HomeSkills: Wiring

Book excerpt: DIVAs part of our comprehensive HomeSkills DIY series, HomeSkills: Wiring will make you the brightest thing in your house./divDIV/divDIVFew trades are more dangerous to the novice than working with electricity. In wiring, understanding the finer details is crucial to your personal safety—it is a craft that demands only the most reliable information, and HomeSkills: Wiring provides just that. Its skills-based approach to electrical work does more than simply tell you to connect the black wire to the brass terminal; it familiarizes you with each step along the way so you understand the larger purpose for every task. The book sensibly distills the fundamental components of successful wiring: an overview of home electrical service and how it works; discussion of tools, tool usage, and materials handling; and step-by-step instructions for stripping insulated wire, making connections with a wire connector, running cable through walls, wiring ceiling lights, hooking up receptacles and switches, grounding electrical loads safely, navigating your electrical service panel, and other common wiring jobs. Add to these dependable lessons the book’s 300 beautiful how-to photos, with content updated to meet current electrical codes, and you’ll soon be conquering your home’s electrical projects safely and efficiently—without paying a premium for it./divDIV/divDIVCheck out our five other HomeSkills guides on carpentry, deck building, landscaping, plumbing, and tiling./div