ughhhh wallplates

[gadfly56]

Over the top or face a sharp rap on the knuckles with a stiff ruler in my house, however, with spools of wire it's tails on the bottom or the same penalty applies.

Clearly you have no small children in your house. When little hands go on top of the TP roll and pull forward, you wind up with a pile of TP on the floor, I wind up with an amusing anecdote.

 

[ActionDave]

It's also good to have a standard for everyone to follow.

Apparently ActionDave's standard is the opposite, and he rules with an iron ruler :grin:

I am a big believer in conformity when conforming fits what I know to be what's best.:grin:

 

[kwired]

With reels of wire no matter what size they are, if they are in contact with another reel while spinning you must alternate pulling from top on one reel and from the bottom on the adjacent reel. This prevents having one of them spinning faster than the other and dragging the adjacent one with it and dispensing wire all over the ground. This makes a big mess real fast with reels of 14 or 12 stranded. If both reels have the same length and size of wire on them you may be able to have them go the same direction if you are pulling them both at the same time.

 

[M4gery]

With reels of wire no matter what size they are, if they are in contact with another reel while spinning you must alternate pulling from top on one reel and from the bottom on the adjacent reel. This prevents having one of them spinning faster than the other and dragging the adjacent one with it and dispensing wire all over the ground. This makes a big mess real fast with reels of 14 or 12 stranded. If both reels have the same length and size of wire on them you may be able to have them go the same direction if you are pulling them both at the same time.

If you alternate directions, that puts a big drag on them (they are rubbing and fighting each other) making a lot more work for yourself or whoever is pulling off. Throwing a couple washers on the axle between the reels will alleviate this issue completely.

 

[jmellc]

Re plate size, most of the boxed GFI receptacles come with the standard plate. A few don't have it at all. Some of our local houses have some std in stock. Some only stock midsize. In spite of good workmanship, sheetrock or old plaster will crumble sometimes, fact of life. A good patch job with caulk or mud and a midsize or jumbo plate is nothing wrong to do.

 

[norcal]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ActionDave View Post
Over the top or face a sharp rap on the knuckles with a stiff ruler in my house, however, with spools of wire it's tails on the bottom or the same penalty applies.

Clearly you have no small children in your house. When little hands go on top of the TP roll and pull forward, you wind up with a pile of TP on the floor, I wind up with an amusing anecdote.

When my cats were younger the TP was fed from the bottom otherwise a pile of TP would also be on the floor, but as they got older that was corrected to having the roll feed from the top, that & toilet lids being down are peeves w/ me (can't stand fishing stuff out of the WC bowl).

To get this back to a electrical topic, I also vote for all device plate screws being vertical, also like all wall plates to be the same brand, but that is almost impossible when a building has been remodeled over the years.

 

[reddy kw]

I do mine vertical.... I sat in a doctor's office the other day, close to a switch, and tweaked the screws with my knife. I do get OCD about that, same as with toilet paper. Only 1 right way.

Glad I'm not the only slightly OCD electrician around.
I go with vertical, like in the big color photos in the manufacturer's catalogs.
The paper always faces out, not against the wall (top-feed). Keeps the wall clean.
The guys I learned from didn't give a rat's __s and thought I was crazy with my torpedo level and narrow slot-head driver...
As far as brands/sizes of plates, sheesh, I'm lucky if all the plates in one room match when I'm doing a remodel.
I particularly take care making sure my load centers are plumb and the screws holding the covers on are all lined up with vertical slots. Nothing I hate more then sloppy work when it's the service equipment.
As far as clients, I find that the more they're spending, the more they notice the details. Over the years, many of my clients have noticed (but my wife still doesn't).
My daughter and my cat both DO. One of them is still unraveling the toilet paper, not sure who...:roll:.