New House Wiring?

rodney eppes

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Location
Mt.Holly NC 28120
I get into a lot of Building areas, while at work. The other day, waiting on my loader operator to show up, I started looking around a new house. I know very Little about wiring, other than thinking 12/2 & 12/3 wire was standard for 120V. All the receptacles & switches were uncovered, & the painters had Sprayed everything! But in looking, I noticed the wiring in this house appears to be more like 14 or even 16 gauge!
And I guess the enclosed picture has 3-way wiring in it. There are 2-3 sets of 3 wires Not hooked to anything, but cut off & barely hooked together. Guess they go to the switches. Then the Large wire nuts have [I think] 4 wires twisted together. And I've never seen SO much Twisting of wires! Just the Electricians way, or some new code? Every box in the house looked the same! What's up with the wire gauge? And when I pulled some out far enough to see past the Paint, all I saw was Black & Red wires, + a bare copper wire for ground. Wow!
 

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14ga is standard for 15a lighting circuits. A red wire nut will do up to 5 14ga, yellow will do 4. The neutrals are probably that big bundle back in the back. They don't connect to the switches, just loop through the box and on to the fixture.
 
Residential wiring, even when "to code", is sketchy at best. Once you have done industrial power and control wiring you look at a house and its like a 3 year old was let loose on it. Mind you this is not a knock on electricians; they can only do what they can with the way residential wiring products are made to be assembled and wired. It's CHEAP, even when it's not.

That box has a lot going on, but as Shawn said it's mostly for tying circuits together. The two sets of wires "not hooked up" are waiting to connect to switches, and a third is tucked in the left corner. The wire nutted bundles are hots and neutrals. The grounds are tucked down in the back and crimped.

I think it is terrible that nowadays no one covers these boxes to keep all the spray out. Is it really that hard? No. Does it take a few minutes? Yes. Are builders wanting to maximize profits? Yes. I walked through some brand-new half-million dollar townhouses the other day well before paint and trim were complete. I was shocked at how cheaply they are built. They have all the "HGTV" type features that people lust after nowadays but under the surface it was not impressive. A buddy of mine is a PM for a local custom builder and took me on the walk through. They just build what people will buy...simply amazing.
 
Most people want the most sq ft for the $ and don't care about the bones of the house. They have no idea the difference between 3/8" and 1/2" drywall or even prime vs #2 or #3 lumber or even the difference between SPF versus SYP. All they care about is the final look of the house and getting the most for their $.

Unless it's a truly custom home, you going to have to put up with cheap materials and practices that are the bare minimum.
 
I stopped wiring new houses because I am my own worst enemy....no #14, no stab connections, every joint pig-tailed @ device, three wire to every large room ceiling fixture, etc. Pretty much, I treated every house like it was mine....cut heavily into profits.
 
doc said:
I stopped wiring new houses because I am my own worst enemy....no #14, no stab connections, every joint pig-tailed @ device, three wire to every large room ceiling fixture, etc. Pretty much, I treated every house like it was mine....cut heavily into profits.
Click to expand...

With new construction, it never seems like doing something right is actually an option. Shitty wiring, insulation install that gives me bad dreams, ripply Hardie lap siding, I see all of these things in every house in the high density neighborhoods being build close to us. I'm not a builder, but i can recognize shitty work when I see it. And they all get sold for a high price.

And then those people complain that their pipes freeze. In climate zone 3. How is that even possible?
 
doc said:
I stopped wiring new houses because I am my own worst enemy....no #14, no stab connections, every joint pig-tailed @ device, three wire to every large room ceiling fixture, etc. Pretty much, I treated every house like it was mine....cut heavily into profits.
Click to expand...

Same here.
At one time when I was in business for myself we had a high volume resi group. We probably wired, 250 houses a year for a 3 year period.

I'll never forget standing in county electric (now city) and seeing the "newest trend" a selection of colored "romex" with color matched spray paint. I was "lucky" and caught the wire rep in making his pitch.

'Why all you need to do is paint a spot on the wall and the on floor at the panel. You can even write a number in the paint for further clarification. It really is paint by numbers simple. It takes all of the guesswork out of home wiring.'

I decided that day I was getting out of the residential side.
 
Ron said:
Same here.
At one time when I was in business for myself we had a high volume resi group. We probably wired, 250 houses a year for a 3 year period.

I'll never forget standing in county electric (now city) and seeing the "newest trend" a selection of colored "romex" with color matched spray paint. I was "lucky" and caught the wire rep in making his pitch.

'Why all you need to do is paint a spot on the wall and the on floor at the panel. You can even write a number in the paint for further clarification. It really is paint by numbers simple. It takes all of the guesswork out of home wiring.'

I decided that day I was getting out of the residential side.
Click to expand...

I've seen similar things for industrial control wiring, but it's usually a wire tag for each device end, etc. If you wanted to make residential foolproof, I would think outlet boxes with a snap rail (some feature) and clip-on tags would work well. Then all you need is cheap plastic labels, not a bunch of colors of Romex. My way is more about organization though, because it can still be messed up by stupid people.

Maintaining an inventory of Romex colors is just dumb, and you lose quantity discounts because you now have quantity splits.
 
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What my pic was from is one of the New Retirement Sub Divisions. Large mostly ground floor homes with small attached garage. From the street the Too-Close to the next house, Looks small, with tiny yards. But the houses are Deep, to get the Sq Ft. Too many rooms & look like a maze inside! I Don't like the layout, Plus it looks like a fire trap. As for most of the Medicen Contractors, their paid by the piece or job. I see the guys running on scaffolding, nailing the siding on. One worker doing the work of two. Framers & roofers are pretty fast too! Landscapers work 6-7 days a week. I Expect a lot of $$$$ is being sent "Home"!
 
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