John's Blog

The floor plan.

A cold front will pass through tonight, bringing cooler and drier air for outdoor stuff. I’ll work on this project in the evenings.
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Before I continue with the electrical work I need a plan. I created two planning documents: a floor plan and a schematic diagram. This article is about the floor plan.
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I apologize in advance for using non-standard architectural and electrical symbols. A floor plan I can work with is progress, a floor plan I can’t work with because it’s not perfect is… dumb. A one-page PDF of the floor plan is here.
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I started with doors, windows, and utility chases. I then added the to-be ‘furniture’ arrangement. I overlayed the electrical stuff over everything else.
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I used colors to indicate what electrical exists today (purple), the upgrade I’m currently working on (blue), and a smaller upgrade I might do in the future (red).
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Today (purple) - A few years ago I put two floor receptacles into two corners of the room. I used floor receptacles because the North and East walls are brick exterior walls and I didn’t want to disturb the brick.
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I’m currently using a collection of daisy-chained extension cords and power strips to distribute power from those two receptacles. The power strips are handy - I use the rocker switches on those power strips as light switches.
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Current Upgrade (blue) - Most (if not all) of the electric work is part of the current upgrade. It’s straightforward. I will plug corded lamps into outlets controlled by proper light switches. A few ‘always on’ outlets will be for the workbench and 3D printers and stuff.
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Future Upgrade (red) - In the future I may add two receptacles to the east wall for additional lighting and a few ‘always on’ outlets on that wall. Therefore, the electrical work I’m doing now needs to support this possible upgrade in the future.
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One last comment. I’m using 3-way switches to control the lights because I want to be able to sit in the flight simulator and adjust the room lighting without exiting the sim and walking across the room (think light dimmers).
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In the next article I’ll share the electrical schematic. Stay tuned…