In modern society it is impossible to imagine a house without electricity, therefore, in every room a quality wiring installation is necessary. It is best to entrust the production of such works to professional electricians, but it is possible to do the installation of electrical wiring with your own hands. To do this, you must be well informed in this matter.
Layout of an electric cable
Installation of electrical wiring begins with the preparation of the layout of switches, wires, sockets, meters and other devices. Having made such a project, you will get the opportunity to more accurately calculate the amount of material. In the future, it will be easier for you to do-it-yourself wiring in accordance with established standards and GOSTs. Schemes to draw labor is not.
When drawing up a plan, the following should be considered:
- All elements must be placed in an accessible place for the convenience of their further maintenance. The junction boxes must be permanently accessible in case of damage. It is not recommended to install wiring elements in hard-to-reach places.
- Switches should be located in open areas. No need to block cabinets and other interior items. In order to turn on the light, you do not need to reach or lean. Existing GOSTs do not impose serious requirements on the installation height, so electricians advise installing switches at a height of 100 cm from the floor. This will undoubtedly add convenience.
- Before installing outlets, it is necessary to think about the location of electrical appliances in advance, so that in the future not to bring yourself discomfort when using extension cords. Do not install outlets closer than 50 cm to metal objects. According to the standards, one outlet is needed for 6 m², of course, in the kitchen they need more. For your own safety during installation, you must step back from the floor at least 25 cm.
- The electric cable can be located in the room above or below, and a distance of 15 cm is made from the plinth or ceiling. The lines should be drawn strictly vertically or horizontally. Since external wiring is done in wooden houses , it is necessary to think about the location of the eaves in advance. All ends of the power lines are displayed in a junction box in which they are interconnected.
After preparing a schematic image of the electrical lines, you can start installing the electrical wiring yourself. After the smallest details are thought out, it is time to start acquiring the necessary material. Do-it-yourself wiring in an apartment will also require a circuit before work.
Material for wiring in a wooden house
In order not to run constantly to the store, in order to buy the goods necessary for work, you should immediately prepare everything you need. With a scheme, this is not difficult. Do-it-yourself installation of open wiring will require more materials than closed. Since the house is built of wood, internal electrical lines must be forgotten. In any case, special attention should be paid to the quality of the material. The cheaper the material, the greater the likelihood of its poor quality.
For work, we need:
- Tools with insulated handles so as not to get an electric shock. You will need screwdrivers, pliers, a hammer and a sharp knife to expose the cable.
- Switchboard. It is made of plastic and metal. For a wooden house you need a metal shield. The size depends on the number of relays. In residential buildings, shields up to 12 places are mainly used. It is necessary to leave 1 empty space if in the future there will be any changes in the wiring.
- Electrical cable. In order to determine the cross-section of the cable, you need to know the power of electricity in the house. For a wooden house, VVG 3 x 2.5 is suitable, where 3 is the number of cores in the cable, and 2.5 is its cross section. You need to purchase a three-core cable with a core for grounding. If the house has more power than stated on the cable label, a double line must be laid.
- It is not worth focusing on the number of sockets and switches, since everything is already calculated in the circuit. You need to decide on the color and texture that are right for your interior. For security reasons, it is better to use elements with a ceramic base and brass contacts for a wooden house. A variety of types of sockets and switches on the market will not leave indifferent even the most avid designer.
- Do-it-yourself wiring in a private wooden house will require additional investment in cable ducts or baseboards. Undoubtedly, these elements will give the interior more beauty than just a hanging wire. In some cases, it will be necessary to insert the cable into a plastic tube. You can gently run the cable around the house in the corrugation.
- Junction boxes will be required in which wires will be connected using PPE (special clamps). The cable can be twisted and wrapped with electrical tape.
- Counter. It is better to choose with a good accuracy class - from 2.0 and higher. The electric meter can be single-rate and double-rate. The first considers the electricity consumption to be constantly the same, the second calculates at two tariffs: day and night. In terms of economy, the 2nd type will be more profitable in that it will be possible to control electricity depending on the time of day.
- Also for installation you will need self-tapping screws, clips of the desired diameter for the corrugation, additional fasteners.
- Since the installation of DIY wiring in a new building will require a large amount of material, everything can be purchased in one place in bulk.
Work safety
In the production of any construction activities, special attention should be paid to personal safety. Before starting work, take care of personal protective equipment. It is necessary to work in a helmet and special tight clothing. Installation of electrical wiring is made with de-energized lines. If the work is connected with electricity, you will need rubber gloves that can prevent electric shock. Installation at height must be carried out with insurance on fully serviceable stands. Avoid being on unstable ladders. The issue of safety must be approached with all responsibility.
DIY electrical wiring in a wooden house
There are several main stages of work:
- Laying lines of an electric cable.
- Installation of junction boxes.
- Installation of sockets and switches.
- Installation of lighting devices.
- Connecting the shield.
- Conclusion and installation of the grounding circuit.
Laying electric cable lines
Do-it-yourself wiring in the apartment can be done in plinths. This will completely hide the wire from the eyes. It is especially convenient to mount the cable in the baseboard for sockets. Wiring lines are laid in plastic pipes for greater safety. If you need to put light into the garage, do-it- yourself wiring can be done in the corrugation, because in this room an aesthetic appearance is not particularly needed.
Installation of junction boxes
In places where it is necessary to make a branch from the main electric line to connect the outlet, a junction box is placed. It should be located where it will be convenient to serve. Inside the distributor, the cables are interconnected in various ways:
- Using PPE. One of the easiest ways. For this type of connection, each wire is stripped 2-3 cm, twisted and PPE is placed on them. In the box, the ends are laid so that they do not touch each other.
- Connection wagons. Differ in the number and cross-section of holes. For installation, it is necessary to strip each wire by 10 mm. Then the ends must be inserted into the holes until they click. Take the ends in different directions and lay them so that they do not contact each other.
- Of course, the cheapest way is to twist the bare ends together and wrap with insulating tape. As in the previous methods, contact should not be allowed here.
Installation of switches and sockets
Do-it-yourself wiring in a wooden house is carried out right at the wall surface. Accordingly, sockets are also attached to the wall. It is necessary to fix it securely so that the socket does not stagger. The yellow or green wire must be clamped in the ground contact, and the other two in the power contacts. Switches are connected in the same way. Only in the wire going to the switch, there can be no grounding conductor. To save money, the wire going to the switch, you can take a two-wire and with a smaller cross section.
Installation of lighting
Recently, lighting has been increasingly used for lighting residential premises. Beautiful spotlights add elegance to the home. Brightness can be adjusted using special devices.
In most cases, for home lighting use:
- recessed lights;
- waybills;
- street.
Connect the lamps with yellow-green veins. Each device has a clamp for this type of connection. Lamps of one group must be connected in parallel.
Connecting the shield
The switchboard is the main element in the wiring of the whole house. The operability and safety of the entire wiring as a whole depends on how it is mounted. Automatics are installed in the shield, allowing you to de-energize the group with a simple click of a button. For a cable with a cross-section of 2.5, it is necessary to set the relay to 25A. In case of any malfunctions, the machine itself will turn off the circuit, or simply knock it out. Electrical panels are available in various types, come with transparent windows or solid. Upon completion of installation, each group inside the panel must be signed. To do this, most of the boxes come with a special sticker. In order to connect the core to the machine, it must be cleaned and inserted into a specialized hole until it clicks. This is the final and most difficult stage of wiring in a wooden house . Particular attention must be paid to this process, since an incorrect sequence of connecting conductors can lead to a short circuit.
Ground loop installation
Do-it-yourself wiring in a private house is carried out with the conclusion of the ground loop to the street . To do this, they retreat a short distance from the building and dig a trench 2.5-3 meters long and about a half meter deep. At the same distance from each other, it is necessary to drive in 3 reinforcing rods, which are interconnected by a metal wire. Then it is necessary to drive a metal base into the wall of the house, to which you need to bring the wire from the rods and the ground wire. At a clogged base, all these wires must be connected to each other. If there is a lightning rod on the roof of the house, the wire from it must also be connected to the base. The dug ditch should be covered with sand, and the top layer with earth.
Open type wiring
In urban conditions, wooden houses are rarely found. Basically, cottage villages are built from wood. Do-it-yourself wiring in the country is done in the same way as in a wooden house. Since a wooden house is a fire hazard, electrical wiring must be open.
Ways of laying cable in a country wooden house:
- The wire can be mounted on insulators, as was done before. An incision is made between the wires in the wire and is mounted on the roller. Nowadays, this method will look unaesthetic, if only retro design is not planned.
- There is the possibility of fixing the wires to the brackets. The store offers a wide selection of different cable fasteners. There are staples that are nailed to the surface with small nails, and there are those that are inserted into the drilled hole.
- The wire is fed into the corrugation and fastened to the wall with clips. The complexity of the process depends on the length of the wire, which must be shoved into the PVC sheath. Accordingly, the longer, the more difficult. With this method, you need an assistant.
- The cable is easy to pass through plastic pipes. And access to the cable will be practically closed for external influences.
- Metal pipes will protect the cable from rodents. Basically, the method is used in places of large concentrations of rats and mice, for example, at grain terminals.
- Through plastic boxes or wide cable channels. When the cable cross section is large or it is necessary to lay a large number of wires, this method is used. All wires are laid in a box and pulled together with PVC harnesses so that the wires do not crumble, but are constantly in a tight bundle.
- Laying the wire in the cable channels will give a neat look. There is a possibility to cut grooves the size of a channel in a tree and insert it flush with the wall, but the process is very laborious.
It is desirable that all PVC elements are non-combustible. The passage of cables or wires through wooden walls is possible only through an iron tunnel, driven in advance. Thus, do-it-yourself wiring is completed. Photos presented in the article may be useful in the future.
This type of wiring is usually done in non-residential premises. Do-it-yourself wiring in the garage is also an open method.
At the end of work
At the end of all work, it is necessary to check the operability of the newly laid lines. To do this, you can invite specialists from the electric laboratory to make all the necessary measurements. Professionals in this field will issue a conclusion on the serviceability of wiring in a wooden house.
Workers in the electric laboratory must do the following:
- check insulation resistance and grounding resistance;
- measure RCD and phase-zero loops;
- load automatic machines with primary current;
- check the operability of all electrical wiring systems.
Prices for the production of works vary from 200 to 350 rubles per point. Points include sockets, switches, boxes, and other wiring elements. If you contact the company, you will be charged at least 300 rubles per point. Private workers, of course, will be more loyal to the price. The final price is easy to calculate using the scheme. In any case, the master performing the work must give a guarantee of quality. To be completely confident in the quality of the work performed, it is best to try to do it yourself.
As you can see from the article, do-it-yourself wiring does not take much time and effort. But it is necessary to approach this process very seriously, and especially to safety measures. Pay attention to every little thing, because it’s more difficult to fix than to do it normally from the beginning. Since a wooden house is more vulnerable to fire, safety must be taken into account. No need to neglect the requirements established by regulatory documents. This article highlights all the nuances of installing electrical wiring in a wooden house. If you have certain skills to do all the work is not difficult, and the family budget will not suffer much. Many are mistaken in thinking that open wiring is ugly. If you let the wire on the baseboard, it will not be visible at all, as with closed wiring. Cable channels will also hide it, without harming the beautiful appearance of your room. The main advantage of open wiring is that in case of any malfunction, it can be immediately detected and eliminated.