Changes at the electrical walk-through

16 years ago

We'll be having a new house built; using a GC. Will have a draftsman do the final drawings, including an electrical plan. We know most of what we want and where. I understand that we will probably make some changes when we do the preliminary walk-through with the electrician, and mark those on the plan. And we will be asked to sign off on the changed plan.

Dumb question: how do we get a copy for our own records of the changes that are agreed to and signed off on?

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Comments (9)

davidandkasie
16 years ago
mark them on your copy of the plans and have him sign those as well.
pinktoes
Original Author
16 years ago
davidandkasie: Well, Duh. I had a senior moment there. Thanks.
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Mskitchen, I have a spreadsheet, too. I used the spreadsheet to make the maps of lighting on my floor plans (plus assistance from a lighting designer). I can't imagine having to go back a 2nd day to do more! Lzerarc, we're working with allowances for the fixtures. But the electrician went through the house before we got there and marked what was included in our contract for the wiring. And he was showing us where standard/code outlets were going in case we needed to add more. It was much easier to see it in real life than on paper. So we did have everything included in the bid as per code, basically. We did consider furniture placement (had that mapped out when we did the house plans!) and decorating. Kymike1, that's a good idea to have a switch for the overhead lights! However, in our bedrooms we'll have ceiling fans (with or without light kits) that have remote controls. We can then mount the remote in a cradle near the bed for both fan and light control! Chisue, we completely forgot pendants and electrical outlet discussions on our island. I think that was one of the last areas we were looking at and we were so hot and tired we were rushing. I've gone back to the builder and asked about both of those things. And yes, we have security lights and the electrician did suggest putting a light switch in our MBR, which we thought was a brilliant idea!! Thanks for the support, everyone. :)
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1) Recessed outlets behind furniture -- nightstands, wall-mounted TVs, fridge https://www.google.com/search?q=recessed+outlet&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIibiwo-H5xwIVlVqICh1vewte&biw=1333&bih=658 2) Adjustable depth outlets (the ones with a screw that you can tighten or unscrew to move the entire outlet box forward or back within the wall) in kitchen, bath, and anywhere else that would be relevant. After your walls/tile is finished, it is so easy to get the adjustable outlets to be flush with your tile/backsplash, but it so hard to get non-adjustable ones set to the right depth ahead of time (before any walls/tile are in place). 3) Two-way switches at the entrance and exit of every hallway, staircase (indoor and outdoor), and large room. 4) If you are getting dimmers, go handle some dimmers at a lighting store. Some of the controls are super annoying (the buttons, the slides controlled by a tiny nib) and some are a breeze (the slides with larger handles). Make sure you like what you're getting. You will handle these things every day. 5) Think about glare on the TV and try to provide for at least some lighting that avoids that. My husband hates the glare from our lighting on the TV so much that our entire living/dining/kitchen has to be dark when he is watching TV. I rarely am watching TV with him and do not want to do my activities in the dark. Many arguments have sprung from this. In some large rooms or rooms with several different types of lighting (like the kitchen), you might want to break up some of the lighting into different switches. Think that through. E.g., in the family room, maybe the table/floor lamps are on one switch and the overhead lighting is on a different switch. E.g. #2, we have seven can lights in our kitchen, and they are controlled by two switches -- the two cans over the sink on one switch, and the five others on the other switch. I don't ever really want dim light in the kitchen, but sometimes I am just getting a glass of water and all I really need is the sink illuminated, but I want that light to be bright. 7) If you do not already have your light fixtures chosen, quickly choose as many of them as possible. For example, one light over the bathroom mirror requires one box, but two lights over the bathroom mirror requires two separate boxes. You may think the former will be fine but then in practice down the road, you cannot find anything you like that is both pretty and bright enough in one fixture. Now you wish you could get two, and you're stuck. Place boxes with actual fixtures you already know of, like, and an can afford either purchased or in mind.
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That layout sounds kind of like what the 2 bedroom units in the HOA I lived in when we were still in SoCal was like...The vanity area of the bathroom had a closet facing the vanity/sink side that was the two sliding door type, with a door to the toilet/tub+shower part of the bathroom to the right (left if you're coming in the door from the master bedroom) and a door to the master bedroom on the left (right if you're coming in from the toilet/tub+shower part of the bathroom) - another double door slider closet was in the master bedroom. They almost always painted all of the walls, the closet doors, and the doors in/out of each space the same color as the master bedroom because it was adjoining. The smaller bedroom accessed the bathroom through another door off the upstairs hallway, so sometimes that smaller bedroom would be painted a different color but not always. White (the same one as was used elsewhere) was a popular and sensible choice, you can always add color with accessories and art! White bedding can start to look dingy if you don't wash it in hot water (occasionally adding bleach to go into the load while it's running), so think about how much 'maintenance' you're willing to do before buying all the bedding in white (sheets and pillowcases in white aren't as big of a deal because you typically have 'decorative' pillows and a comforter/duvet covering them when you get the bed made each day). :) When we had the house on the market the 'stager' had us buy one of those cheap bed-in-a-bag comforter/shams/decorative throw pillow sets in white with a little area of patterned print down at the part that goes on the foot of the bed, which I thought was totally impractical given that our dog loves being on the bed and washing the thing would have made the fiberfill migrate around so it would be lumpy when it went back on the bed! At least the place sold in less than a month after being listed so we didn't have to worry about it for very long. :P
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Okay thank you for responding. We do have LEDs in the ceiling and lamps but not sure if they are 4000k. I will try to take some pictures and put them on. But in general do/should all of the walls be the same color between the bedroom, walk through and walk in closet?
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noffo
16 years ago
If you've got any specific requirements, then say "I want a recepticle -here-, 5-6 from the west wall and 4-0 from the floor", mark it on the plans, and make sure its in the right place before they slap up the drywall.
cobraguy
16 years ago
Let me make a suggestion to you...if you are folks who like to put up outdoor lights for Xmas, have him install the circuits and receptacles for that. You will never regret the money you spent. I have friends who have done that and it is so nice for them. They have separate switches for receptacles under the eaves, etc. Everything is GFI protected.
pinktoes
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm printing all this out for reference.

I didn't really know how the installation was done. From noffo's comment I guess it is done in 2 stages:

1) receptacles, switches, wiring gets installed before the drywall. So it's attached to the studs.

2) after the drywall, the electrician cuts through the drywall, exposing the wiring boxes and then finishes up and attaches the cover plates.

How close am I? I sure hope everyone isn't as clueless as me.
davidandkasie
16 years ago
pretty close. the drywallers are suppsoed to cut out for all boxes, but most of the time they miss 1 or 100 at a job! i remember once we were running the phone lines and ethernet at a new office building. we put in boxes and conduit stubbed up above the level of the drop ceiling for these. when we came back to run all the lines, every single box, all 125 of them, was covered. i had to go around every where and find the boxes and cut them out. the electricians had the only copy of the plans tha thad the locations on them, and naturally they were gone to a new site when we came back on. good thing i had a wire snake, cause i just sharpend the point, bent the end a little, and shoved it down so it broke thru the rock. then i could cut out the boxes. every room had them in different locations, some were 18" from the floor, some were 5 ft up.

usually the wiring and the boxes are run prior to drywall, while the fixtures,switches, and recept are done AFTER the drywall. the wire MUST be inplace first though, or the inspector will make you tear out the sheetrock so he can see that there are no hidden junctions.
pinktoes
Original Author
16 years ago
davidandkasie: thanks for explaining the sequence, I'm learning. BTW, our exterior walls are gonna be insulated with Icynene spray foam. It's supposedly the last step before drywall. I understand it's not a problem for the wiring. Hope it doesn't create any problems for the final electrical work. Or that the final electrical work doesn't disrupt the Icynene. We're paying a fortune for it; it needs to do its job!
davidandkasie
16 years ago
make sure the electrician knows this is going up, and not just verbally, put it in writing and have him sign off on it. he must get the rough in inspection done prior to the wiring being covered.

ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you wish to change needs to be in writing. if you tell any contractor to do it differently from what is drawn on the plans, and he does not, it is your word against his written instructions in court. understand?
pinktoes
Original Author
16 years ago
davidandkasie: Got it! I try real hard to stay out of court. Our GC is doing this build on a fixed price contract, so that will encourage documentation of changes, I think.

Will write the Icynene thing into the specs. Our GC has worked with Icynene before, so he knows the drill.

Changes at the electrical walk-through

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davidandkasie

pinktoes
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Changes at the electrical walk-through

Comments (9)

davidandkasie

pinktoesOriginal Author

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noffo

cobraguy

pinktoesOriginal Author

davidandkasie

pinktoesOriginal Author

davidandkasie

pinktoesOriginal Author

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CONNECT WITH US

pinktoes
Original Author

pinktoes
Original Author

pinktoes
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pinktoes
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