A Day In The Life Of A Residential Electrician - Hanging Lights.

So I've been doing this electrician gig (again) now for over two months.  I have to admit, I'm physically feeling better and better.

Yeah, I'm tired a lot of the time when I get home, and sometimes in the mornings I simply do not want to get out of bed, get dressed, and get moving.  I do it anyway, and it has nothing to do with me needing money to live.

I do not have to work.  I have a place to live, and people who will pay all of my meager bills.  I choose to work because I want a better life.  Physically, at least, I'm getting that better life.

The last week's worth of work days I've been finishing houses.  When an electrician is "finishing" a house, that means he (or she) is putting in the plugs and switches, the smoke detectors, the exhaust fans, and of course - the light fixtures.

The plugs and switches are generally very easy (yet busy) work - smoke detectors, exhaust fans...those things are beyond simple as well, but as always - it is up and down, then down and up, back and forth, and then up and down the ladder some more, and all the while, there is the heavy tool belt.

A thin build man (or woman!) can easily put on some muscle and trim some fat by becoming an electrician.  When one gets into light fixtures, however, oh the upper body shall get its share of the workout too!

Today I hung a chandelier



Now, chandeliers require some skill in putting together, and some more skill in not damaging the damned things in the process of just putting them together...they are like (to me) the plastic models I used to assemble as a child, but obviously, much much larger, and with all the metal and glass, quite a lot heavier.

These things can be a major bitch to assemble and hang...especially when they are hung from more than one chain...and when you have installed it, you step down from your ladder...and realize it is hanging a bit crooked...and you must take the whole thing down, and try again.

It can get monotonous.  One may wish to scream...but do not scream, my friend, folks get a bit antsy when you do that (trust me.).  Don't worry, there is hardly ever a one chandelier house -after hanging the first one crooked, one can always find an empty closed to cry in for a good half hour straight, and then move onward to one of the smaller things that hardly ever deserve a French name, yet have one anyway - see below.



Not so fancy?  Eh, just a thousand dollars!  LOL!  Welcome to the world of private industry, where if you screw up - you screw up BIGTIME.

Did I mention these types of fixtures were HEAVY?  Oh they are - we are a building muscle...yes, yes we are.