Tips for Tradesmen: Eight Innovative Electrician Tricks

Innovative Electrician

Preventing Insulation Itch

Even though it would be great if the electrical work occurred on the walls’ habitable side, electricians end up getting close with sawdust and insulation. Even though they wear face masks and eye protection, it is extremely itchy and can cause severe skin irritation. Even while wearing long sleeves, it can get around the collar and onto the hands and face. The solution is to use a small box of cornstarch or a bottle of baby powder. Coat the exposed skin a little way under the sleeve ends and collars. Ensure that your face and ears are also coated, but be careful to keep it out of the eyes. This protective layer keeps the insulation from falling directly on the skin, preventing itching and irritation.

Insulation Itch

Carry a Strong Magnet

The entire wiring of the house requires an electrician to work behind the ceilings and walls. You will continuously be tracing old wires and running new ones, working from small holes, and trying to line everything perfectly on both ends. Several tricks are used to draw lines and punch small holes to mark your way, but there is a handy trick that does not require permanent changes at all. Magnets can be used to detect ferrous metal components and can easily detect lightweight building materials such as tile, drywall, wood, etc. There are several uses for a magnet, some of which are listed below.

Look for Studs

Stud finders quickly drain batteries, meaning that they always run out at moments when you need them the most and need to be recharged. Instead of letting this slow down your project, carry a strong magnet around in your kit. A lightweight piece of string can be attached to the magnet and left to dangle along the wall you will be inspecting. Every time the magnet responds, you can be sure that there is something ferrous behind the wall. This can also work in circumstances where the coating, material of the wall or surface is difficult even for a fully charged stud finder.

As a Fishing Guide

While fishing down the backside of a wall, going astray is now of no concern. You can use the heavy nut trick to keep the string stretched directly downwards, but you can potentially increase the effectiveness of this technique by the use of a magnet in the opening of the box to guide the line down.

Fishing Guide

As a Retrieval Method

Since you will always be working in the in-between spaces, it can be very easy to lose small objects into impractical gaps. Once again, a magnet can help, but only if the lost items are ferrous in nature. Depending on where you are working, you can attach it to a string or a slender stick in order to pull lost items back to you.