Ah, yes, electricity. A modern convenience that we all take for granted.
Back in 2014, in anticipation of having a shed that may want electricity, we (and by “we” I most certainly do not mean me…but I do mean Tyler and his electrician friend) ran the big-ass cables that provide electricity out to the shed.
However, until recently, the shed itself was not wired for electricity.
Let me see if I can sufficiently butcher the explanation of what that means and confuse everyone who is trying to understand how building a workshop in a falling down barn actually works in real life.
So…Tyler would run a very long extension cord (two in fact) to our electric pole (Green Acres Style) to have electricity in the shed. That was for a few years. Then his electrician friend came by and they connected (?) the big-ass cables that were dug four years ago to a box in the shed so it could be wired. With the electric box, Tyler had to run conduit (which is like other wires wrapped in…fire proof materials or something) around the shed to make outlets so he can plug his tools in.
Did I lose you yet? Are you completely confused? I recommend talking to the man himself to have a better idea of what actually happened. But what I do know is that the conduit was run along the walls of the shed through these metal tube things so Tyler could attach them to outlets for power.
What I also know, is that he says it was incredibly frustrating to bend these metals tubes to fit together and run along the walls, etc, and get them perfect.
And then, besides that, then actually pushing the cable through the metal tubes to the actual outlets. It took quite awhile. And at some point during the process, he actually messed something up and had to basically had to re-run the wire all over again.
So you have this stiff wire that you are pushing through a small metal tube…I mean…it’s got to be like a stuffing a sausage into natural casing without breaking the casing and without the aide of a sausage stuffing tool. (I don’t know why this is the image that comes to mind, I don’t even eat sausages).
Electricity is a pretty tricky business, and I’m super glad I don’t have to worry about figuring all of that out. Fire and electric shock aren’t my fortes. But the shed is all wired so now he can actually use the tools…once they all find their place.
The Pedersen Homestead 