Wiring the baseboard

Hi loyal reader! I have not had much time to post here, so I will grab something from the archives, aka last week.

You may be wondering: why would I wire the baseboard? On a party wall, I don't have many options.  The walls are plaster on brick.  Meaning, that if I want to wire that wall, I either smash a giant channel into my wall (through both brick and plaster), or I cut an elegant hole in a piece of wood.

Although I do have a strong affinity for doing everything the hard way, I'm going to cut the wood this time.

My neighbors love when I dangle a 16' board out into the street

It also conveniently doubles as a "long walk off a short pier", should I need one

Talkin bout layouts

The key here is figuring out where the outlet cover will lay, in relation to the 2nd piece of shoe molding and in relation to the top cap.  Draw those lines on a piece of baseboard, then find your layout in the center.

Always good to double check 

I need to write instructions for my own concoctions

Then I have to check each time to see if it actually fits. 

I actually use that jig all the time to draw the outline for cutouts in existing walls.  I draw the lines, score it, jigsaw a hole, and keep my fingers cross that I don't destroy the wall in the process.  For those of you who own old houses, you know that destroying the wall is an inevitable part of this process

I'm trigger happy with the camera today

Drill holes for jigsaw

get jiggy

oh yeah!

Now that we are all centered in ready to go, let's cut the board to length and test fit it.

Looks decent, new Romex dangling out

When the old work box is set into the baseboard, the box hits the back of the bricks.  Now the real fun begins...

That was a joke. The last thing I want to do is chisel out brick.

After I make an enormous mess and get a nasty cut on my knuckle, I am ready to install the box (finally)

View from the back

Romex stripped

Fix wires to their designated areas

And..

... and ...

Voila!

The end result isn't pretty, but we have an outlet now tied into the new circuit.  Truth be told, 8 days later I still don't have this board nailed up.  I had to open the millworks back up and finish some pieces with good weather

Stay tuned for more fun and excitement.