When you're in the dark, and you want to see...

...or plan to use corded power tools outside, you need ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY.

When we moved in, two things became readily apparent and both were related to electricity:

1. No electric outlets were installed outside the house
2. No electric service was provided in the garage

We couldn't light the house for the holidays, run a vacuum cleaner to remove evidence of Lucy from our cars, or light up the back yard for a party.

To finish a few last-minute projects last summer, I opened one of the basement windows and ran an extension cord through the opening to power a few tools. Last fall, when we had electrician rewire the dining room for a new light fixture, Ms. K asked for a quote to add outside outlets. We were a bit shocked at the price!

This spring, we knew this had to be remedied, and since I'm comfortable with wiring and had the tools to complete the task, I took this one on myself.

In Shorewood, a homeowner is prohibited from working inside the circuit breaker box and can only extend existing circuits. Though disappointing, this restriction wasn't too much of an issue as the easiest way to get power outside was to extend a circuit. (Permit from the village was required, but that was easy enough.)

I found my 5/8" masonry bit and hammer drill in the basement and started drilling. I told Ms. K. the noise would be pretty loud and that it should be over pretty fast. Once I started drilling, she came around to check on what was happening to see if it was normal. The noise also drew the attention of the neighbor boy who is always interested in what fun project I have taken on.

Boring through the block and brick was short work. I used conduit through the wall, terminating into an armored cable which found its way to the existing steel junction box in the basement. I used a water-tight compression-style connection between the surface-mounted box on the outside. (Not shown: I sealed around the fitting with caulk before I installed the surface-mount box outside.)

I pulled wires, caulked around them where they entered the box, plus caulked around the box. On the south side of the house, the drilling went much easier. Concrete patches from the old oil tank fill and vent pipes were very easy to drill through!

Here's the final outcome: we now have electricity in two places outside the house. We have an outlet in front (future use: Christmas lights), and one in back (which we've used to light up the back yard and provide power for projects in the garage).