How to Wire an Electrical Outlet in a House

An electrical outlet is known in the electrical trade as a receptacle. The most commonly used receptacle is a duplex receptacle, which gets its name from having two outlets. Receptacles are not hard to install if you have attic space above where the receptacle will be placed or a crawl space beneath the house. If neither of these conditions exist, good, safe extension cords should be considered as an alternative.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Switch box with ears
• 12-2 non-metallic sheathed cable with ground wire
• Duplex receptacle
• Receptacle plate
• Two sheetrock clamps
• Wire nuts
• Battery-operated drill
• Flashlight
• 1/2-inch diameter spade bit
• Key hole or reciprocating saw
• Wire coat hanger
• Wire stripper or sharp knife
• Needle-nosed pliers
• Electrician's pliers
• Screwdrivers

Instructions

1. Cut off the power to the house at the main discount switch. Check to ensure that the power is off by turning on lights and appliances and checking receptacles with a table lamp. If none of these items work, the power is off.

2. Make a pencil mark on the wall where you want the new receptacle. The mark should be a minimum of 19 inches from the floor. Center the face of a switch box over the mark and trace around the outside edges.

3. Drill holes in the inside corners of your outline and saw on the lines between the holes. Leave a helper in front of the freshly sawed hole and go into the attic with a flashlight, drill, bit and a roll of 12-2 non-metallic sheathed cable.

4. Ask the helper to rap on the wall while you crawl through the attic toward the sound. When you have determined that you are above your helper, drill a hole through the header plate.

5. Push one end of the 12-2 cable through the freshly drilled hole down inside of the wall. Ask your helper to watch for the end of the wire to appear. When the wire appears, the helper straightens a wire coat hanger and uses the hook to fish the wire out of the wall. If the wire is run beneath the house, a hole is drilled in the footer plate and a fish tape is pushed up inside the wall. The helper attaches the end of the electrical cable to the fish tape and you pull the tape and wire back down through the wall.

6. Trace wires through the attic and find one that is running from the breaker box to the room in which you are working to find a source of power. The wire from your new receptacle can be spliced into this wire inside a junction box nailed to a rafter or your new wire can be run into an outlet box to which a light fixture is attached. If the latter is done, the light will have to be removed from the outlet box so there is room to make the connections. If you are working under the house and there are no wires to connect with your new receptacle, you will have to run wire to the breaker box.

7. Attach the cable from your new receptacle to your source of power by connecting black wires to black, white to white and bare copper to bare copper. If a new junction box is installed, attach a cover after the wire connections are made.

8. Return to the location of your new receptacle, remove a knock-out from a switch box and loosen the cable clamp. Thread the electrical cable through the newly created hole and retighten the cable clamp.

9. Push the switch box into the hole in the wall until the ears on the box are resting firmly against the wall. Insert a sheetrock clamp into the wall on each side of the switch box. Bend the fingers of the clamps tightly around the front edges of the box and snugly against the sides.

10. Strip the sheath from the cable as far into the switch box as possible. Peel about 1/2 to 3/4 inches of insulation from the ends of each wire. Connect the black wire to the brass screw on a duplex receptacle and the white to the silver screw. Attach the bare copper wire to the green screw.

11. Push the receptacle into the box and attach it with the two screws. Secure a plate over the receptacle and turn on the power.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not attempt this job without turning off the power.

References

• Home Wiring; Rex Cauldwell; 2000