Basement Build Log - Part 4

Above you have the current state of the basement. Got the closet walls done, as well as the last wall in the office. Other than that I just have the half-wall for the bar and a good bit of soffit work to do. That turns out to be a good thing to have not yet done. The cable I will need to run to put in an auxiliary circuit box it pretty thick (2 gauge), and will be much easier to run without a bunch of soffit studs in the way. I did make it to Lowe's to get the 2x2s for the remaining soffits.



Good friend of mine (with a good knowledge of all things electric) came down today to help plan out the outlets and lighting. One thing I was disappointed in with the last house was the lighting. We found some guidelines that said ~3 watts per square foot. We settled on 12 lights all at 100-150 watts. it's considerably more than I put in the last house, hopefully it works well. The above picture has rough layouts of the outlets and lights. I didn't honestly feel like measuring the pixels out, so they are not exact. Red = outlet. Blue = light. Green = switch. (Groupings below.) The new circuit box is going to be 100 amps and will be placed on the exterior wall nearest the water heater. The 2 gauge cable to link it to the main box will be ~65'. All the calculations said we were very close to being able to use 4 gauge, but recommended 3 gauge... we're going to go 1 better for good measure.

Some of the outlets are high outlets (especially in the bar area). One of the outlets in the bar area will be on a circuit by itself, that will serve the garbage disposal, and hopefully the ice maker. Both of those said to not use a GFI and both recommend them being on their own circuit. Hopefully they will be fine on the same circuit together. If the inspector turns me down on it, it's only another 15' cable run to give each a dedicated circuit. Won't be a big deal, and I'll likely have 15+' of cable left over anyway.



The red blobs represent the outlet circuits for the basement. The odd, sideways T-shaped circuit in the middle that covers the office, bathroom and theater room a little bit is mostly existing outlets. The existing basement runs off a single switch. There are 6 outlets and 6 lights on that switch. We're going to be removing all of the lights completely and adding 1 switch in the bathroom over the counter. The rest of the circuits will be completely new, I'll lay them out below.

Media Cabinet (20 amp)
- 6 outlets, maybe more just in case

Theater room walls (15 amp)
- 6 outlets

Bar, exterior walls (15 amp)
- 6 outlets, 2 will eventually be covered by cabinets, 3 will be above the cabinets, 1 will be off to the side to meet code

Bar, Sink peninsula (15 amp)
- 3 outlets, 1 will eventually be covered by cabinets, 2 will be above the cabinets

Bar, garbage disposal / ice maker (15 amp)
- 1 dedicated circuit for these 2 devices, this is the only one that will not be GFI'd

Office (20 amp)
- 7 total outlets, 3 on the front wall for the 2 computers to use; 2 on left wall to meet code; 2 more on the right wall to use for the computers temporarily until we have out final office desk.

Bath (15 amp)
- Adding just 1 outlet over the counter to the existing basement circuit



The blue blobs are the lighting circuits. The office, bathroom and 2 storage areas will be on 1 circuit. The bar and theater room will be on a 2nd circuit. The switch groups will be detailed below.



The green blobs represent the switch groups. The theater, the foyer and the office will all be 3-wayed. The back door will have a 2 switch panel on the right, 1 switch for the foyer; 1 for the theater room. There will be another 2 switch panel on the left at the entrance to the bar; 1 switch for the overhead light, the other for the middle outlet above the counters in the back of the bar. I hope to have a set of glass shelves back there to display bourbon bottles on, with a light underneath, this would let me control that light with a switch... this will be the only switched outlet. The other switch for the theater room will be near the media cabinet. The other switch for the foyer will be just inside the foyer from the office doorway. The 2 switches for the office will be: 1 in the stairwell (existing) and 1 just inside the office from the foyer doorway. Switches for the bath, and 2 storage areas will be just inside and to the left of the door to each area.