Features of performing the installation of wires during the basic operations of laying electrical wiring with your own hands

As blood flows through the veins of a person, breathing life into him, so electricity flows through the wiring of living quarters and gives efficiency to all household electrical appliances. In order for their presence in your home to be endless, you need to take care of the condition of the wires. The safety of the wiring depends on its installation and correct operation. Anyone can master the installation of wires with a strong desire and the right approach to business.

Installation of electrical wiring or routing of wires

Often feeling a desire to carry out the laying of electrical wiring in his own house with his own hands, a novice electrician, in searching for the necessary information on the Internet, stumbles upon concepts such as "wiring" and "laying wires ". Trying to understand the difference between these values, and without understanding it, ends his career in this field, and having started it, entrusts the installation of electrical wiring to specialists.

But in fact, everything is extremely simple - the correct wording will still be "installation of electrical wiring". Wiring is one of the main operations, but in addition to wires, sockets, switches and other equipment are also mounted.

But since the main and most noticeable material is precisely the wire, often, implying "electrical wiring", they use the more simplified phrase "laying of wires".

Preparation stages and basic rules

Many owners are used to keeping everything under their own control. A well-known expression says: "If you want to do well, do it yourself." It is not very easy to do the wiring with your own hands, but it is quite possible. It is important to take into account all the nuances, be patient and study the principles and rules of work.

The sequence of operations for preparing for the installation of electrical wiring with your own hands:

1. get acquainted with the methodology of this process, find out incomprehensible points;
2. carefully study the rules for installing wiring;
3. decide on the method of laying: hidden or open wiring;
4. outline the wiring route (draw up a wiring diagram);
5. take care of the availability of equipment for the work;
6. purchase the necessary materials in the required quantity (or better with a small margin).

Basic rules for installing electrical wiring:

• During all installation work, there must be no electricity.
• In those sections in which a connection or branching of wires is provided, a margin of length is required in case of repeating the same operations.
• Areas with branches and connections should be located in places that are easy to get to for repair work.
• Powerful household appliances should be supplied with separate lines.
• The switches are installed next to the door. The height of their installation varies within 0.8-1.5 m.
• The installation height of the sockets is 0.3-1 m. The distance from them to metal structures is at least half a meter.
• If you cannot do without crossing the wires, then the distance between the wires should be more than 3 mm.
• It is better not to use aluminum conductors for wiring. But if you still cannot do without them, then their connection to the copper conductors must be done only through the terminal block.
• Installing an outlet in the bathroom is undesirable, but if installed, it must be connected through a separate RCD. The magnitude of the operating current must be up to 30 mA. The outlet is installed at a height of 1.3 m with a distance from live parts (which must be grounded without fail) not less than 0.6 m.

Preparatory operations before installation

Depending on the method of laying the electrical wiring, it is recommended to install it before or after finishing the premises. The installation of hidden wiring must be done before the start of finishing work, open - after them.

The main disadvantage of open wiring is unaesthetic. Such wiring is less durable due to possible mechanical damage.

The main advantages are accessibility for repairs and ease of preparatory work.

When drawing up a wiring diagram, it is necessary to mark the wiring route, the place of junction boxes, sockets, switches, lighting devices. In order not to get into a mess when placing household appliances after repairs, it is necessary to take into account their number and location when designing this scheme.

It is advisable to save the wiring diagram in case of its reconstruction in the future. If you are not sure that the wiring plan on paper will remain for a long time, as an option, you can take a photo of it, and also attach a photo with important nodes of the wiring already laid. Then, at the next repair, you won't have to look for hidden elements for a long time.

In order to mark the lines for the location of the wires, you must use the marker, chalk or a marking line, which is used to speed up the marking process and a more accurate drawing. To make it, you need to take a rope and paint it with chalk. One end of it should be fixed at the starting point of the straight-line segment of the marking, the other at the end. The resulting marking line is pulled with force, and then quickly released. After that, an even trace remains on the surface.

Then they outline the installation locations of lighting devices, switches, sockets.

The list of special equipment with which you can perform installation operations:

• puncher;
• Bulgarian;
• chisel;
• hammer;
• screwdriver;
• knife;
• insulating tape;
• construction trowel;
• putty knife;
• Master OK;
• screwdriver;
• indicator;
• multimeter

Purchasing Tips

It is advisable to draw up a floor plan and an electrical wiring diagram, adhering to some selected scale. Then, based on the scheme, you can calculate the required amount of materials. When calculating, do not forget about a small supply of wires.

When choosing materials for installation, cost savings due to their quality are inappropriate. Having saved at this stage, you can overpay much more during operation due to possible breakdowns, which can be measured not only in money, but also at the cost of human life.

The main materials for laying electrical wiring are: wires, sockets, switches, automatic machines, a lighting panel, socket boxes, junction boxes, fasteners, asbestos or putty.

Already when choosing wires, you can get confused - there are a great variety of their brands on the market today. The best option for domestic premises is rightfully considered to be wires with internal copper conductors. This metal has a longer service life and is more flexible than, for example, cheaper aluminum.

Wire cross-section is also an important parameter.: it is selected according to the permissible current. To approximately calculate the current strength, use its dependence on power and voltage: the total power of the devices is divided by the voltage.

The power of the electrical appliance can be found out from its passport, and if the voltage in the apartment is single-phase, therefore, it is 220 V. If three-phase wiring is required, the voltage value will change to 380 V.

Very rarely, the current in residential premises exceeds 25 A, so wires are usually chosen with a cross section of 2 to 4 mm². For a more accurate selection of the wire cross-section, you need to use the tables of the dependence of the wire cross-section on the current value, which are given in the reference literature.

One of the most common for these purposes is the VVG brand wire. Alternatively, NYM stamps can serve as an alternative. Often, some sources suggest using PVA wire for wiring because of its good flexibility. But its installation is allowed only for connecting lamps on the ceiling. Therefore, the expediency of buying it is controversial. The length of the wire must be taken into account with a margin. It is necessary to add 10-15 cm to each piece of wire to take into account the connection between the wires.

The machines are chosen in most cases for a current of 16 (for lighting) or 20 A (for sockets). You cannot take switches with an overestimated current - if the wiring is overloaded, they may not work, which will lead to a fire.

Slitting for laying hidden wiring

To start the first operation for laying hidden wiring, you will need one of the most time-consuming installation operations, which requires a certain skill - chipping the walls. Grooving means punching grooves along the walls and ceiling to lay the wire. The depth and width of the groove is determined by the number and cross-section of the wires - they must fit freely in it along with a layer of protective plaster.

Keep in mind that this operation will not do without dust, therefore it is necessary to cover all the furniture in the room with a protective film. After completing the operations of chipping walls, ceilings, proceed directly to the installation.

If the wiring is made open, then there is no need for gating - the wire will be attached directly to the wall using fasteners. The most successful solution to open wiring at the present time is its implementation in the cavity of the skirting boards.

Basic steps for laying electrical wiring

The first installation operation is usually the installation of a lighting board. It is mounted at the entrance to an apartment or house (on the wall or in a special niche). Installation of a shield in a niche is considered to be more aesthetic. Its size also depends on how much protective equipment will be in it. Automatic switches are installed and fixed in the panel. Usually, the machines are installed in the middle of the shield, above them are zero terminals, below are grounding terminals.

In order to insure against the intersection of wires, you should proceed with the installation of the nearest point from the shield, and then move on.

When laying the wiring in the strobe, make sure that it does not protrude from it. If the wire is single-core, it must be fastened every 0.9 m, for a stranded one - every 0.5 m.

To securely stack boxes and sockets in round grooves, either asbestos or fastening materials should be used.

After laying the wires, boxes and socket boxes, the strobes must be plastered. Then wait a while for the plaster to dry and wipe with a construction trowel to level the surface.

The next step is to connect sockets, lights and switches.

When connecting the lighting circuit, it must be remembered that it is the phase wire that is connected to the switch, and in no case, the neutral wire.

After all the work performed, you must contact the representatives of the local power supply in order for them to help you connect to it.