in this video I'm going to show you how
to run the wire for your new three-way
switch
[Music]
well three-way switches are not new in
the world and they're required by code
in some situations but in a lot of cases
if you're renovating your house you're
getting open-concept that's the thing
nowadays so whenever you have an open
concept you're gonna reduce the
opportunities for light switches and
you're gonna make it rather awkward to
have to go turn the lights on and off
unless you run a three-way switch so
what you want to do is you want to have
a switch on each side of the room so you
can control the light as you're coming
and going over a large area of space the
way we do that is simple we have two
different boxes at each end of the room
and you run a regular 14-2 wire which is
your power supply up to the first box
this is where everybody gets it wrong
they run a 14-2 to the second box and
that's when they try to wire the switch
and they go uh-oh I made a big mistake
what you need is to use a 14-3 wire and
that is going to have a black and a
white and a red so in this situation we
are actually going to be installing a
door in this wall and this will be our
entry point so what I have here is a box
it is a plastic box because it's going
on the outside of a house and in our
area we use vapor barrier on the inside
of our homes and so plastic boxes are
really convenient because you can tape
your box to the plastic also comes with
a gasket on it front back it's an air
seal as well so it stops air from moving
through the boxes in the electrical
system which is great what we're gonna
do is we're gonna run our three way
three wire from that box to the other
location all right now the way this
works is really easy shove it through
that gasket in the back and bring enough
wire into the box that you can curl it
up and leave it alone until it's time to
actually wire this bad boy now in our
area Electrical Code is required we want
to have a staple within a few inches of
the box and then we need a staple or a
hole in a stud every five feet so in
this situation what we're gonna do is go
in behind all these studs we'll add a
staple over here cuz this mess we're
just going to build out and cover it up
I'm going to go to the other side of the
wall into the other room okay
our renovation plan here requires this
wall to be removed and so that area
there is the rest of the house so the
traffic will come through the door and
the lights on
and if you're going out of the room you
can then turn the lights off for this
area give yourself extra because you
can't splice it together if it's too
short and this 14 3 wire is generally
only used for these three way switch
situations so if you end up with a sharp
piece it is just garbage
[Music]
alright so the way this works this is
the 14 2 wire here entering into the
bottom of the box and this is our 14 3
leaving our first box traveling over to
our other box we just force this down
through the gasket there we go now bend
the wire forward and then it'll just
push out of the way for you again curl
it into place these boxes are designed
that these tabs keep the wire from
pulling back out again
alright so that's brilliant and this
wire is going to travel up to the first
light location that's in our ceiling now
this area here we're using a series of
pot lights which is great and so we're
just going to rough to meit where my
first light is which is going to be so
much center over the door and we'll cut
that wire so let's go into the light
picture here we go now it can be helpful
to note that when you're drilling your
holes for your running your wire if you
make the hole big enough you can put two
wires in the same hole I'd like to make
a one-inch hole for that reason but be
careful to consult with your local code
it may not be the case in every area
here we go
and of course every time you run out a
new wire put your staples in as you go
and when you call your inspector he sees
you've missed a staple he may not be
very kind about it and just fill it and
say call me when you're done all right
now here's just a quick recap you have
your set power supply to your first
location which is a 2 wire you bring a 3
wire which is the black the white end
the red from one box to the other side
of the room to your other box and then
you take your supply line from that box
to your fixtures ok nice and simple if
you wire it that way when you go to put
on your switches there's 3-way switch
light switches are going
little black screws and on those black
screws you put the black wire and
everything will work out really easy for
you if you don't put the three wire in
this situation you're gonna run into a
whole lot of headache and you're gonna
have to open up the walls all over again
so so remember when you're doing this
kind of work
always drill a nice big hole use your
staples get everything done properly
call for an inspection okay remember
nowadays most insurance companies if you
have a fire related to work you've done
in your own home and you haven't called
for an inspection you will not be
covered on your insurance so do not fool
around with this all right it is good to
have an inspector come in and just
confirm you've done it right and if
you've done something wrong and you're
nice to him you'll probably tell you
what the fix and in this case I'm
renovating my own 1880 farmhouse and
that's why I'm doing the wiring we're
actually going to finish this area up
here tomorrow and then call for
inspection next week if you'd like to
see other videos related to this project
then just click the link here and we can
see the playlist with all the videos and
get up today