Let's Shine Some Light

This weekend we decided to install lighting in the double-bay garage. Turns out, the builders of these homes decided that a teensy wall-sconce-type light was sufficient to illuminate both the single and double-bay garages.

They were wrong.

Seeing that a gloomy winter was approaching and we really wanted to continue work on the Cozy, we were in serious need of luminescence.

Before diving into Do-It-Yourself mode, Ced fished around for quotes and got some outrageous numbers back. It seemed there are no local electricians, so a trip to Home Depot was made. Friday morning I awoke to a fresh pile of wire, lighting fixtures and a pleading smile. Once coffee was had, I ventured into the double-bay where Ced was busy marking off the ceiling.

With glee in his voice, he described the steps we needed to take to get the job done and how positively wonderful it would be to be able to see what we were doing in the garage.

Ok, he didn't use the words "positively" or "wonderful", but he was excited about having light. He also mentioned that some local Do-It-Yourselfer insisted on six lighting fixtures instead of the four we originally planned. Hey, might as well.

Our spirits were high and we began the drilling process.

Let me pause the journey to indulge you in this step.

We marked where the center of the light fixtures would be on the ceiling. Ced then handed me the power drill with 4" hole saw attachment and said "Saw away!" Excited about the prospect of drilling a large hole in the ceiling (new for me), I happily positioned myself on the work table and pulled the trigger.

As you can see, standing underneath the hole you are drilling in a dry-wall ceiling is not the brightest thing to do. But I had a good reason for doing so - I'm short.

We have a double-layer dry-wall ceiling and no ladder high enough to allow me to stand beside the spot I'm drilling while still maintaining decent leverage and pressure.

Ced laughed.

I handed him the drill and said, "Go forth," which he did.

Cleanly.

Once the holes were drilled and light boxes set, we ventured to the attic.

Pay no mind to our filthy fingerprints.

There is only one access to the attic and that is through the master closet. This isn't a problem except for when you want to access the garage attic, which was sealed off. Ced spent some time in the attic in the beginning of the week figuring out access points for dropping lights. His solution - cut a hole. Luckily, the hole he cut did not create a rustic skylight, but allowed direct access to the double-bay attic.

Perfect!

Except it was a very, very small attic with a small access hole cut into it. Lucky for us, I could fit. This, of course, meant I was the lucky duck running wire for our new light installations.

Truth be told, I was pretty excited about being the one scurrying around the rafters dropping lines, but don't tell Ced.

My job was simple enough, daisy chain the boxes and don't fall through the ceiling.

So, I scuttled around on the beams and boards, running wire and being very careful.

After the boxes were connected, we concocted a way of fishing the wire out into the main attic so Ced could properly splice them together. (The initial electrical installation ran the garage lighting wire into a sealed off area inside the sealed off garage attic. It was silly, but I can only assume there was some sort of rationale behind it.)

Finished with running wire, I exited the small attic

 and ran to the garage to admire our handiwork.

When Ced finished the splicing, we both worked our way around the garage ceiling installing the light fixtures.

All six.

With a flip of the switch, we finally had bright light. No corner of the garage fell dark. The spacing of the light prevented shadows in our work areas. We could finally see!

For the rest of the day we would run out to the garage to make sure it was as bright as we had first witnessed.

It was.