Bathroom electrical work

I am still working on my bathroom remodel, albeit slowly.

This post is about the electrical work done.

Since the bathroom ended up being gutted this is how we had light in the bathroom for a good portion of the project until Larry got the new lights wired.  Until the new lights were installed we hung several trouble lights around the room.  Having only three walls also let light in the room.  I am looking through the frame of the fourth wall before we put sheet rock up.

Here is how I get into the old part of the house's attic to access the electrical wires there.  Before the bedroom addition was added this was an outside wall of the house. Now this opening is between the original attic and the bedroom attic.  This opening used to be a third smaller.  I enlarged it seeing as how I go in and out of this part of the attic more often than expected.

The attic before we started (and after I moved the insulation).  Under the insulation batts is the original loose grey insulation.  I scooped some of it up into plastic bags so we could work on the electric above the bathroom.

The vent on the left is for the bathroom.  It didn't work.  One electrical wire going to the vent is the power.  The other electrical wire went to a timer in the wall.  Since the vent never worked I never realized the timer controlled the vent.

The tall silver vent in the background was the double oven exhaust vent.

(Above) the newly wired bathroom area.  The new light/vent/heater unit (not shown) went where the previous bathroom vent was located.  We had to cut a little larger hole in the ceiling for the new unit.  The new box is the junction box between the wire from the switches in the wall and the wire to the unit in the ceiling.

Instead of laying the wire on the ceiling studs, Larry and I hung the wire used for the bathroom vent on the roof studs.  It is nice to not have the wire under all the insulation.

The circuit breakers outside the house.

The bathroom (and adjoining wall) before the remodel had four electrical wires, with three of the wires dedicated only for the bathroom (and adjoining wall):

1. old bathroom light and vent
2. electric heater in a bathroom wall
3. double oven in the adjoining wall to the bathroom
4. electric heater in the wall next to the double oven

At the end we had only two electric wires:

1. new light over the sink
2. new light/vent/heater unit

I wanted to remove the two wires we no longer used.  I also wanted to replace the third wire dedicated to only the bathroom.  The reason was that the old wire did not have a ground wire.  I wanted to replace the wire with wire with a ground. In the attic I could easily push the wire down the hole in the stud covering the top of outside wall. However the wires came from a hole in the wall into the back of the breaker box on the right.  Once the wires entered the box they clamped in place before going to the breaker.  The clamps were in the back behind the wires that came from the main center breaker box.

Ya... a pain.  Larry and I considered turning off the power and disconnecting the main wires so we could get to the clamps in the back.  Then we could pull the old wire out and pull along a new wire to replace it.  This would take a little time and we delayed it until the next day as we were worried we would run out of daylight before we were done.  The bathroom remodel took off  like a rocket the next day and we never did find time to replace the wire.  When we needed a wire for the ceiling light/fan we reused the existing wire I wanted to replace.  Someday I'll replace the wire.

Notice the two burn marks on the bottom of the main circuit breaker.  I had taken the panel off to check the wires that run to the right breaker box.  When I put the panel back on I wasn't paying close attention and put the panel in upside down.  The panel touched the two wires that come into the box from the top and caused sparks and a short and you can see the two burn marks that resulted from touching the wires.  Larry said I was lucky.

The wall with all the switches and outlets that Larry wired.  I took this photo just before we put the sheet rock up.  The left set of three switches is for the ceiling light/fan/heater.  The right switch and outlet is for the light above the sink.

Tonight Tammy and I started to install the sink and vanity and part of the linen closet (the second part of the linen closet was damaged in the box and I need to take it back to Lowe's tomorrow.  ) What we discovered is that Larry had centered the lights to the room, not to the location of the sink.  With a 18" wide linen closet next to the sink and vanity, the lights are a little to the right of the sink.  Oh well... too late to do anything about it now. The wall is painted and done.

I believe the stringers between the studs are so we can attach the large mirror over the sink.  However, while we did measure the studs' locations, we forgot to measure the stringers' locations before the sheet rock went up.  I hope the stud finder works.

The electrical work is not done.  For some reason the ceiling fan and heater do not work.  The light works.  Larry could not figure out what the problem was.   He even called an electrician friend of his for advice.  The friend suggested a test of using another outlet as a source of power.  I don't remember why, but using the outlet in a certain way caused sparks to fly when I inserted the wires into the outlet.  Reversing the wires I put into the outlet stopped the sparks but the ceiling fan/heater still would not work.

We could not figure it out and Curt wanted to get on with the remodel so we gave up for now.  To be on the safe side we turned off the breaker to the unit so that meant using the trouble lights for a little while longer.  Once I get the sink and vanity installed I will turn my attention back to fixing this problem as it is getting annoying searching in the dark for the light switch in the middle of the wall.

Then Larry got the lights above the sink installed so we had light in the bathroom.  Hurray!

After my uncles left I continued to work on my bathroom remodel.  For a few days the weather was so cold outside (high temperatures only in the 40s F and rain), and I hadn't started the wood stove for heat, so I decided to use an electric heater in the bathroom to warm it up while I continued to mud the sheet rock.  I discovered that the switch controlled more than the light - it also turned the power off to the outlet. 

The problem switch and outlet.

How it was wired.

I found that the problem was that the hot (black) wire was split.  The wire from the breaker went into the switch (line position).  From the switch a connector joined the switch's load with the outlet's line and with the light itself.  I changed the wiring to go from the breaker to the outlet (line).  The outlet's load hot wire went to the switch's line.  The switch's load went to the light.  The switch had to go from first in the chain to second in the chain as it controlled the power to everything in the chain after the switch.

The outlet is a GFCI outlet.  While re-wiring the outlet the screws that hold the wire in place would not turn and hold the wires in place.  If it's not one thing, it's another.

It was too late that night to go to Lowe's to replace the outlet.  I wired a regular outlet in place as a temporary fix overnight.  Everything worked correctly.

The next day after I got the GFCI outlet replaced I wired it in place.  The outlet would keep tripping and turning off.  I discovered the neutral (white) wire was wired like the black (hot) wire.  That is, it also was split and joined, though in this case the white wire never went to the switch.  I re-wired the white wire to also go to the outlet, then the switch, then the light.

The switch and outlet work correctly now.

Slowly, but surely, I am getting there.