Step 1: Turn off the Breaker

New year, back to the same old stuff.

After taking a lengthy Christmas break from the many renovations under way around the house, it's time to get back at it.

And thanks in part to my checkered career path, I'm fairly capable of handling most of the stuff myself. In my youth, and a little beyond, I worked in a kitchen cabinet factory, as a labourer for a construction company, as an apprentice carpenter for a building/renovation company and as a roofer and framer.

But I'll be honest. The one thing I tend to avoid is the electrical part of the game. Again, at various points in my life, I've come away on the short end of the short circuit. When working for the renovation company, I foolishly listened to the lead hand, when he told me it was safe to touch the yellow wire while removing a fluorescent light fixture.

"Hmm," he said, after I was blown off the ladder, "maybe not."

That was where I learned that "Step 1" is always, turn off the breaker before you start. Seems obvious now.

More memorable was the time I went hunting with a buddy in Wisconsin. On the way out, I was dry. So when we crossed the fence, that had a weird little wire running through it, there was no problem. On the way home, after the rain, I was soaked. And when I started climbing that same little fence, my wet leg touched that little wire.

It felt like someone, a very large someone, had whacked me with a, eight-foot, 2X12 piece of spruce. I landed on my back, about five feet from the fence. My ever-compassionate hunting buddy did not stop laughing for about three hours.

And that's when I learned that climbing an electric fence while wet is a very bad idea. Seems obvious now.

But back to the renovations. Over the years, renovating some part of every home we've lived in, I've grown tired of paying electricians. Yes, they're good. And it's easier. But they're also expensive.

And so, a couple of days ago, faced with two little electrical problems, I hit the Internet to learn a few things about do-it-yourself wiring.

Step 1 is always "turn the breaker off before you start."

I also learned that "black to brass will save your ass." Didn't know that one. And I'd explain it further, but I don't carry liability insurance. As such, my advice for anything electrical, is hire an electrician.

The point, if there is one, is that I was successful in restoring power to two kitchen outlets. I was also successful in relocating one outlet in the laundry room, and installing a new one in the rec room. For you electricians, I'm sure it seems like nothing. For me, it was a major victory, and probably saved me several hundred dollars. Yay me.

Today, I'm back in my wheelhouse. I need to trim out the new built-in entertainment cabinet I made in September and then attack bedroom 2, which needs a few studs removed, new drywall, mud, tape and paint.

And then I have to bake banana bread. And clean the kitchen. And keep the boys entertained. And get to the library.

Have a great Saturday.