Deck: Electrical
As part of our deck upgrade and pergola addition, part of the plan included adding some electrical perks. It seems like we can't do a project without adding some electrical component to it (the one exception being our floating wall build which, after much consideration and my reluctant admittance to the effort involved, I opted not to try pulling power to it).
For our deck, we wanted lighting around the pergola as well as perimeter lighting under the Trex overhang along the fascia. So this weekend, I tackled this part of our project. It was straightforward, though involved a little bit of code research for running power outdoors in a wet location as well as wiring multiple GFCIs to separate switches.
What made this job particularly easy is the previous owners had a defunct box twelve inches above a 2-gang switch box. All I had to do was enlarge it and cut out the low-voltage box that was stuck in the wall protecting some speaker cables (which makes me wonder where those cables go and - more importantly - did they have outdoor speakers???).
Then cutout a small opening behind the baseboard directly below. It was a tight corner but I was able to make it work. By make it work, I mean shove my cable snake down and through the hole I had made. Then pull the 14/3 Romex cable up and out the enlarged 2-gang hole above the existing switch box.
The reason I went with 2-conductor cable was because I needed to control two GFCI outlets I'd be installing underneath (but within reach, albeit an awkward one) our new deck. My wiring scheme looked like this:
Basically, each hot conductor would be run from the a switch to the hot line screw on the GFCI. I'd then pigtail the neutral and ground wires. But first, I had to pull power up from the box just below and install the new box.
Next, wire everything up: splicing the new run to the additional switches and the switches to the 14/3 cable I'd run to a junction box just outside.
With everything inside complete, it was time to head outside on the other side of the wall. I drilled a 1" hole through the sheathing and Hardi-Backer cement siding, then stuck a scrap PVC pipe through the hole to seal between it and the strain relief fitting on the back of the exterior junction box. It's not perfect, but neither is the siding situation on our house. I figured this would work.
At that box, I transitioned to THHN wire that I picked up by-the-foot at Home Depot. I didn't need much because the 2-gang outlet box was only a foot or so away. The wires are run through PVC flexible conduit with 1/2" watertight fittings on either end.
Then I wired up each of the two weather-resistant 15A GFCI outlets before slapping on a weather-proof extendable outlet cover.
Earlier, I had ordered a 4-pack of Armacost RibbonFlex Pro Outdoor LED strip lighting in warm white. Each strip is a little over sixteen feet in length. While we wait for our Trex and fascia to deliver, I plugged in a strip to see how it looks. Pretty awesome, I'm not gonna lie. It'll look better installed underneath the overhang of the Trex against the new fascia.
While I wrapped up this project and K worked around the yard, she improved upon a fire I had tried to start with sort-of-damp wood. It's what she does, builds us fires.
Then we hung a set of string lights around the new pergola we had from our previous house that were stashed away in our garage.
That's only one string. I think we'll hang the second string so it doubles the lights. Or get something different. Time will tell. What's cool and won't change is being able to flick either or both of our lighting options on from inside the house. The benefits of being our own electricians…
