[revolver]

Hey guys, i just moved in to my house a few months ago, and since i dont have too much experience with electrical stuff thought u could give me a hand.

I laying boards down in my loft and was thinking about getting in an electrician to put up a light in there.
Just wondering if there is an easy way i could do it myself????

cheers guys

adrian

 

[MinConst]

Welcome revolver,
With this amount of information it is a bit hard to recommend what needs to be done. Is there electricty in the loft? Outlets? Anything electric? If no then a new run will need to be installed from somewhere. Preferably directly to the panel where your breakers or fuses are.
If you are not comfortable working with this I would say to hire it out.

 

[Teetorbilt]

I have used the battery operated ones in some closets and they work pretty well plus no wiring.

 

[marxlaws]

hore depot is great resource they can tell you how. if you have ac unit in the attic look around for an outlet. it s a pretty easy job.

 

[Teetorbilt]

marx, we try not to advocate house fires or electrocutions. revolver is obviously a DIYer or he would not have asked this question. I offered the battery lights to remove any liability, they work pretty well too.

 

[Mike Finley]

hore depot is great resource they can tell you how. if you have ac unit in the attic look around for an outlet. it s a pretty easy job.

HA HA!

I remember about 8 years ago when I was a DIYer and asked a guy in Home Depot for advice about an electrical issue I was working on in my house - he ended up just about killing me. Something about stealing a neutral and all kinds of crazy crap! Sometimes there's a reason those guys are working at HD and not for themselves anymore :cheesygri

 

[marxlaws]

marx, we try not to advocate house fires or electrocutions. revolver is obviously a DIYer or he would not have asked this question. I offered the battery lights to remove any liability, they work pretty well too.

yeh, i hope i passed you off to the home depot guy and their lit on home repair for wiring instructions. as for the air conditioner thing sometimes they put an outlet where you could just *plug * in a shop lite next to you air handler.. point taken on the help thing :cheesygri there also could be a lamp socket where you could just screw in a bulb around the airhandler. but that might require 4 electricians, one to hold the bulb three to spin the ladder... ta dum dum.

 

[revolver]

cheers

Hey thanks for the welcome guys.
Just a few things......
1) DIYer????
2) nope no outlets im afraid.
3) i found that the battery ones are not overly bright, (unless i looking at the wrong ones hehe )

cool well cheers guys i think ill just look into powerful battery lights as it will save money and complications!!!!

Adrian

 

[Mike Finley]

DIYer - Do It Yourselfer

I suggest you go to HD, but not to ask for advice. Go into the book section and browse the books on electrical. Find a good one and read it front to back. By the time you are done you should be able to figure out whether you are going to add the light or hire someone.

 

[PipeGuy]

i just moved in to my house a few months ago, and i dont have too much experience with electrical stuff.was thinking about getting in an electrician to put up a light in there. Just wondering if i could do it myself????

If you decide to do it yourself PLEASE buy an inexpensive circuit tester and test every wire you have to work with to MAKE SURE THE POWER IS OFF before you handle any conductors.

Within days of moving my house I wanted to do the same thing. I found a junction box in the attic that supplied the attic fan and figured I'd pull power off that. I looked at the panel in the basement and found breaker #15 had been labeled "attic fan". I tripped the breaker and off I went to the attic. After I opened the junction box and pulled the wires clear I took off the wire nuts and was about to handle them when I thought "how do I know this is really off?". I took a screwdriver, shorted the black wire against the box and got a big ol' flash. Back to the basement I went. I looked closer at the panel label and only then noticed that whoever had labeled #15 had then taken a fine leaded pencil and drawn a long arrow up the side of the index from #15 to #3. You could barely see it in the dimly lit basement (the original owner never met a 40 watt bullb she didn't like). Big lesson learned - if you didn't wire it yourself, TEST BEFORE HANDLING.

 

[Teetorbilt]

I once threw the main to a house to do some attic rewiring and found out that the owner (a sheriff deputy) had bypassed the meter. Things went very bright and then very dark but only visually, I didn't get zapped.
ALWAYS check any wiring that you are working on.