I'm an electrician by trade and I even feel sorry for ya.......Its different when you do it day and day out, but I remember what it was like my first month before i knew what i was getting into.......wait till ya have a hole hawg bind on ya and try to break your wrists for ya........

I have two spares in the attic and two spares in the 4' tall crawl space (that the HVAC guys loved). Thanks for mentioning that though. As far as phone, cable, and data is concerned, it will be pretty wired up.

Got all my basic boxes finished last night, wire unsheathed, grounds and commons connected as needed, switches squared away. Just have the 3-way switches and a few other circuits to finish, then I get to work on the power distribution panel.

After that is done I'll rig a few "On-Q" boxes for the phone, cable, and data. Getting there, and the hard part is done.

Floatinghat,

What's the purpose of running 12/3 and 12/5?

I like the idea of spare runs, but my main panel is full (redundant heating systems). I could run a wire from my sub-panel to the storage room in the basement, altho I cannot imagine what electrical run I could want in the future. I need to get back over to the audio store; they sign out the spool of speaker wire and charge for how much you use. I need to pull runs in the living room, deck soffit, and basement rec room. Man, there's a lota' wire in a house.

Andy,

I'm sure I hate you now. You work faster than a demon. I'm still putzing around my garage.

Sg

Andy,

I will let you know when we are going to start wiring. If you want to sell me stuff to get rid of it I will come buy it, my list is pretty long.

Salmo G., the scary thing is we just built a new home in 2006, out on the river and I am selling it to move into town and work on an old house. The house in town is pretty cool though, so it seems like a good trade off.

The HVAC system is going in right now.

12-3 and 12-5 means one common, one ground and 3 or 5 power/black/hot wires. Running a 12-3 to the attic would essentially gain you two spare home runs for the future. You never know what you might want/need to add in the future, like a 220 line for one of those handy stair chair/elevator thingies.

Also known as the Seastrike Lift System

Dave! Don't fall for it -

Since we can't always anticipate future needs, running a little wire seems like good insurance. I like the stair elevator idea, but I wired and plumbed the master bedroom closet (it's kinda' big) for a stackable washer and dryer, so we don't have to go to the downstairs laundary room when we get old.