California Electrical Installation

Call your electrical company before you begin any major work. Ask to talk to someone who knows about your home's electrical systems. There may be parts of your system that an amateur electrician would have no way of knowing about. If there is nobody at your electrical company who is willing or able to talk to you, seek professional advice. Talking to somebody, or even getting a paid consultation, could not only save you hundreds of dollars in potential damage to your home, it could protect you from injury or even death. You must also be sure to follow the 2007 California building code, so consultation with an expert can keep you from being fined for improper work.

Shut off your electricity. Go to your fuse box and pull all the fuses that feed to the electrical lines that you know you'll be working on, and pull a few more that you think might be around the area you're working on. If you need to do a lot of work to many areas of your home, pull all the fuses or call your electric company and have them turn off your electricity altogether. It is much better to be without electricity for a short period of time than to hurt yourself for being careless.

Assume that all wires are live until you can prove otherwise. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when dealing with electricity. There are many commercially available current detectors that you can use to be absolutely sure that the wire you're about to touch won't hurt you. The 2007 California fire code contains additional information about insulation requirements and clearance requirements to prevent electrocution and fire.

Check on the wires. They should be dry and undamaged before you start working on them. If the environment is wet, you'll need to take extra precautions, like wearing rubber boots and maybe even gloves before you get to work. This is particularly true if the wire is damaged and exposed. Use a ground-fault circuit interrupter to make sure the wire is safe to work with. Damaged wire could be indicative of other problems, like rats and mice in your walls. The climate of California is generally dry, so this most likely won't be a problem. But as you've realized by now, safety is a big concern when working with electricity.

Use common sense, and slow down. Working on your house yourself can be exciting and fun, but don't let that energy overcome your good sense. Take your time and work methodically. Remember the axiom, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Rushing through your work will not get you anything but shoddy work that will soon need to be replaced, and you increase your risk of injury.