If you’ve decided to rearrange the interior layout of your home, you may be considering some degree of demolition. Before the hammers start swinging, it’s important to formulate a plan of action. Going in swinging could end up damaging critical electrical structures in your home that will be difficult to repair and dangerous if you happen to sever a wire with a metal demolition tool. Better to do some homework first.
Get an Electrical Map of Your Home
If you know what you’re going to be demolishing and what you’ll be replacing the old walls with, you already have a good start. Now, it’s time to be smart and get a professional involved who can help you avoid a disaster. You’ll need to draw a map of all electrical and plumbing systems that run through the area that you are going to take out. Start by having your pro locate your wiring and mark it clearly on the walls you’ll be taking out. Your electrical professional will be able to determine how the systems can be rerouted in the new layout. Your plumbing pro can also map out and plan the rerouting of any water/waste routes.
Once you know what you have and where you’re going. Make a plan with your pros as to how the demo should be carried out. If wires are going to be cut, it’s probably a good idea to make those cuts and turn off the electricity while the structures are demoed. Obviously, it would be a really good idea to have a plumbing pro cap and/or reroute any critical plumbing before the swinging starts. Once all is made safe, it is important that you follow good dust containment practices because if drywall is involved, it’s going to get messy pretty quickly.
After you’ve removed the old structure, work with your electrical and plumbing pros to make a plan for installing the rerouted wires and pipes in the new structure (if there is one.) Once all of the finishing is in place, you can rest easy knowing that everything was carefully and safely installed. If you do your homework on the front end, your chances of a great outcome increase exponentially. Mr. Electric of Chapel Hill is available to help you with any wiring and electrical system modifications should you decide to make changes to your home.
