[JayDeavor]

Hello everyone, I know nothing when it comes to wiring anything in my house so I could use a little help.. I have a few plugs that I would like to add to my basement and looking for someone to help me and explain how to prepare these outlets to be wired to the breaker box....

I will be running a small woodshop in the basement so I would like to be able to use these out lets without kicking the breaker all the time.. If I need to use 2 different breakers that would be fine..

what I am looking for is what type of wire would I have to buy, what type of breaker(s) would I have to buy, and how would I go about running the wire to each box so I have no problems using power without resetting breakers all the time.. My local big box store would be lowes or home depot..

I would like to have everything mounted and wires ready for the electrician to just have to hook the boxes to the breaker.. any and all help would be great....

Jay

 

[joecaption]

Is this a finished basement or are you running the wiring and attaching to the block or concrete wall?
Are you 100% sure your not going to need 220 volts someplace later on for better quality equipment?
What's that one in the middle of the room for? Lighting?

 

[JayDeavor]

This basement is finished but the sockets are actually going to be attached to the ceiling along the walls.. There isn't enough room behind the wall to sit the sockets into the wall... When I finished the basement I just used furring strips as studs to just cover the concrete...

The socket in the middle is going to be used for the table saw mostly since that is the best location for it but also going to be uses to help cut down on extension cords when I need to plug in a sander or some other small item.. The basement is not big enough to go any bigger on the power tools that I have so I don't see needing a 220 outlet anytime soon...

 

[hammerlane]

what I am looking for is what type of wire would I have to buy, what type of breaker(s) would I have to buy, and how would I go about running the wire to each box so I have no problems using power without resetting breakers all the time.. My local big box store would be lowes or home depot..

If you buy wire that means you are using EMT(conduit). Based on your statement that you know "nothing when it comes to wiring anything in my house", I would conclude that you do not know much about conduit bending either. So you cannot just run wire along walls and under joist. You need physical protection for the wires. The physical protection would be the EMT.

Now if you are planning on using cable(Romex) that is a different ball of wax.

You need to provide further information.

 

[hammerlane]

This basement is finished but the sockets are actually going to be attached to the ceiling along the walls.. There isn't enough room behind the wall to sit the sockets into the wall...

What good are sockets going to do you at the ceiling level to provide power??

 

[hammerlane]

Do you have a finished ceiling or are joist exposed?

 

[busman]

...I know nothing when it comes to wiring anything in my house...

I would like to have everything mounted and wires ready for the electrician to just have to hook the boxes to the breaker

Jay

Do you DIYers even read what you post? You admit you know nothing about wiring, but you are going to try to find an electrician to hook up the work you do to a power source. Good luck finding a licensed electrician to do that and take liability.

Mark

 

[JayDeavor]

okay let me see if I can try to some everything up here.. The ceiling has joist exposed and I have no intentions in bringing the outlets down the wall so I shouldn't have to use conduit. The wire I was intending to use was indeed romex wire. I am guessing I would have to use type 10/2 since I do not need 220 volts... As for the licensed electrician, I happen to know 2 of them that I talked to a while back about connecting everything up for me when I got everything ready and they did not have a problem with it if I had everything ready for them..

My question was how would I connect the outlets together as far as just running the wire to have it ready for the electrician to connect each outlet and the type of wire that I would need to purchase from either lowes or home depot

 

[Jim Port]

Given your lack of familiarity with electrical it might behoove you just to let the pros do what they know instead of installing things and hoping you get it right. You might pay more to have them correct any mistakes you make over just leeting them have the whole job.

 

[hammerlane]

Simplest way is one cable in to bring power to the receptacle at that box, then one cable out to take power to the next receptacle.

One plus one equals two cables per box.

Taking into account the geometry of the room in relation to the receptacle placement will most likely from a professional's point of view the pro will be able to minimize cable waste.

 

[md2lgyk]

Nothing scares me more than threads like this one. If you know nothing about working with electricity and wiring, DON'T DO IT! Messed up plumbing can get you wet; messed up electrical can get you dead.

There is an excellent little book called "Wiring Simplified" you should buy and read. It's sold in any big box store, and is usually found in the electrical aisle, not where the other books are. It costs something like $12.00.

 

[JayDeavor]

for some reason others are NOT reading the original post correctly.... I am NOT hooking the boxes up by any means... I know nothing about wiring and that was stated... being that I know nothing I wouldn't even tempt to try hooking anything up.... running the wires to each box to have it ready is completely different than attaching the wires to the outlets.... The original post was just to ask a question of what would be the best way to just run the wires to each box to have everything ready for the electrician to connect the wires to the breaker box and the outlets.. I thought this was a DIY site where people could go for help not criticism... I guess I was wrong...

hammerlane: Thanks for keeping focus and willing to help in any way you could... Now to just figure out which box to run the wire to first....

 

[hammerlane]

Now to just figure out which box to run the wire to first....

Probobaly the box closest to the panel???

 

[djlandkpl]

You can't run the wires to the boxes without knowing how many circuits you need and which boxes will be on each circuit.

 

[MCB]

If its at all helpful, looks as though you need 2 circuits at least, and definitely not 10/2 as in an earlier post. I use 14/2 for 15A cct and 12/2 for 20A ccts, whichever you decide to go with. Maybe it's spelled out for you depending on your location.

 

[psuryan]

I think your best bet is to call up the person who will connect everything up for you, and have them over to draw some plans up. Your question is a lot more complicated than just running wire. How you will run them depends on the layout of the room, joist and rafters, where you can draw power from, etc.

but, if you can't get a hold of them, how about some pictures of the whole space you would like help with. Add a list of everything you want to plug in as well, and where you want them. Tell everyone what you would like to have switches on, if any.

Running the wires correctly depends on the number of breakers that are going to have to be used, and what you will be using will tell us how many breakers you are going to need.

Anything else he needs to give us to help him out?

 

[GerardW]

I did something similar to this in my garage woodshop- ceiling mounted outlets because I'm not sure where I will end up having cabinets or shelving yet, and I have an open attic above that made the cabling a snap. Add on some retractable extension cords and you are good to go.

When calculating the load on the system for breakers, be sure to consider how many tools may be running at the same time. For instance, I cannot dream up a situation wherein my table saw and my mitre saw would be running at the same time. However if you have an air compressor, that may kick on at any time while running another tool (if left plugged in).

 

[k_buz]

All these receptacles will need to be GFI protected. Although I'm a little confused on if this is considered finished or unfinished. If it's finished, AFCI protection would be required.

 

[Stubbie]

Forget running any wiring, the most you should do is possibly locate where you want your receptacle boxes. Then let the electrician determine gfci or afci. Let him run the wiring.

 

[md2lgyk]

I thought this was a DIY site where people could go for help not criticism... I guess I was wrong...

I was not criticizing you; just offering a suggestion. Even if you're not personally hooking up the receptacles, get that Wiring Simplified book and read it.

I have worked with electricity (up to thousands of volts) for almost 50 years and have seen one person electrocuted. I tend to overreact when I see threads that start out "I really know nothing about electricity but. . . ."