Confessions of an Unlicensed Electrician

Okay, the first confession I have to make to my readers (all 3 of you) is that I sort of always knew I was going to build a mancave (I never actually contemplated a butterfly conservatory or indoor water park).  That said, I had only a very vague idea of what I wanted to do when the outbuilding was framed up and the electricians arrived to do the rough-in electrical work.  As I was showing the electricians where I wanted all the outlets, I realized it was "now or never" if I was going to plan for a mancave.  So on the fly, I requested that the electrician run a dedicated electrical circuit to the location I thought my mancave might end up.  In retrospect, my decision on the location of this particular junction box was quite rash...but fortunately it turned out to be spot-on.  


In addition to running a dedicated electrical circuit for my mancave, I also requested that the electrician run coaxial cable TV and Cat5 cable to the area I anticipated using for the mancave and gym--this would allow future installation of an intercom that could communicate with the main house as well as a live cable line for TV.

My second confession is that when no one is looking, I like to do electrical work.  This mancave project offered me a perfect excuse to "get my electrician on." I have a bit of experience doing very basic residential electrical work....but let's be honest here, I'm not exactly a licensed electrician.  I started my rough-in work the way any nerd would...by consulting a few text books.

After boning up on best practices, I thought long and hard about where I wanted outlets, light fixtures, speakers, and any other electrical work that would need completed before drywall gets installed.  I then created the following plan:

A couple of things to point out (since my diagram would probably not be considered "conventional" by an electrician, architect or engineer):

1. Circuits:  I used red and blue to illustrate the fact these are 2 separate circuits
2. TV Overload:  I am planning for 3 TVs in my outbuilding...ridiculous, I know.  The first will be in the mancave, the second above in the gym space (so Michelle can do her workout videos) and the third outside of the mancave above the workbench (so I can keep an eye on the game while I'm wrenchin' on Fry-Pan).
3. Frugality:  I am going to splice my cable TV signal so that I can use one cable box/receiver for 3 TV's (two of which are illustrated on this diagram)--hence, the Cat5 cable.  This cable is going to be used with an IR relay device and will allow me to change the channel on the workshop TV even though the cable box will be in the cave.  A similar IR relay will be installed for the TV in the gym space.  Net effect = cable TV on 3 TV's for the price of one (the only catch is you can't watch different channels on multiple TVs at the same time...but I seriously doubt this will ever be an issue).
4. Tricky Lighting:  lighting the mancave took a little more planning.  Because the cave's ceiling will have exposed beams and douglas fir decking (no sheet rock or ceiling tiles), I basically have to route out a small channel in each of the adjacent timber beams to run my 14/2 electrical wire that will supply the track lights.  There really is no other way to conceal the wiring with a ceiling like this:
   
5. Missing Manliness:  what would a mancave be without copious surround sound wiring and in-wall HDMI cables to stream Netflix from my laptop to the TV.  Well, fear not...I included these provisions in my rough-in work (they just didn't make my electrical plan above).

So once I finished my framing, I got to work on "pulling cable" as they say:

Side Note:  the astute will notice that the height of the stud wall on the right is higher than all the rest.  This is intentional because it will give me a place to anchor the end of my tongue and groove decking (since the next closest beam will be 8.5 inches to the left)

I know, I know...it looks ugly right now, but trust me, it will be okay once drywall goes up & excess wire is removed.  The square in the center will be wrapped in drywall to create an alcove with recessed outlets behind the LCD TV (this will ensure the LCD TV mounts flush against the wall)

 

The work boxes facing out toward the shop will provide for outlets over the adjacent workbench

The only thing I couldn't finish was the wiring for my ceiling fixtures...that had to wait until my beams arrived.  So for the first time (and probably the last) I reached a point where there was nothing else I could do....until the beams arrived I would be at a standstill.

And to my family and friends who have zero faith in my skills...

chiiilllllll.........I'm going to have a friend of mine who is an electrician check my work before drywall goes up.