Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Home Wiring: A Comprehensive Manual, from Basic Repairs to Advanced Projects (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library; U.S. edition)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've decided to remodel my spare bedroom. It's one of those "furnished closet" type spaces that tends to collect junk at an alarming rate. While it's a lovely little room when it's empty, it disappears in the furniture that gets put into it. Even the sliding glass doors over the small balcony don`t give one an illusion of spaciousness. I had a roommate for a while who used that room, and she had to climb over her bed just to get to her bureau.

The plan is to put up lighted crown molding to add dimension and indirect lighting to the room and to remodel the ample closet space into a bureau cum mini-closet cum desk area.

To accomplish my goal, the project required some rewiring of the room, so I found three books that seemed to have the information I needed: Wiring 1-2-3 by the people at Home Depot, The Complete Guide to Home Wiring by the Black and Decker people, and Wiring a House by Rex Cauldwell. Each is an excellent book with much to offer, but I definitely found that each had a slant that made it specialized in some way.

Of the three books, only the Cauldwell book was written in a person-to-person format. The author is a third generation electrician with years of experience, and as he says quite charmingly, "I have written this book from lifelong experience and knowledge--some of which has been passed down through each generation. However, there is no one within my family to pass the gauntlet to--no fourth generation to pick up the trade. Therefore, by reading this book you will become heir to my knowledge and experience. You, in effect, will become the fourth generation (p. 1)." His style is very much master of the craft to learning apprentice, explaining all facets of his field from how electricity is produced, how it is measured, what types of wires carry it to and into your home, and what tools one needs to do electrical work. He not only provides the information, he tells the reader the "whys" of what is, which I find helpful because it permits one to problem solve and trouble shoot more effectively. Particularly useful are those things that he tells the reader to avoid and what can happen when they aren't! The drawings are very helpful, particularly as they are clearer than photographs can be. Sometimes less is more in this regard. The schematic of the main floor of a house (pp. 22-23) which detailed how wiring is arranged for each room was quite helpful for my project, since it described what I should (and did) find in the walls when locating my power source and routing new wiring. I also found that the information on materials to select was helpful. I was able to go to the store and pick out just what I needed without any trouble at all.

While the Cauldwell book is a good one to read from cover to cover because of it's clear and thorough discussion of electrical wiring and its many helpful hints (which I did), it really did not help with my specific plans. It does cover some types of project, but I found that The Black and Decker book was more useful for my specific wiring goals. It's definitely a "how to do it" book with information on trouble shooting current wiring for potential problems (pp. 122-143), on code requirements (pp. 145-146), on how to calculate electrical loads and when to upgrade. It also includes simple repairs for the home owner, everything from checking which fuse controls which part of the house, to replacing plugs and repairing fluorescent lights. It also provides some advanced projects, like rewiring a kitchen or installing outdoor wiring. Of particular interest to my husband, the computer guru in our household, was the information on the home network wiring systems.

For my own project, I found the circuit maps for 26 common wiring layouts of greatest help. With the aid of this feature and the Cauldwell book, I was able to draw on paper the likely arrangement of the present wiring in my spare bedroom, and plan in the pathway to and from the projected new outlets. The diagrams on pages 155-167 also gave me a clearer idea of which wires connected to which specific sites on the receptacles, and what the pathway of the current would be. I was thrilled when I turned on the wall switch in the room, and the lighted crown molding actually came on, first try!

Wiring 1-2-3 is another group-effort type book like the Black and Decker. It'd made a splendid gift for the new home owner or prospective buyer. It provides the most extensive information on inspecting the home for electrical problems and providing measures for repairing them. The table of contents highlights almost every conceivable project, and each project has a list of materials, a skill scale that projects the level of difficulty to expect, and the amount of time that would be required by the experienced, the handy and the novice. It also makes some suggestions regarding the selection of a professional electrician for difficult projects, and does not urge the novice to go beyond their comfort level.

Although I didn't use the Home Depot book for actual planning and wiring, I found it was especially helpful with the messy stuff, things like drilling holes through the attic to route wires, the nitty-gritty of fishing for wires, and repairing the damage to walls where holes had to be made to route wires. In general these books are useful all round books.

I'd give all three books a 5, each for its own area of usefulness. If you're a person who likes to have a multi-perspective approach to your projects, then I'd recommend all three. Certainly the Home Depot book would be a very nice house warming gift.

This originally was two separate books, Basic and Advanced Wiring, that B&D combined into one book. Extremely well written, with lots of photographs, this is an excellent book for a do it yourselfer with a project in mind, or for a home owner to keep on hand to have when the need arises. The book covers basic repairs and maintenance, with a not too complicated introduction to electricity, but quickly gets down to the basics, with chapters on Wall Switches, Receptacles, Light Fixtures, Doorbells & Thermostats. The second half covers how to do more complicated electrical tasks. The first half is repair and maintenance, the second half moves into renovation and remodeling, with chapters on project planning, tools & techniques, Wiring a Room Addition, Wiring a Remodeled Kitchen, Installing Outdoor Wiring, etc. From this book I learned how to install new breakers in the main fuse panel, a project I was terrified of trying. This really is a very good book for the non-professional. It was a good idea to combine the two books into one, a handy reference and guide

I started out knowing nothing about home wiring. I bought all of the books I could find, and this one was the best. I've used it many times for small and large projects in my house. I've repaired lamps and rewired a gut-renovated bathroom. Explanations for making circuti changes in your service panel are excellent.

I compared this book to many others (including the Home Depot book mentioned in another review) before I bought it, and this one seemed to be the most comprehensive, clear and concise for my purposes. I used this book to help guide me through wiring portion in the process of ripping out my entire basement (all the way to the block walls) and rebuilding it. This is a fifty year old house with old "ragwire" wiring, which I replaced as I did the new work. I used the information in the book to do my electrical permit drawings which flew through the permit office with no comments from the reviewer. I installed multiple remote controlled recessed and surface-mounted lighting fixtures and networked the house for computer, video, audio and telephone by following the well-illustrated and clearly written directions in the book. The circuit diagrams proved especially helpful in wiring the multiple-switched and zoned lighting fixtures. All of the work passed the rough-in and final inspections by the electrical inspector without a single comment or change, and not once did I need to call in a professional electrician. I have several more projects on the agenda, including wiring my large shed, some low-voltage landscape lighting and a complete remodeling of the 50 year old kitchen and bathrooms, and this book includes all of the required information. I know I won't need to buy any other DIY books on the subject of wiring in order to finish the projects. Based on the quality and ease-of-use of this book, I went out and bought the Black & Decker book on plumbing. If you are remodeling (or just installing a ceiling fan) and want to save a ton of cash by doing your own electrical work, I highly recommend this book.

This is an excellent book for the novice home electrician. I knew very little about wiring and after reading this book was able to completely wire my barn and tool shed. I had a friend who was an electrician stop by to check out my work after I was finished and he found absolutely nothing to change! This book is easy to read, easy to follow, and will serve in my library as a great reference tool for other electrical work I may decide to take on in the future! I highly recommend it.

After purchasing a home with outdated and dangerous wiring, I needed a comprehensive reference to quickly learn as much as possible. Prior to this book, I knew almost nothing about residential wiring. The descriptions and photos were clear and easy to understand and completely demystified everything. I have since completely replaced everything myself; from the new service panel to each and every switch and receptacle. This book has saved me thousands and I would recommend it to any beginner. In fact, I am very pleased with most of the Black & Decker reference books.

The Black & Decker series is generally very good and I think The Complete Guide To Home Wiring continues this tradition. This book contains useful information for wiring new and retrofit projects. The only reason this book is only rated 4 stars is because I was hoping for more information. For several projects I have been forced to turn to other sources for wiring information. There is not a lot of information about newer technology wiring for home automation or telecommunications. Overall an execellent source for general wiring information.

Even if I was a Monkey (which I'm not - my wife checked!), I would be able to handle every electrical situation with ease after reading this book. The pictures are clear, the copy descriptive, the index is right on and the complete book is an absolute dream.

I didn't buy this book from Amazon.com, although I wish I had, I would have saved some coin, but it was so good that I felt the need to write a review. This is my first review and I'm not one to praise, but after reading the book and wiring my workshop, I was compelled to write this. Enjoy and don't look further.

I've been working on home wiring projects for 25 years. I bought this book to catch me up with the times. It includes all the information a person could use to install new and old wiring in a home. The pictures are highly detailed and easy to follow. The book includes most - not all - situations you will find in a home. Buy it. You won't regret it.

This book is for the do-it-yourselfer. And what a fantastic job this book does of explaining house-hold wiring and much more. Great visuals and extraordinary explanations. Worth every cent.