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

~ Black & Decker (Editor), The Editors of Creative Publishing international (Author) "A household electrical system can be compared with a home's plumbing system..." (more)
Key Phrases: see circuit map, black circuit wire, subpanel feeder breaker, Everything You Need Tools, National Electrical Code, Installing Outdoor Wiring (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the most daunting endeavors for any would-be do-it-yourselfer is dealing with the electrical--namely, electrical repairs, improvements, and wiring and rewiring projects. The reason for this is simple: mistakes can cause fires, major disasters and expense, and even death. But anyone can learn about safe and correct wiring in order to complete repairs or add new wiring to an aging and inadequate system. This is the book to show you how, from the basics of how electricity works and simple repairs and projects, all the way to complicated rewiring you might otherwise assume must be done by a professional. Included are the most up-to-date electrical code requirements; guides to evaluating, planning, and installing new electrical circuits; repair advice on switches, receptacles, and fixtures; and a detailed and well-illustrated lighting design section. A total of 288 pages of hundreds of illustrations and photographs and a comprehensive reference index make this an ideal book for the beginner, and an up-to-date refresher course for the professional. --Mark A. Hetts --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Hundreds of illustrations and photographs and a comprehensive reference index make this an ideal book for the beginner... -- Mark A. Hetts, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Creative Publishing International; illustrated edition edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865734291
• ISBN-13: 978-0865734296
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #343,374 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

217 of 229 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comparison of 3 books on home wiring, January 6, 2003

By	Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Current information, August 6, 2004

By	Stephen McHenry (Olney, MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good starter book; not ideal for those with experience, August 23, 2001

By	Rus Healy (Canadice, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Home Wiring: A Comprehensive Manual, from Basic Repairs to Advanced Projects (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library) (Paperback)

If you've never wired anything in your house, but are a hands-on person, this book is an outstanding way to get started. It treats the title subject well, starting with the basics--in fact, that's also one of its weaknesses. Those who have some wiring experience will have little use for the first one-third of the book.

This book makes excellent use of photographs and four-color diagrams throughout for illustrating principles, tools and materials. It's laid out in a logical manner and is organized so that it's easy to find what you're seeking.

This book's greatest value is its focus on clearly illustrated layout diagrams and techniques. It contains over 20 example circuits of various common types, including some subtle variations on themes such as three-way switched circuits that have not-so-subtle differences in implementation. It includes a clear and complete section on wiring a bedroom/office addition with a bathroom and closet, using various types of circuits, from the ground up.

The text is light on code-related issues, probably to avoid the need for frequent revisions to keep it current with the NEC's three-year publication cycle. This makes it more difficult to rely on information it presents as authoritative when it comes time to meet the electrical inspector.

I found this book a useful blend of text and graphics for learning the basics of house wiring. To take the next step, I strongly recommend Rex Cauldwell's "Wiring a House." It's far more substantive and NEC-compliance-oriented.