Switched Priorities

For two people who came down to Florida to rest and to not get involved with any work for the short time we are here this year, we seem to be doing just the opposite.  We have gotten very little rest, and we have been working quite a bit.

Yesterday, Rick spent the day rewiring the switch by the back door.  We had had a single light switch in the laundry room which sent power to the old (very irritating) motion-activated light that came with the house. The light was located at the northeast corner of the house, near the garbage cans and northern walkway next to the house.  The light was irritating because the switch did not turn on the light; the switch only turned on the power TO the light.  Then, if I were traveling after dark into the back yard, usually to throw out trash or to recycle packaging from dinner, I would have to walk half-way across the patio while waving my arms like a madwoman just to activate the light. We also had to keep the power turned off at the switch unless we wanted to use the light; otherwise, any nocturnal critter running through the yard or along the top of the fence would activate the light.

We successfully removed the old box and fished
two new wires through the wall from the garage
into the laundry room switch by the back door.

The hardest part of putting in the switch was figuring out how to fish the new wires through the wall. Thankfully, we had taken pictures of the wall as we built it a few years ago, so we knew the internal construction and where we might run into barriers.  Rick started by removing the old, single electrical box that was in the wall.  Then he went up on the ladder in the garage and drilled a new 1 1/4" hole through the double top plate of the wall to have access down the wall.  He tried to drop down a wire lead (electrical snake) so we could feed the new wires down the wall.  Of course, having insulation in the wall did not help! With him sending the lead down the wall, I stood inside, with my hand through the hole from the original single box.  When my arm was in the wall almost up to my elbow, I finally felt the lead and pulled it out.

Inside, Rick tied a string to the lead.  Then he went back to the garage and pulled the lead and string back up.  He attached the new wires to the string, and  I pulled the string and new wires back down the wall.  Success!

One down, two to go.

Finished ... at least for now.

Once that was done, Rick cut a hole large enough to install a three-gang box.  He wired in three new toggle switches, so now we are ready for the next steps.  What will these three switches power?

Well, the first one will power the new northern light above our garbage cans.  We made sure that this light was powerful, bright, and NOT motion activated.

Rick actually checks the instructions to see what
to do next to safely install the light.

Installing that light took most of the day.  He climbed up and down more ladders today, first drilling a hole in the house, fishing wires through it, and installing the electrical box and the light itself.  Of course, since it is outside, it took special steps to make sure that it is sealed and waterproof.  We have not added power to it yet since we want to hook up all three switches to lights at the same time.

The new light, tucked under the eaves, will give
us plenty of light to walk into the side yard at night.

Tomorrow we will tackle the second light. More on that note later...