pac.html

The starter kit went for $160, with refills of the resign starting at $40. HD's mark-up is $50, I know this because the kit wasn't in their system and $110 was the price the manager found, and the next day I heard he got in trouble for giving me a discount :)

I'm sure that there are other similar products on the market, but I didn't research it extensively. Although it seems pretty expensive, remember that it will cost alot more to have a masonry person come in, and products like this appear to potentially be better than using cement to patch a foundation crack.

Hope this helps.

[DarthNihilius]

Still no answer for how to fix the basement crack eh? Someone must know how to go about this, the right way and what product to use for a DIYer


You can get foundation injections to seal up the crack. We found a crack in the wall of our basement during the house inspection. we had the previous owner resolve this. They hired a company and did foundation injections to the wall. Basically, the drill some holes and use a high pressure gun or similar to force this expanding compound into the wall. It is all sealed up now with almost a rubbery feel to it. Seems to have worked as I haven't noticed any moisture around the area to date.