I live in a one-floor condo unit that was, to put it mildly, poorly built. I, and all my neighbors, have dealt with too many issues to count regarding insulation, wiring, and even window and door frames. I'm no longer satisfied fixing things one at a time... [more inside]
posted by trivia genius on Feb 1, 2013 - 24 answers

Please help me identify these electrical thingies in the house we are buying. [more inside]
posted by Eringatang on Mar 4, 2009 - 21 answers

I'm trying to do all the wiring in my house in order to distribute data and voice connectivity to each of the locations to which Cat 5e is run. It's been a while since I've done wiring (last time was probably a college job maybe 15! years ago), and I've got a few questions about how to set this all up. Sorry for the length, but I wanted to be as clear as possible about my current set-up. [more inside]
posted by iknowizbirfmark on Feb 23, 2009 - 11 answers

I have a light switch on the wall that controls both an overhead light and an outleft. I'd like it to only control the overhead light, while still sending power on to the outlet. [more inside]
posted by donnagirl on Jan 3, 2008 - 16 answers

Can wiring (Romex - 12/2) be run through (perpendicular to) a cold air return? [more inside]
posted by shawnmk on May 3, 2005 - 5 answers

My house was completely rewired a few years ago by a previous owner. In doing so he put in the power, but left some rather large openings in the walls around the plug boxes. I have not repaired these, as I thought I would eventually get around to running some Cat 5 cable and phone jacks to every room. My question is, is it worth doing anymore? I can think of a few places I might want a hard connection to my network, but my WiFi set up makes me think this is no longer worth the trouble. The land line is not going away anytime soon, but it no longer seems worth the trouble either. Is there anything I should consider installing before I lock down the walls and lose my easy access?
posted by thirteen on Dec 30, 2003 - 12 answers