How To Wire a Shed for Electricity | Ask This Old House

In this video, Ask This Old House master electrician Heath Eastman helps Mark McCullough wire his chicken barn for lights and power.

Master electrician, Heath Eastman meets Mark at the chicken barn to discuss the electrical. Heath explains the components of wiring an outdoor structure, expressing the importance of water-tight connections and protection from the elements. After agreeing on the fixtures, the two get to work installing a panel, conduit, wiring, switches, and receptacles.

Skill: ⅘
Cost: Around $600
Time: One day

Shopping list:

Tools:

How To Wire a Shed for Electricity
1. Find the electrical supply coming from the home to determine where to mount the electrical panel. Mount it to the wall studs by driving a screw from inside of each corner and into the framing.
2. Determine where you’ll want to install switches (typically by the entry doors) and outlets. Mount the weather-tight electrical boxes to the framing at these locations.
3. Plan the locations for light fixtures and attach the appropriate electrical boxes at these locations.
4. Install conduit to each of the box locations. Use the conduit bender to shape the conduit to the appropriate angles. Connect the ends of the conduit to the boxes with weather-tight connectors. Secure the conduit to the framing with conduit hangers and brackets.
5. Run wires from the fixture locations back to the panel, leaving the wires long by at least 12 inches at each location.
6. Use the wire strippers to strip back the wire and connect the outlets, switches, and lighting fixtures.
7. Connect the wires running from the fixtures into the breaker panel.
8. With the power shut off at the main panel in the house, connect the main power to the panel. Ensure the power is off by checking with an electrical tester.
9. Shut all the breakers in the new panel and turn on the power from inside the house. Flip the main breaker in the subpanel into the on position, and then slowly flip each breaker into the on position one by one.

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From the makers of This Old House, America’s first and most trusted home improvement show, Ask This Old House answers the steady stream of home improvement questions asked by viewers across the United States. Covering topics from landscaping to electrical to HVAC and plumbing to painting and more. Ask This Old House features the experts from This Old House, including general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, landscape contractor Jenn Nawada, master carpenter Norm Abram, and host Kevin O’Connor. Ask This Old House helps you protect and preserve your greatest investment—your home.

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How To Wire a Shed for Electricity | Ask This Old House

[IAmKyleBrown]

"I don't want to do too much, it's for the chickens" he says, standing in front of hand cut stone as they add a whole sub panel! :)

[mr.g]

The new episodes have some really nice cinematography but they skip over pretty much every detail of the installation. You don't learn anything from these videos anymore.

[SpeakShibboleth]

"I don't want to go overboard here. They're just chickens."

"Ok, here's what I've got for you. I'm going to run a sub panel with multiple circuits and hard conduit everywhere."

...

[fabrones]

On this episode of this old house, we dont actually show you how to wire a shed, just take our word for it

[awade]

I wish the shed project was a whole season. A shed may be small in size but every major building concept is in them.

[larrymoore]

Nice job but I sure would have liked to see the whole project.

[clownhands]

Love the channel but this was a content-less video

[luckybestwash]

It's pretty clear this show has no intention of actually showing you how to do stuff

[mrchrisbarrett]

That’s for chickens?! I would live in that.

[HealthyDisrespectforAuthority]

"code complicit" big dig at the building department there.. well played.

[DillonFinnegan]

Did that man just say granite……granite on a chicken coop?

[betelguse]

Wish they would put which episode this was from so we could watch the rest of it.

[robertbamford]

“Authentic”. It will fit right in with the granite door frame. My sister uses strategically placed lights to provide heat in her coop in the winter. Speaking of the Coop, isn’t that in Cambridge? Was there a video showing installing siding and the door frame?

[augustreil]

First thing to put in is a back feed for a generator. That rock around the opening is awesome !

[mikev.]

It’s nice to be part of the TOH family. You get some of the best contractors working for.

[Stevex]

Let take a moment to talk offsets for conduit. I like how he uses a $500 offset bender. how about showing how the rest of us will have to do it.

[dtemp]

Would have liked to learn how to use the conduit bender, and what those connectors to the box are

[malcolmgregoire]

Is there going to be doors attached to the granite frame?

[travelinman]

My question is..."can I add a 120v outlet to my 16x24 barn to use as a temporary/portable source of electricity"? Some cities won't let you 'tap into' the house's breaker box, etc. I currently run an electrical cord from my patio to my barn for power. But I want to use an outdoor outlet attached to said barn so, that I can plug in a contractor's power strip for lights, power inside of the barn. Is this possible?

[nusermane]

Do longer electrical episodes please, they are interesting 😎