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Wiring your house and a Three-way Switch

Published by Rob Thomas | March 31st 2009 | Views:

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Building a house takes a lot of planning and a lot of though put into the little details. Where you put your electric outlets and switches may not seem that important, but when you start placing furniture and plugging in lamps and other electronics, it will. Taking the time to plan the wiring of a house always pays off in the long run.

If you aren’t sure where everything is going to go in the house the best thing to do is place an outlet on every wall. Wiring you house this way will allow for a lot of flexibility on where you place your furniture. Also placing all the outlets a foot off the floor will make them easy to access. Switches are best placed where you enter a room so that you can turn on a light as you come in and you won’t be stumbling around in the dark.
You need to determine where fixed lighting will go next. Canned lighting is appropriate for areas such as the kitchen and family room. It is best to put canned lighting on a dimmer switch since they can sometimes seem too bright. Ceiling fans with a light fixture are another option to consider. There is a wide variety to choose from and a fan is nice for a light breeze on a warm night.

Once you have made all the decisions on outlets, switches and fixtures it is best to draw out a plan for each room to be wired. Then you can easily make a list of materials that you will need.

This is also the time to decide if you would like any three-way switches installed. They can be useful for rooms that have two entrances, so that you can turn on and off the lights from either side.

The only real difference in a regular switch and a three-way switch is that the two switches on the opposite sides of the room are hooked together with what is called a traveler wire. You will have one end of the traveler wire pulled through both boxes at each entrance of the room. Then it is just a matter of twisting the wires from the traveler with the regular wires, by matching up the colors and then wiring the switch normally. When you look at the switch the only difference is that it will have double wiring on one side.

Once your planning is done and all your materials bought you can get started wiring your house.
Please remember though to make sure the power is off before you start.
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