Adding an Electrical Outlet
Posted by Wayne
One of the things that bothers me most about my garage is that there is only one electrical outlet, and it’s not in a great location. As part of my built in work bench I wanted to have at least one additional electrical outlet on top of the bench. Unfortunately the entire area is already drywalled so running new wire from somewhere else isn’t really an option.
I had considered tearing down the drywall to get some more electrical outlet to the location that I wanted it, however recently I noticed that there is an outlet on the inside of the house directly on the other side of the garage wall where I wanted another outlet. I knew that with some careful planning I could tap into that circuit without doing much damage to the existing drywall in the garage.
Inside Outlet
After turning off the electricity I took apart the inside outlet and after some meditating I was able to guess how the wires were running through the walls between the existing outlets and wall switches and how I would tap into the circuit without having a switch inside the house control the outlet in the garage. That would be just plain irritating!
I measured the exact location of the inside outlet and then marked the same location within the garage. I carefully cut a ‘discovery’ hole in the garage wall to find the outlet, and I hit it on my first try.
‘Discovery Hole’
I felt like this hole was a necessity to have easy access to the back of the existing outlet box, and this was especially true because of the staples holding the existing wires to the 2×4 stud. If I didn’t have a hole cut, I would have had a very tough time pulling/moving any wires around to make my connections.
I cut a new hole for the electrical box several feet above the discovery hole. I did this by tracing around the new electrical box with a pencil, cutting into it with a utility knife, and then hitting it with hammer to knock out the drywall.
As I guessed I found one set of wires running straight down to the existing outlet, but as it was the wire that is controlled by a light switch on the inside of the house I couldn’t tap into it. That wire would have to continue down to the existing outlet, I’d run another wire straight back up to my new outlet, and then make the connection to the rest of the living room circuit through the new outlet (See image below).
I enlarged the discovery hole in the garage to have full access to the back of the box. Due to there being some nice slack in the existing wiring I only needed about 3 feet of 12-2 romex wire (the left wire in the after image above) to make this entire connection without any splices, and I happened to have exactly 3 feet left over from the office space job I did sometime back.
I added in an old work electrical box, ran my wires, attached the outlets, turned on the electricity, and everything worked perfect.
Now it was time to fix the hole I had created in the drywall. On one side of the hole was the 2×4 stud running down the length of the wall. I just needed to add a little support to the opposite side of the hole so I could reattach a piece of drywall cut to size.
I cut down a piece of wood and fed it into the hole and attached it with drywall screws. I then cut a piece of drywall to size and secured it to the wood. When I circle back to finish the new drywall seams it will be an easy task to make this spot invisible.
Total Cost: $5, Total Time: 1.5 hours
8 Responses to “Adding an Electrical Outlet”
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June 23rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I mean no offense but I see two problems with your electrical project.
1. Garage outlets are typically powered on 20 amp, 12/2 wire (Actually I believe it’s a national electric code).
2. Garage outlets should must also be GFCI protected, again code issue.
Issue #2 is easy to fix, Issue #1 probably not so easy to fix.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Todd,
Thanks for the input. After looking through some forums I completely agree on the GFCI. That should be an easy fix. Code says that you can have a non-gfci outlet if it’s for an outlet if it’s not readily accessible and will only have one thing plugged into it (as opposed to an outlet that is getting stuff plugged in and out all the time).
I don’t think you’re right on the 20 amp circuit though, it seems its a matter of preference. There is nothing in the NEC that requires a 20 amp circuit for garage receptacle #2. And I’m not worried in the least about having a 15 amp outlet at that location anyways as the biggest piece of equipment I’ll be plugging in there is a hand drill.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:12 am
It is a requirement to have 20 amp for garage in most counties. It may not be in NEC, but in your county requirements. This means larger wire guage from circuit box is required (12-2 w/ground). Also you cannot have too many devices on one circuit, not counting switches. Lights outlets etc..
You also could have patched the drywall using a piece of drywall 3″ bigger than the hole you cut. What you do is make flaps by removing the gypsum around the edges. You then apply compound on the edges of the hole and under the flaps and apply like you are taping. No screws required and no studs are needed. I have used this method many times and when it is done correctly you will never see it even on a finished interior wall.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Thanks for the input Charlie. My understanding is that it’s a requirement to have one 20 amp outlet, which I already have. Any additional outlets can be either 15 amp or 20 amp.
Also, it seems that 12 gauge wire is used exclusively in my house. I have not seen 14 gauge used once in any of the electrical work I’ve done.
I have seen the drywalling fixing method that you’re talking about, but I never saw how it saves any time or effort, and it definetely isn’t as strong of a fix (not that mine will ever be tested).
June 24th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
@ wayne - Seems fair to me if you already have a 20 amp outlet in the garage. However, those wires in the photos have white casing and as far as I know that means 14/2, 12/2 is almost always yellow. Either way I was only pointing out issues. Great post and nice solution.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Todd,
Manufacturers started color coding the jackets in 2003, so 12-2 wiring made before then would likely be white.
I do have some of the yellow jacket 12-2 and compared it to the wiring in my living room outlet and they are the same gauge, which I really didn’t expect. As far as I knew they always used 14-2 for general wiring.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Just remember one thing. When it comes to residential work, the load on any one circuit other than, kitchen, laundry and bath rooms, there is no actual defined “Load” as applied in commercial work. I don’t see any major issue here Wayne. If your new garage outlet is only being used for convienience once in a while, it really is no different than the outlet that feeds it from the living room.
July 13th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Nice work. I sometimes forget about the other side of the wall. My walls currently are plaster. Patching and cutting holes is a bit less convenient. I need to replace these old walls one day.
Thanks for the post.