how to install Outdoor electrical outlet in yard 2021

how to install Outdoor electrical outlet in yard 2021

What You Need to Know About Adding an Outlet in Your Backyard

  1. Choose a Location for Your New Outdoor Outlet. …
  2. Cut Power to the Circuit. …
  3. Remove the Indoor Outlet. …
  4. Mark the Location for Your New Outlet. …
  5. Install New Circuit Wiring. …
  6. Install the New Electrical Box. …
  7. Finish Installing the Outdoor Outlet.

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An outdoor outlet can certainly come in handy when it’s time to put up holiday decorations, plug-in tools to do yard work, or even when you want to plug in your record player out on the patio.

If you don’t have an outdoor outlet, or you have too few of them, you have options besides running an extension cord from the inside of the house — and that’s just as well because extension cords can be a recipe for disaster.

Instead of running cords everywhere, creating trip hazards, and increasing your risk for electrical fires and shocks, install a new outdoor outlet in your home.

It’s easier than you might think to learn how to install an outdoor outlet, as long as you have an interior outlet or, at least, an interior circuit that you can tap into for your new outdoor electrical outlet.

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how to install outdoor electrical outlet in yard 2021

Choose a Location for Your New Outdoor Outlet

The best location for a new outdoor outlet is on the other side of the wall from an interior outlet because an interior outlet provides a useful place to tap into an electrical circuit in your home. Make sure you’re using a general use circuit or lighting circuit.

Don’t tap into a kitchen or bathroom circuit or any specialized circuits used to power large appliances or home systems. These circuits already bear a heavy load, so adding an outdoor receptacle could overload the circuit and trip the circuit breaker whenever you use the outlet

If you don’t have an interior outlet near where you want to put your exterior outlet, you can tap into a basement junction box by drilling through the rim joist and siding to run the cable through to the exterior wall. Make sure you’re using a living room, basement, or bedroom circuit.

Cut Power to the Circuit

Before you tap into the circuit you’ve selected, cut power to it at the breaker box. Use a voltage tester to test the interior outlet or junction box you’re going to tap into to make sure it’s not live. If you’re using an outlet, you will have to test the wires themselves once you remove the outlet.

Remove the Indoor Outlet

When you’re sure that the indoor outlet you want to tap into is dead, remove it from the wall. Pull it gently from the wall and unscrew the circuit wires connected to it. Push the wires off to the side, out of your way. Locate the knockout in the back of the workbox and knock it out by tapping it with a screwdriver.

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Mark the Location for Your New Outlet

You’ll make the location for your new outdoor outlet by drilling a hole through the wall to the outside. You’ll need an 18-inch-long drill bit for this. If you have masonry or stucco siding, you might need a masonry bit and a hammer drill to get through the wall.

You can place the new outlet directly behind the interior outlet on the other side of the wall, or you can position it somewhat lower or higher by tilting the drill bit up or down. Remember to place the new outdoor outlet in the same stud cavity as the indoor outlet. If you’re tapping into a junction box, you’ll drill a hole right through the rim joist and through the wall to run your circuit wiring.

Go outside and look for the hole in your siding. Drill a one-inch hole over this hole, or a few inches straight up or down from it if that’s where you want your new outlet.

Install New Circuit Wiring

Use a new wiring cable that is the same gauge and amperage rating as what is used in the existing circuit. Strip off about two feet of sheathing from one end of the cable and trim off two of the three wires.

Bend the third wire around and tape it to the cable to make a loop. Shove that loop through the knockout in the interior receptacle workbox and, using a bent clothes hanger, reach into the hole on the exterior wall and fish it through. Pull through about a foot of wire. At the interior box, cut off the new cable so there’s about a foot hanging out of the wall.

Install the New Electrical Box

To create pigtails, cut about six inches of wire off the end of your coil and strip about ¾ of an inch of insulation off the ends of each. You want three pigtail wires — a black, a white, and a green or ground.

Connect the pigtail wires to the appropriate screws on the interior receptacle: black goes to brass, white to silver, and ground to green.

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What You Need to Know About Adding an Outlet in Your Backyard 2021

Strip off about ¾ inches of insulation from the other end of each pigtail, and from the end of the new wire that you’ve fed through the walls. Use wire nuts to connect all three hot (black) wires to one another, all three neutral (white) wires to each other, and all three ground (green or bare) wires to each other.

Tuck them carefully into the workbox, then replace the interior outlet.

Outside, install a new workbox in the exterior wall by holding it up to the wall, tracing around it, and then carefully cutting out the hole with a drywall saw, making sure to stay with the lines so you get a snug fit. Newer wor

Outdoor Lighting for Your Patio, Deck, and Garden: Security and Beauty Easily Installed in Your Yard how to install Outdoor electrical outlet in yard

You work hard to maintain a beautiful yard. But as shorter days set in, with fewer daylight hours, it’s harder and harder to enjoy it. So you think about installing outdoor lighting. But you don’t want to just put a light bulb on a pole – your lighting should be integrated in the design of the space, and add to its beauty without interrupting the look.

Security Lighting

Often the first kind of lighting that a homeowner is concerned about is security lighting, especially in unsafe neighborhoods or in rural areas. These lights are often set up with motion sensor technology, to deter potential burglars and to frighten intruding animals.

These lights serve a very important purpose, but they don’t have to be ugly and utilitarian. The casing of these lights is available in different colors to blend in with or complement your house’s color.

While the bulbs are often large, the housing is getting smaller and smaller, and easier to camouflage under the eaves or perhaps in the branches of a tree.

This kind of lighting is usually not difficult to install, either wired directly into your power source or with a single cord run to an exterior power outlet.

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Living Space Lightinghow to install Outdoor electrical outlet in yard 2021

It has been very popular in recent years to add an outdoor living space to a home. This increases the useable space of your home, and brings you closer to nature. A custom patio or deck is great for entertaining and relaxing, but if it’s dark, it’s not useable.

There are many options to consider for lighting the space. For the most part, you can choose just as you would for an indoor space, in terms of size, color, and style.

There are many more outdoor-specific options on the market now, and more arriving constantly. If none of the outdoor options suit you, an indoor fixture may also be able to be used.

The fixture will need to be weatherproofed to make sure that it doesn’t suffer any physical damage from the elements, as well as making sure that the electrical connections are secure.

Most of these kinds of fixtures will come with a regular standard plug that will go right into your exterior outlets (an electrician can install one or more if you need them).

You may also consider ones that feature built-in solar panels, especially if your outdoor space is sunny during the day.

Consider installing multiple light sources in your living space that deliver light in different directions, to create a less shadowy area. You may also want to choose “warm” light bulbs, instead of the “cool” bulbs that often come with outdoor fixtures – people feel more comfortable in warmer lit spaces.

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Garden Lighting

Another use for outdoor lighting is for simple decorative illumination. If you have a flagpole or some other central object that you wish to light up, choose some simple spotlights. These will generally be mounted on the ground and aimed upward to highlight your featured item.

Spotlights are small and easy to conceal behind a small plant, and are unobtrusive if they are unconcealed. The electrical cords for these lights will be run underground (can’t have them getting cut by a mower blade!) – contact your electrician for help with underground cables.

If digging isn’t in your budget, consider solar-powered lights, which last for years and power themselves. They are often no more expensive than traditional options, and cost nothing to use.

Flood lighting is an option if you want to light up a large portion of your yard or home. If you have a beautiful façade or an immaculate garden, this is the choice to make.

Flood lights can be mounted low or high depending on what you’re lighting and what you have available to conceal it. These lights are also small and uninvasive, and in some cases the cords can be concealed with no need to dig.

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Don’t let the dark cut you off from your outdoor spaces. Enjoy them all year and all night with the right lighting!

Consult with your local construction company to learn about the different options available for outdoor lighting. They can help integrated in the design of the space, add to its beauty without interrupting the look and show you how to enhance the beauty and value of your home.

Thinking about installing outdoor lighting, but don’t know what to do?Wood Haven Construction offers a wide range of kitchen remodeling, outdoor kitchen, concrete repair, renovation, construction, and replacement services.

Wood Haven Construction has over 25 years of experience in the remodeling and new construction business. We have the knowledge and skills to deliver the highest quality of service in the greater Houston area. Contact Wood Haven Construction

how to install Outdoor electrical outlet in yard

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