Man, down to earth, practical advice. You are the man. I am 72 yrs old and I still learned a thing or two. Don’t stop Jeff. Your are a breath of fresh air to us who try to do it right…wrong. We need you!
Hey Jeff. One of the tricks I use for locating elec boxes on sheet rock is to place a sponge in the box tightly. First dip the sponge in water with red (or whatever color u want) food color. Press the sheet rock against the sponge and you will have a?perfect pattern where your box is. I have also used a rubber mallet against the sheet rock where a metal outlet box is and it will leave a perfect mark on tje back of sheet rock of the metal elec box
Hi Jeff. In the trade we call oversize trim plates "jumbo plates". I really enjoyed your presentation. I was a Union Electrician for 35 years in Silicon Valley. I started wiring houses in the late 70's and finished my career wiring big MCC's (Motor Control Centers), including everything in between. There are so many tricks of the trade that the average homeowner has no idea of that make installations a snap. I salute you for providing this info in a fast ,fun, and informative way.
Me, watching this as an electrician: "Hhhmm... Not sure if he really knows what he's talking about..." Jeff: "Electric tape band-aids" Me: "He's solid. I trust him"
You and my dad are my heroes when it comes to diy’s! Been doing a lot of home repairs and improvements based on your tips. I’m amazed I can actually do them, and how I also enjoy it! Thanks so much Jeff!
Out of the 30 or 40 "Hacks" videos I've ever watched, this is the first that actually has useful information. Jeff, you are providing a public service and I appreciate you helping us actual hacks do better in our attempts to be handy.
@@syntaxerror7756 Guess I didn't read the Sherwin Williams paint spec properly where it states to use a plug in lighting receptacle when you take off your ceiling fixtures, or the first aid manual where it says to use electrical tape when you don't have a band-aid handy. Keep the negativity to yourself so it only poisons your own life.
I did not grow up with a father nor much of a father figure. So meeting you on RU-vid has really helped me more than you could ever understand. I decided you adopted me and are teaching me all the things a father would lmbo. 😂👏 A very grateful subscriber!
Wow, what a sweet comment. You have a wonderful, positive way of thinking! So much better than spending your life being bitter against your birth father. Did you know that your heavenly Father loves you more than even the best human father? I hope you will find Jesus and get to know Him. God bless you.
Adding to this, if you can't stretch to get a 12awg, you might still be fine to use 14 but only at 25ft or less. Anything more and you should use 12awg minimum for a 15a circuit.
The best online videos ever....👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻clean ...clear...lots of experience...no annoying ADs... Thank you 🙏🏻 you are the professor of you tube university...great job 🙏🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I've been in the construction trade for many years and I had to learn everyone of those tricks the hard way this is extremely valuable information that only comes from years of experience and is also what makes someone a true professional in their trade this is one of the best construction channels on RU-vid.
@@TheDarthJesus So, your bashing of Jeff and your insistence that he is wrong must be for a reason. So, are you trying to protect everyone else in the viewing audience from your idea of misinformation or are you trying to brag about your knowledge and your superiority and your ability to spot one mistake from a presentation that covered a hundred things. Well, we are all in awe of you.
It took you years of construction to figure out how to screw in a light bulb? install a new plug end? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! Your years of construction trade consist of Lincoln logs or mud huts? Maybe bird houses?
@@sfeldner He's not bashing Jeff, He's interfering with Darwins law. If you've never heard of Darwins law look it up, there's a picture of Jeff on there and your standing next to him.
I watch your videos all the time. I bought a house in Nebraska that was built in 1916. Over the years, various owners have built on to this house and nothing makes sense and we have spent two years rehabilitating it. Your videos provide great guidance to us in helping us do certain things. Thank you
Another great video... I can't recall how many videos I started watching, not knowing how long it was, and in the end realize it was a full 25 mins of great info...
Hey Jeff, another wall plate that I found to be super useful, though a bit pricey, have a little LED light bar on the bottom which acts as a little night light. There's a light sensor built into the plate, so it only comes on when it's dark. No more wall-wart night lights to keep your hallways traversable in the night. They are a very elegant solution.
although a word of warning for the adapter that lets you plug into a lightbulb socket, sometimes the lighting wiring is designed for less power and it might not be wise to go with to high of amp tools (ive seen some lighting circuits that was only setup for 10amps.) But if you need it in a pinch for a drill or battery chargers it will work, just dont try running a 13amp vacuum or 15amp 110v welder from it ;)
Standard residential building code requires all electrical circuits to be a minimum of 15 amps only exception might be an old building with glass fuses he was saying the adapters are good for providing temporary lighting not powering a whole jobsite.
@@robh3267 Issue isn't the house wiring but wiring that's built into the light to connect to the household wiring, many of those even new ones have thinner gauge stranded cabling.
The recess outlet is called a clock outlet . Alot of those items have been around for over 100 years ,being a licenced electician 40 + years ,i still use some of the ideas today .
Love the 3 switch plate for an old bathroom switch for a light, fan, and other. The king size (extra large) light plate is brilliant. Thank you for all of your tips and tricks, they are brilliant.
This just saved me a ton of money. The lawn service ran over the power cord for our (expensive) and cut the plug part off. Knowing I can buy and replace just that part? Priceless. Thanks, Jeff!
I'm sure there are quite a few of us who are old enough to remember that those recessed outlets were for hanging a wall clock - back when wall clocks had to be plugged in!
Great info Jeff. The big box stores should do demonstrations such as yours on Saturday mornings to teach their customers about all the specialty products available that can solve these typical problems. Same goes for plumbing specialty products. Because they are "problem solver products", they are expensive, but probably have great profit margins for the stores.
They used to ! When Home Depot first came to Canada (they bought Aikenhead's) they'd have a huge whiteboard at the entrance listing all the DIY demos for the coming week. They would set up those collapsible gym/football field metal stands and you could plop yourself down and watch a demo of whatever it was you wanted to learn. In the past 20 years that area is usually where they put seasonal stuff or clearance items, usually between the regular cash registers and the Pro Desk/lumber checkout.
Instead of covering an unused ceiling box with that round cover, install a 120V smoke or CO detector (with battery backup), assuming you don't already have a hard-wired one in the room.
My wife was not impressed when I told her that Jeff told me that I need to spend more time at Home Depot and explore the isle. She said I have spent more than enough time and money there. LOL!
Home Depot ripped me of $1750.00 dollars. They came to my house and measured for a fence. We agreed on the price. I had a Home Depot one year interest free credit card that I had used the prior year to buy wood floors and granite counter tops. I always paid on time and paid the card off before the promotional period . The card had a $20,000 credit limit. Since I paid that off it was time for the yard to be fenced in. A month goes by, the weather was sunny so no excuse for not starting on the fence. I look at my Home Depot credit card and found they had charged my card for the fence. ( I had an 18 month zero interest rate for the fence) they were charging me interest on the fence. I called them and they said I was over my limit(the fence was $7000.00) I said I have a $20,000 limit on the card how can I be over my limit? They said do to inactivity. I said bullshit I just used the card for the wood floors and granite counter top. I said I can see the scam your doing lowering my credit limit so you can charge interest on the card. just cancel the fence as no work, no material had been delivered to my house. THEY SAID OK. I get my credit card bill and found they charged me a $1750 dollar restocking fee for a fence they never delivered. They tried to ruin my excellent credit and threatened me if I didn't pay it. Corporate refused to help. They demanded I pay it. I found they were doing this same scam to people to make millions in interest. Also I am a veteran. They say they give Veterans a discount, The U.S. government says if you have "Veteran" on your driver license that is your Veteran card, no reason to have a VA card issued. Home depot despite federal law says I do not get the 10 percent discount unless I have a government issued VA card. They just want to beat people out of the discount. Publicly they advertise they are for Veterans but when it comes time to give the discount they deny the law concerning the VA instruction. Long story short, I stopped shopping there and so have all my friends and family. Please do not give them your hard earned money they do not deserve it. Not only that the owner is a moron Trump Supporter.
I started watching you on the big screen without a paid YT account, and had to come to my computer to subscribe. I watch a bunch of diy videos (So I don't have to actually go do the work), and you rock! You are one of the best. Thank you!
I recently replaced all the outlets in my old condo and one of the most useful tools I had alongside the volt meter was the outlet tester - they are sold in regular and GFCI versions, and made it easy to not only determine whether an outlet was live, but also to make sure I had wired them correctly and if the GFCI trip was working properly - I discovered that I had accidentally flipped the hot and neutral on one outlet and found that three out of four GFCI outlets in the condo did not work - that was quite a shocker - well not really as I turned off the breaker before replacing them. It was also useful when I was setting up a computer/relay controlled Christmas light display last year I also have some of the other gadgets mentioned, such as the light bulb socket adapter, which I can use to run a box fan in the attic
Jeff, Knipex makes a multi electrician plier that does everything that crescent does without having to flip it around. It strips 6-18, works as a linesman’s, will cut up to 4awg cleanly, it has a smooth groove in the jaws for J hooks, and it shortens machine screws 6 and 8
Thanks for the tips Jeff! I love the snap on coverplate idea. Recently I discovered the flexible cover plate which is made of a more forgiving vinyl plastic for guys like me that tend to over-tighten the screws on the traditional ones and they crack. The flexible cover plates are also great for walls that are bumpy.
Hey Jeff. Taught this in Highschool. You have a 25-foot extension cord and you just bought a new worm gear shaft. Not cheap. While you're cutting wood you cut the cord between the saw and plug or between the extension cord and saw. Situation: you just cut into the wire between the saw and plug. Chances are you have an 8ft and cut it 12 or more inches from the saw. Cut your damaged wire at a length that the wire would not touch with a male plug on it. Fixed the saw for the cost of a male plug. 25 ft wire and you cut it 8 feet from the plug. Cut the wire at the cut and install the male plug on the end. You may cut the extension cord again but you won't cut the cord of the saw. NEVER splice a cut wire together. But male and female end plugs and make a shorter cord or two out of it.
CAT 6 is fairly future proof (though people talk CAT 7 which hasn't been officially approved for standard use yet). I am running 2 drops per room with CAT 6 and running mesh wifi as well (direct connect is still a lot faster than wifi). Also using CAT 6 to run the remote control boxes for my zone audio system. Good stuff!
@@DristusFalchion I think the biggest issue there is cost and the fact that we barely have the equipment to handle 1 to 10 gb transfer rates as it is without going to commercial hardware and those speeds are intermal to the home vs actual throughput with the commercial ISP's out there. The average home user won't see nor need those kinds of speeds even when we get there at some point in the next how ever many years.... Just my opinion on it... I suppose if you can do it, great. For me, I was able to get several thousand feet of CAT 6 cable for $100 so will more than cover everything I need or would want direct connected.
@@oxfletch I'm with this guy. Conduit back to the mdf is the only future proof method. A nylon pull string prerun is a huge bonus. I'm going to do this in my next home. I think all builders should do this as the costs is so small for the future gains.
for permanent mounting of cabling , not to be moving or flexing. In walls or some kind of permanent hardwired game console control panel wiring, solid core has a better frequency and data speed response, less losses, less data dropouts, convert to stranded for flexibility after the last panel connector out to devices. There is a difference in the crimp contact mechanics of a solid core RJ (for permanent install) and a RJ connector for stranded core. Mix them up and you will get inconsistent performances problems later. Same for Coax cabling.
DIY transplanted from Texas to Thailand. I do condo, apartment and home repairs and renovations. I agree to install all plug receptacles with earth ground down.
Thanks for your insights, Jeff. I moved to Canada from Germany in 2019 and am still learning all the differences on construction methods and codes. One thing that drives me completely nuts (pun intended) are wire nuts. They just seem like a really bad idea. I have since recommended my beloved Wago 221 lever nuts to friends and colleagues here in Canada (they're luckily C/UL/US listed). It completely changed their lives. Check out the reviews online, it's truly life altering to everyone who tries them. Much more compact too. Also just bought a house here in Ontario and will be wiring it up with Cat6a and a few Fibre drops into all the rooms and outfit the home with smart home gadgets. Wireless is just never good enough if you rely on your network for working from home. Would love to see more on your channel on that. Let me know and I'll tell you what you need to cover 😜
Definitely would give Wago the thumbs up. Plus using bootlace ferrules with colour coded sleeves. I gather too that having visible copper strands at cable fixing ends not quite the thing these days. Ergo bootlace ferrules, crimped on, in various sizes, allows for stranded copper conductors to be sleeved completely. And, with a Wago connector there is an access hole for meter probe tip. I'm not affiliated with Wago in any way but endorse them absolutely.
ive been using copper crimps and plastic cap insulators for over 25 yrs its almost as good as a solder joint but 2 crimps of pliers and they slide right off
@@wizard3z868 Hmm ... "almost as good as a solder joint". I recall an old colleague at work, decades ago, who had been in the RAF, telling me the RAF had migrated to crimps, or swaged joints, on the grounds of they were a lot more reliable than soldering with good electrical and mechanical joint properties. And of course you didn't need power or heat to warm up soldering iron. Suppose it might have been tricky making field repairs with a hot soldering iron if aircraft fuelled up??? And for anyone interested tinned copper wires were considered a "no no" when using them in a screwed connector. The tinning was alleged to act as a lubricant under pressure and the strands would be "squeezed" out of the connector. Must say I have never seen this myself as used to twist the strands together to make a physical connection, them push both wires through the same side so that twisted strands clamped by two screws.
Awesome video. Jeff is the best in the business. I live in the states and Jeff is my go to guy for all kinds of work. Thanks Jeff for all you do.keep up the good work. I wish you were my neighbor. You're the best man!
If you run a tool that pulls 15 amps on a 16 gauge wire your tool's performance will be the same as a 14 gauge extension cord. You can totally run 15 amps through a 16 gauge wire. The problem you are going to run into is that the wire is going to heat up, but the tool performance will be unaffected . . . until the extension cord bursts into flames, which is unlikely, unless you are using a tool that is running constantly for an hour or more. In a perfect world, yes, you should have a 14 gauge, or even 12 gauge extension cord for your power tools, but it isn't necessary and you won't notice it on a tool that is only used intermittently like a saw.
The voltage drop is insignificant unless it’s super super long lol, 16guage is 4ohm every 1000ft, so 20ft cord will be like 80mohm…… you probably loss 1% performance on 110v if there is any 😅
:-) Love your videos! Although I'm in the UK, I do gain knowledge every time I watch one of your videos. You also make me smile, because you don't cut out all mistakes, drops or struggles! Thank you!
LED bulbs are better in trouble lights especially in crawl spaces. Burning your cheek on the trouble light grows old real fast and they can take more drops than incandescent.
I agree and like the LED bulbs for trouble lights. They seem to take a knock and vibration as well as a "rough service" incandescent. You don't burn yourself and your not going to generate heat in tight spaces and attics. LED's just burn out and stop working, but never "pop".
Getting electrical tips from a general contractor. Is like getting Medical tips from a veterinarian. They know The General information. But don't know what is truly involved in being electrician.
Didn’t know they even had a 3 way switch. Always learning something new watching your videos. Those tach-on covers will come in handy when I’m ready to redo my kitchen, after the electrician may have to rewire it lol
1. I added some alligator clips to one of my pigtails to use as a "test fixture" to make sure the switches are set up right. 2. I ran a 30 foot LED strip light ($20 usd) along the peak of my attic rafters and left the plug next to the attic access. Open the access, plug the strip into an extension cord, instant lighting.
You mentioned that installing a door switch is pretty cool, open the closet door and the light goes on. Thumbs Up! You can also install it to an attic step. Pull down the steps and the lights go on, Fold up the lights and there off.
Low Voltage is very underrated. I work in IT, the amount of peoples issues that would be solved with minimal low voltage lines could actually put me out of business. Jeff was talking about cat3, 4, and 5. We use Cat6 mostly now, it has very impressive capabilities including running HDMI. Every Room in your house doesn't need low voltage but if one room on each floor has one you are in good shape, put a main panel in the basement or wherever your internet comes in and once you get your provider set up you are good to go.
@@prestonbain6670 I agree there should be at least one Ethernet on each floor to a main panel. It’s unacceptable in new construction homes to not have it. If I had a choice I would make sure each room has at least one Ethernet jack to a main panel with a switch at the panel. Luckily Ethernet over power has made great technological improvements.
Hey Jeff, keep up the good work. I must admit, I wasn't impressed when I started watching your videos over a year ago. I was use to watching guys like Mike Homels. But slowly after watching your videos you turned me into being a fan of yours. You're full of helpful tips and tricks for the diy guys, and let's face it, that's why we are watching RU-vid. For guys like you.
Jeff. Thank you SO MUCH for all of your hard work and videos and thank you to the other people helping make these videos possible! You and your team have saved me a lot of time and money on renovating my house. The basement us up next! Feel free to stop by Philly and help out :P.
2:28 I made my first video lights with this little gadget 😅 About 10 years ago I started shooting RU-vid & music videos and I needed some lights, but it turns out they can be quite expensive. So I built my own out of a white dish tub, a couple of power strips, and some of these outlet-to-socket adapters. They were extremely bright and I used them for a long time until I saved up to buy some more professional equipment.
Thank you about the electrical cord. I had a guy repointing my chimney using a giant angle grinder. He was convinced his grinder was broken but I insisted he try my extension cord so I hooked it up and walked away. He was doing work right outside my living room so I heard him stop and say to himself "Ill be damned he was right" and he asked me to explain to him why a different extension cord fixed his problem. He was using his monster grinder with a 100ft 16ga cord and I let him use my 50ft 12g, his poor cord was warm when I hooked his grinder up to my cord.
Yes, I see it all the time. My rule is if the electrical cord is hot to the touch, then you're using the wrong cord. Current ratings exist fro a reason!
He also went from using a 100ft 16 gauge cord which is only rated at 13 amps to a 50ft (much shorter cord) 12 gauge rated at 20 amps. If he had a 50ft 16 gauge wire he still most likely would've been okay, depends on how many amps his tool was pulling.
Sparky here, just to clarify. your tool will work fine and at full performance on a 16 gauge cord, (unless however you run into a voltage drop issue due to the total length from the panel + the losses in the cord length than to your tool, in that case yes you will loose performance if it is below rated voltage . (But we will assume not as it is in most cases)). The cord it’s self however with a constant and/or higher than rated current draw of the cord. it will get hot and in some cases fail and short out and/or burn up and catch fire. The tool will work until the cord simply fails 👍 hope that clarifies that for you great content by the way!👌 keep it coming
@@cliff8101 tv channels don't like to address anything electrical construction related. many code variations due to regional locations and general liability reasons.
Very well done and good advice generally- just a FYI- plastic low volt box eliminators like from Carlon are way easier than the folding kind. Same thing with the single gang box for the island. Plastic is easier if you are using Romex.
Hehehe.. The bandaid from tape snipet made me laugh as I assume you saw my comment a few weeks back about, "real men make bandages from whatever tape they have available!" Very cool! Made my day!
I recently discovered wire splicing connectors to connect wires in a junction box. They are quick, reusable and beat twisting + wire nut. Adding a wire is a breeze. There are a couple of brands out there - Ideal and Wago. Menards in the US carries these types of connectors. These have saved me a lot of time. Perhaps you can include them in your next hack video. My other recommendation is to own a non contact voltage detector. This $20 device indicates if there's is live power in the line by bringing it next to an insulated wire. It is indispensable to making certain that power is off before doing work. You'll want to learn how to use the device first before relying on it. I wished that I had one of these long ago. Lastly, don't buy cheap electrical tape - its adhesive is inferior.
Everyone tells me the push on nuts fail and are fire hazards. But the worse part is if you need to disconnect them later. Also the voltage sensor is like 6$ at harbor freight
Agreed - Super 33+ or you might as well not be using tape. Likewise you maybe could get a non-contact voltage tester at Harbor Freight for under $6, but when you're talking about potentially life-saving test gear, I hope you decide you're worth that extra $14 and get a brand name one.
Wagos and other wire clips are great for industrial panels and controls but even though they are to code, they're a far cry from the a properly twisted wire + nut. The force needed to pull wires out is much lower. I can easily yank wires out of a wago, I can't pull wires out of a wire nut. Being in a rush to make the most work/time on drywall is fine, on electrical, not so much. Great idea on that detector btw.
Something Jeff didn't mention is the hole required for that box is the same size as a credit card, so you can just trace one. It's called a "retrofit box" or "easy box"
I recently had to do some light finishing in basement development and they weren't booboo plates. They were what-the @#$&-were-the-drywallers-thinking plates. In fact most of them were uncoverable.
Hi at 16:44 time: You could also use a microswitch, salvaged out of old microwave ovens. There are 2 kinds in them: Push to close circuit, and push to open, circuit. They are in the door open/close system. Use on on the end of the handle on my homemade metal chopsaw.. Works awesome. Push to close circuit. Thanks for the education, bro...
Wired is always better, especially for streaming tv. Glad to see someone else who is not on the Wi-Fi bandwagon. I have recently learned you can even buy wired adapters to connect your phones and tablets to your home network without needing wifi.
@@robsimpson9784 Normally I'd agree however if you have a newer decent router and are within its range you shouldn't have any issues streaming 4k. Now if were talking about gaming... always wired!
Wi-Fi engineer here (yes, that is a thing). Agree. If it sits still, I plug it in. Wi-Fi is for mobile devices. But, most people don’t have CAT5E or CAT6 in their house, so all consumer stuff has Wi-Fi these days anyway.
I'd add that these days, in the UK at least, the frequency bands that Wi-Fi uses (2.4GHz and 5GHz) are getting to be in high contention in densely packed residential areas causing all sorts of issues you wouldn't have on wired.
Electrical tape is great for covering the webcam on a laptop. I've had the same piece of tape on mine for about 10 years. You can use a little c.a. glue to add a googly eye (or two or three) to the tape so it's easier to spot when it's on or off.
The electrical tape to use as a bandage can only come from experience and injuries. Thanks for the tip. Had few bleeding boo boos myself that idea would have definitely helped
I've sliced damn near to the bone on my thumb, just ran to the maintenance shop, wrapped my thumb up with electrical tape, and just went back gamming hogs.
Just a little detail about extension cord. It is perfectly fine to use a smaller gauge than 14 if used on a temporary non continuous load. You will get the same power out of your tool with the only drawback of more heat generated by the extension cord wire. Another thing to be careful of is the total length of it, a too long cord can generate heat caused by it's higher resistance. Coming from an electrical engineer and former electrician. Good job on the video, great introduction to some of the basic stuff!
@@mrbmp09 No. I think you have no idea. The wattage required by the tool is provided by Volts *Amps. If the cord is too long then that will restrict the amount of voltage getting to the tool. To compensate, the tool will draw more amps to achieve the same wattage. This extra draw of current (amps) will ensure the tool runs at the same speed but will overheat the cord and will potentially cause the tool to also overheat and burn out. You can't run high current through thin cables without causing heat issues but in this situation although the cable is getting warm and wasting power the tool is still getting the wattage required,
I played a trick on my friend once. He was drilling a hole and I grabbed the electric cord and folded it to stop the power from flowing. Like a water hose. That's pretty neat trick
Am i mistaken At 5:35 did he point to the silver screw and say " you got your hot" then point to the gold color screw and say " you got your neutral" ?
A wise man (my old man) once told me NOT to twist the wires before adding the wire nut. The reason is that you may twist the wires to the left, add the wire nut, but twist it to the right, thus untwisting the wires. Just hold the two wires in parallel and slide the wire nut over the two wires, then twist. That way you're sure they're twisted together.
Studied new terminology today - "mastrubating closet". I suspect that Jeff tried to say Master Bedroom Closet, but I've heard what I've heard. Thank you, sir - you've made my day!
