March 26, 2016

Earlier this week, carpet was scheduled for install, so I had to remove the old carpet, exposing the pad.

The pad was in good shape, so a thorough vacuuming was all it needed. The floor was ready for carpet.

And the next day, it was installed. Carpeting is one job I leave to the professionals.

How cool is this pattern?! We saw this in the showroom and knew it was the one for the office.

With the carpet installed, we're really rounding third and heading home. Now, on to more electrical work.

All the outlets were ivory, and I like white. So they all needed changing. First, the power is turned off.

A view of the new outlet. I like replacing the outlets, because it gives me a chance to inspect things.

New outlets and outlet covers really dress things up.

Here's why I pull the plugs out. Surprise! This plug isn't grounded. Note the lack of a bare ground wire.
Technically, it was safe, because it was attached to the metal box, and the box was grounded.
But the plug didn't have a dedicated ground wire...despite the twisted ground wires right there in the box.

Luckily, this is an easy fix. Using a piece of scrap 14-2 wire, I cut a length of the bare copper ground.
The wire in the box is 14 gauge, so I was sure to match it with new 14 gauge wire.

The new copper wire is twisted to the existing ones in the wall box, and secured with a wire nut.

The wire nut is pushed back into the box, and the new ground wire curled for install on the plug.

The new ground wire is fastened to the plug using the green screw at the bottom. This plug is fixed.

After replacing the plugs, focus shifted to the baseboard heater covers.

And voila, the room has new baseboard heaters. Things are coming together.

On each project, there always seems to be one photo that captures the spirit of the whole project.
On the Office Project, this is that photo. New baseboards, new carpet, three paint colors, a fantastic
new carpet, an office and a closet...all awash in new lighting.

Switch covers are installed. Next up, furniture and doors.

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