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Summary: Best of the home wiring books
Review: I started out knowing nothing about home wiring. I bought all of the books I could find, and this one was the best. I've used it many times for small and large projects in my house. I've repaired lamps and rewired a gut-renovated bathroom. Explanations for making circuti changes in your service panel are excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: Amateur to Journeyman
Review: I used this book to add four circuits to my service and finish my basement as a completely usable space. I had no experience with electricity before this project, and the book gave me enough confidence to finish the job completely. Each part of my project had easy-to-follow examples in the book. I installed four new circuit breakers, 25 outlets, a two-way light switch, 18 recessed lights, two GFCI outlets, and a bath vent fan and light. This book saved me a lot of money. I know I did the job more carefully with better materials than a hired electrician would have used.
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Summary: This book really shines the light on home electric projects
Review: I used to install communications and radar gear worldwide, but was hesitant and unclear on home wiring due to significant differences in materials, tools and codes. This book, typical of the Black & Decker series, begins with the basics and gets into some advanced territory. It is clearly written, illustrated with hundreds of step-by-step photographs, and guides one through sometim4es tricky codes. circuitry and materials. It is logical, clear, methodical, and written with the safety in mind that this kind of work demands. I heartily recommend this book for homeowners and handypersons.
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Summary: Have no fear!
Review: I'm Mr. Thumbs, but after a heart-seizing estimate, I KNEW I had to take the circuitbreaker by the horns!
GREAT PHOTOS and script walks you thru the projects! Am even ready to tackle the hi-proficiency stuff! A GREAT REFERENCE BOOK!
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Summary: Comparison of 3 books on home wiring
Review: I've decided to remodel my spare bedroom. It's one of those "furnished closet" type spaces that tends to collect junk at an alarming rate. While it's a lovely little room when it's empty, it disappears in the furniture that gets put into it. Even the sliding glass doors over the small balcony don't give one an illusion of spaciousness. I had a roommate for a while who used that room, and she had to climb over her bed just to get to her bureau. The plan is to put up lighted crown molding to add dimension and indirect lighting to the room and to remodel the ample closet space into a bureau cum mini-closet cum desk area. To accomplish my goal, the project required some rewiring of the room, so I found three books that seemed to have the information I needed: Wiring 1-2-3 by the people at Home Depot, The Complete Guide to Home Wiring by the Black and Decker people, and Wiring a House by Rex Cauldwell. Each is an excellent book with much to offer, but I definitely found that each had a slant that made it specialized in some way. Of the three books, only the Cauldwell book was written in a person-to-person format. The author is a third generation electrician with years of experience, and as he says quite charmingly, "I have written this book from lifelong experience and knowledge--some of which has been passed down through each generation. However, there is no one within my family to pass the gauntlet to--no fourth generation to pick up the trade. Therefore, by reading this book you will become heir to my knowledge and experience. You, in effect, will become the fourth generation (p. 1)." His style is very much master of the craft to learning apprentice, explaining all facets of his field from how electricity is produced, how it is measured, what types of wires carry it to and into your home, and what tools one needs to do electrical work. He not only provides the information, he tells the reader the "whys" of what is, which I find helpful because it permits one to problem solve and trouble shoot more effectively. Particularly useful are those things that he tells the reader to avoid and what can happen when they aren't! The drawings are very helpful, particularly as they are clearer than photographs can be. Sometimes less is more in this regard. The schematic of the main floor of a house (pp. 22-23) which detailed how wiring is arranged for each room was quite helpful for my project, since it described what I should (and did) find in the walls when locating my power source and routing new wiring. I also found that the information on materials to select was helpful. I was able to go to the store and pick out just what I needed without any trouble at all. While the Cauldwell book is a good one to read from cover to cover because of it's clear and thorough discussion of electrical wiring and its many helpful hints (which I did), it really did not help with my specific plans. It does cover some types of project, but I found that The Black and Decker book was more useful for my specific wiring goals. It's definitely a "how to do it" book with information on trouble shooting current wiring for potential problems (pp. 122-143), on code requirements (pp. 145-146), on how to calculate electrical loads and when to upgrade. It also includes simple repairs for the home owner, everything from checking which fuse controls which part of the house, to replacing plugs and repairing fluorescent lights. It also provides some advanced projects, like rewiring a kitchen or installing outdoor wiring. Of particular interest to my husband, the computer guru in our household, was the information on the home network wiring systems. For my own project, I found the circuit maps for 26 common wiring layouts of greatest help. With the aid of this feature and the Cauldwell book, I was able to draw on paper the likely arrangement of the present wiring in my spare bedroom, and plan in the pathway to and from the projected new outlets. The diagrams on pages 155-167 also gave me a clearer idea of which wires connected to which specific sites on the receptacles, and what the pathway of the current would be. I was thrilled when I turned on the wall switch in the room, and the lighted crown molding actually came on, first try! Wiring 1-2-3 is another group-effort type book like the Black and Decker. It'd made a splendid gift for the new home owner or prospective buyer. It provides the most extensive information on inspecting the home for electrical problems and providing measures for repairing them. The table of contents highlights almost every conceivable project, and each project has a list of materials, a skill scale that projects the level of difficulty to expect, and the amount of time that would be required by the experienced, the handy and the novice. It also makes some suggestions regarding the selection of a professional electrician for difficult projects, and does not urge the novice to go beyond their comfort level. Although I didn't use the Home Depot book for actual planning and wiring, I found it was especially helpful with the messy stuff, things like drilling holes through the attic to route wires, the nitty-gritty of fishing for wires, and repairing the damage to walls where holes had to be made to route wires. In general these books are useful all round books. I'd give all three books a 5, each for its own area of usefulness. If you're a person who likes to have a multi-perspective approach to your projects, then I'd recommend all three. Certainly the Home Depot book would be a very nice house warming gift.
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Summary: mess up your electronics
Review: if you've ever dreamed of turning on the stove for your speaker volume, the is for you. you can learn just how to fix/ mess up the whole house. if the neighbors come over, you can simply open the fridge in the basement to turn off the tv. how cool is that? it's also useful for fixing your home electronics. house builders and di-it-yourself husbands will find it useful .
but I have just shared what I would use this for. it also is useful for putting in a new light, doorbell, etc. etc
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Summary: Very good starter book; not ideal for those with experience
Review: If you've never wired anything in your house, but are a hands-on person, this book is an outstanding way to get started. It treats the title subject well, starting with the basics--in fact, that's also one of its weaknesses. Those who have some wiring experience will have little use for the first one-third of the book. This book makes excellent use of photographs and four-color diagrams throughout for illustrating principles, tools and materials. It's laid out in a logical manner and is organized so that it's easy to find what you're seeking. This book's greatest value is its focus on clearly illustrated layout diagrams and techniques. It contains over 20 example circuits of various common types, including some subtle variations on themes such as three-way switched circuits that have not-so-subtle differences in implementation. It includes a clear and complete section on wiring a bedroom/office addition with a bathroom and closet, using various types of circuits, from the ground up. The text is light on code-related issues, probably to avoid the need for frequent revisions to keep it current with the NEC's three-year publication cycle. This makes it more difficult to rely on information it presents as authoritative when it comes time to meet the electrical inspector. I found this book a useful blend of text and graphics for learning the basics of house wiring. To take the next step, I strongly recommend Rex Cauldwell's "Wiring a House." It's far more substantive and NEC-compliance-oriented.
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Summary: Good guide for people who are not familiar with U.S. code
Review: Maybe not all of you had to deal with this, but for someone who grew up in a country with different codes and who recently purchased his first home in the U.S., this book really helped me to apply my (limited) knowledge and experience to all kinds of electrical projects throughout the house. My biggest obstacle was being unfamiliar with U.S. code, labeling conventions (e.g., on cables) and the general language construction people use. All I had to do to tackle my projects was read the specific section of the book, thumb back tothe overview section to read about codes and labeling and bingo, I was in business. This is the only book I used for all my wiring projects throughout the house. However, this book is light on home entertainment or home networking. I would not recommend to purchase this book just for that purpose. For all other projects, I would not want to be without it.
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Summary: Very good wiring reference...
Review: Of all the books I browsed and purchased, this was the best. The wiring diagrams are great as a reference. Any circuit I've had to wire up so far was diagramed in the book. There are pages of diagrams so I would expect that most people would find what they needed there. There's a good example of adding a sub-panel if you're up to that task. They warn that if you want to re-wire or replace your main panel, you should hire an experienced electrician. That's a task not recommended for even the handiest of homeowners. Good advice.... There's tons of info here. If you are reasonbly handy and willing to heed all of the safety warnings, this book is a great one to have. There's examples of wiring room additions, kitchens, etc., that are very informative. I also have the Home Depot "Wiring 1-2-3" book. It's good also. Arranged on a task by task basis... sort of cookbook-like. Most taks homeowners would tackle are in there but the Black & Decker book covers more issues. I also see that there what I believe is a new edition of this book (Mar '01 vs Apr '98 publication). Haven't seen contents but maybe that's the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Source for Basic Information
Review: The Black & Decker series is generally very good and I think The Complete Guide To Home Wiring continues this tradition. This book contains useful information for wiring new and retrofit projects. The only reason this book is only rated 4 stars is because I was hoping for more information. For several projects I have been forced to turn to other sources for wiring information. There is not a lot of information about newer technology wiring for home automation or telecommunications. Overall an execellent source for general wiring information.
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