How to Install House Wiring | eHow

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Chris Deziel

Chris Deziel began writing in 1974 as a feature writer for "Satellite News" magazine. He specializes in writing about home improvement and the arts and sciences. Deziel is a carpenter with more than 20 years of professional experience, a teacher and a musician. He has a Master of Arts in humanities from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

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The circuit breaker panel is the interface between the power grid and your house wiring. Panels include three buss bars: a brass one for the hot leads from the service company, a silver one for the neutral lead and a ground buss that is connected to the earth. Circuit wires are connected to the panel by means of circuit breakers, which are like reusable fuses. Once circuit wires are run throughout the framing of the house to the locations of all the circuit components, they can be connected to the panel and labeled.

Call the power company and ask them to turn the power off to your house. Then install a new breaker box and attach the power company leads to the buss bars. Attach the red or black lead (hot) to the brass bar and the white lead (neutral) to the silver bar. Pound a ground rod at least 8 feet into the earth and attach it to the ground buss with 10-gauge ground wire. Size the panel according to your electrical needs; most houses use a 200 amp panel.

Run wires through pre-drilled holes in the framing from the circuit components back to the panel. Make sure these holes are at least an inch from either face of the studs to prevent piercing the wire with drywall screws. Pass the wires through wall studs and holes in the top and bottom plates of walls. When you run wire along the faces of floor joist and ceiling rafters, staple it with wire staples.

Attach an electrical box to a stud at the location of each circuit component, such as an outlet, a switch or a light. Feed the wire through the back of the box and leave yourself about 8 inches of wire at each location to make connections. If you have to join wires anywhere besides inside an already existing electrical box, nail a junction box at that location so that the wire connection will not be left exposed.

Use a screwdriver to knock out holes for the wires in the service panel and attach a wire clamp to each hole. Feed the wires through the clamps, giving yourself plenty of slack to make connections, and tighten the clamps with a screwdriver. You can feed more than one wire through each clamp.

Connect each circuit to the panel by removing sheathing from the cable with a utility knife and separating the wires. Remove 1/2 inch of insulation from each coated wire with a wire splicer, then insert the white wire into a lug on the silver buss and the bare wire into a lug on the ground buss and tighten the lugs with a screwdriver. Insert the end of the black wire into the receptacle of a circuit breaker and tighten the screw, then snap the breaker into an available slot on the panel, where it will contact the hot buss.

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How to Install House Wiring | eHow