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Some older homes using 2 wires to receptacles might have this type of wire/cable running through the walls. To make a 2 wire into a 3 wire grounded outlet, you would simply clamp a solid copper wire onto the bx cable {as pictured} and attach it to the third prong lug on the receptacle.
The black wire {hot} goes to the smaller blade on the receptacle.
The white wire {neutral} goes to the larger blade on the receptacle.
Finally, purchase one of these simple to use circuit checkers, which will let you know if you've done it correctly.
In the olden days of wiring homes, electricians grounded the BX cable properly. Some did not. If someone finds that their old bx isn't grounded, consult an electrician.
Advice: Never, ever substitute the neutral for the ground, never substitute the ground for a neutral.
Make sure the receptacle polarity is absolutely correct, failure to do so can ruin some electronic equipment.
Always turn the power off before working on any receptacle or light fixture!
I love those things. You can also get one with a button to push to test a gfci.
I did wiring in our garage at our old house and did wiring of the great room, kitchen and bath. In Wisconsin, home owners are allowed to do their own work, with permit, and have a village inspector check the work.
I borrowed and never returned a book from my brother and learned how to do it myself and saved a ton of money.
I like those checkers because they're easy to use and inexpensive.
I did wiring in our garage at our old house and did wiring of the great room, kitchen and bath. In Wisconsin, home owners are allowed to do their own work, with permit, and have a village inspector check the work.
I borrowed and never returned a book from my brother and learned how to do it myself and saved a ton of money.
I like those checkers because they're easy to use and inexpensive.
I did this too. Our electrician did some work and then disappeared so I just wired the house myself. The general contractor finished wiring the addition. Between the electrician and the GC they had six or eight corrections on inspection. My part (75% of the house) had only two !
I had an advatnage in that my brother was a GC for a while and particularly loves electrical work, so I woudl call him for advice when I ran into problems. The worst was wiring some three way switches where the posts were all the same and not marked. I found the logic difficult for some reason. THe four ways were easy. Everything else - nothing to it, but i really hated putting in the hardwired smoke detectors (mostly becasue it ticked me off that they forced me to do it).
I did this too. Our electrician did some work and then disappeared so I just wired the house myself. The general contractor finished wiring the addition. Between the electrician and the GC they had six or eight corrections on inspection. My part (75% of the house) had only two !
I had an advatnage in that my brother was a GC for a while and particularly loves electrical work, so I woudl call him for advice when I ran into problems. The worst was wiring some three way switches where the posts were all the same and not marked. I found the logic difficult for some reason. THe four ways were easy. Everything else - nothing to it, but i really hated putting in the hardwired smoke detectors (mostly becasue it ticked me off that they forced me to do it).
That's saying a lot when yours were better than theirs.
Mechanics and electrical comes pretty easily for me, I sort of had a knack for that type of thing.
During the time I enlisted for the military, they gave people general aptitude tests, and as it ended up, I scored a 92% in mechanics and electrical. They did that to find what a person's qualified to do for a carreer field.
I've done wiring on a few cars and trucks too, the most difficult was old International Harvester dump trucks, as those don't use color-coding.
Homes and industrial electrical is not that difficult to learn, except now, factories have robotics with really complicated wiring.
I've worked on some house wiring, really old, where 2 wires inside the walls were both black and covered with cloth insulation. Good thing modern building materials were invented.
That's saying a lot when yours were better than theirs.
Mechanics and electrical comes pretty easily for me, I sort of had a knack for that type of thing.
During the time I enlisted for the military, they gave people general aptitude tests, and as it ended up, I scored a 92% in mechanics and electrical. They did that to find what a person's qualified to do for a carreer field.
I've done wiring on a few cars and trucks too, the most difficult was old International Harvester dump trucks, as those don't use color-coding.
Homes and industrial electrical is not that difficult to learn, except now, factories have robotics with really complicated wiring.
I've worked on some house wiring, really old, where 2 wires inside the walls were both black and covered with cloth insulation. Good thing modern building materials were invented.
They were sloppy and in a hurry and messed up a lot. The worst screw up was they put about half the light switch boxes too close to the door. With molding in place, you could not get a switch cover on them. For some I had to cut the switch plate covers nearly in half, for some I had to cut an opening in the door casing. A few just had to be moved. They also left out GFCIs in the kitchen (I knew that before I even read the book). They had some outlets with reverse polarity, two ground failures, and an outlet installed directly underneath an outdoor shower. I do not remember what the others were.
There was a J box that was not exposed, but I knew about it and told them to go ahead with that one, so I do not count that as their error. It was an intentional violation because i did not want an ugly j-box panel in that location. (Hoped inspector would miss it. He missed nothing).
I had to add an outlet on a wall that never had one and cut some wires shorter. (I left 9" of wire thinking it would be good for future modifications, inspector said it could not be more than 6")
They were sloppy and in a hurry and messed up a lot. The worst screw up was they put about half the light switch boxes too close to the door. With molding in place, you could not get a switch cover on them. For some I had to cut the switch plate covers nearly in half, for some I had to cut an opening in the door casing. A few just had to be moved. They also left out GFCIs in the kitchen (I knew that before I even read the book). They had some outlets with reverse polarity, two ground failures, and an outlet installed directly underneath an outdoor shower. I do not remember what the others were.
There was a J box that was not exposed, but I knew about it and told them to go ahead with that one, so I do not count that as their error. It was an intentional violation because i did not want an ugly j-box panel in that location. (Hoped inspector would miss it. He missed nothing).
I had to add an outlet on a wall that never had one and cut some wires shorter. (I left 9" of wire thinking it would be good for future modifications, inspector said it could not be more than 6")
Sounds like you have it down pat now. You should probably be thankful the contractor showed up at all. I knew of some contractors in my area that charged a customer 50% cost of the job upfront, they came in and did a few things for a couple of days, then didn't show back up to complete the job for several months, and when they did, it was a hurry up slip shod affair.
Cities and towns always warn people about contractors like those, but you know the elderly and the people who don't know are so vulnerable to scams.
My inspector was sort of a jerk. My garage construction was complete, and I had all my mechanics tools and boxes in it, and I had a pile of gravel in the driveway to use for backfill around the concrete slab, and he wouldn't approve the final until the gravel was moved and my tools and boxes were removed from the garage. Another one week delay, oh well.
My inspector was sort of a jerk. My garage construction was complete, and I had all my mechanics tools and boxes in it, and I had a pile of gravel in the driveway to use for backfill around the concrete slab, and he wouldn't approve the final until the gravel was moved and my tools and boxes were removed from the garage. Another one week delay, oh well.
We went through this with the general inspector. We moved in because the bulk of the house was moved. It was not new construction and did not requrie a permit since we did not build anyhting. We had to get a permit for the basement, the kitchen electrical, plumbing and HVAC. Therefore our position was we did not need a C of O for the whole house. He decreed otherwise and made us move out. Then he tried to make us move our furntirue out of the house. He kept trying to prove we were still living in the house. We were not, but we were there every day all day working on it. One day he was inspecting the basement rooms and I found him in the kitchen looking in the fridge and writing down everything that was in there. I asked him if he needed a beer. Later he told us we had to move an old car I was restoring off the property or he woudl not give us the temp C of O. He called it blight. (The car was fine looking, it just needed a gas tank and a valve job, it was not on blocks or apart, just sitting next to the garage and completely hidden by the woods except from the top of our driveway). For whatever reason he had it in for us from the get go. there were a whole bunch of issues I am not remembering. Finally we prepared a lawsuit and gave a copy to the township. Then he backed off. Guy is an egomaniac. I actually considered running for township supervisor just so I could fire him (that plus I could do a good job as supervisor). The electrical inspector is a good guy though.
Subsequently I learned that a great many of the inspectors are failed tradesmen who could not make their business work. Many of them are bitter and have ego issues. They are out to show the world how great and powerful they are. Our guy clearly fits that mold.
We went through this with the general inspector. We moved in because the bulk of the house was moved. It was not new construction and did not requrie a permit since we did not build anyhting. We had to get a permit for the basement, the kitchen electrical, plumbing and HVAC. Therefore our position was we did not need a C of O for the whole house. He decreed otherwise and made us move out. Then he tried to make us move our furntirue out of the house. He kept trying to prove we were still living in the house. We were not, but we were there every day all day working on it. One day he was inspecting the basement rooms and I found him in the kitchen looking in the fridge and writing down everything that was in there. I asked him if he needed a beer. Later he told us we had to move an old car I was restoring off the property or he woudl not give us the temp C of O. He called it blight. (The car was fine looking, it just needed a gas tank and a valve job, it was not on blocks or apart, just sitting next to the garage and completely hidden by the woods except from the top of our driveway). For whatever reason he had it in for us from the get go. there were a whole bunch of issues I am not remembering. Finally we prepared a lawsuit and gave a copy to the township. Then he backed off. Guy is an egomaniac. I actually considered running for township supervisor just so I could fire him (that plus I could do a good job as supervisor). The electrical inspector is a good guy though.
Subsequently I learned that a great many of the inspectors are failed tradesmen who could not make their business work. Many of them are bitter and have ego issues. They are out to show the world how great and powerful they are. Our guy clearly fits that mold.
I'm curious, you don't have to tell me though if you don't want to, but what city/state did this happen in?
In my area, Pleasant Prairie, WI, I was told or warned about the building inspection department being tough. I sort of blew it off as rumor, until we did the garage.
I had my buddy, a master carpenter come over to trim out our nice patio doors once after the garage thing. There was a rebuilding project going on next property over from ours. The same building inspector came over to our property to question what we were doing. He even poked his head inside our patio door to have a peek. He saw new kitchen cabinets and asked if we did any plumbing work, and of course, I lied like a dog to avoid further possible problems. Things quieted down after that, never saw the man again, thankfully.
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