Ridge Cap and Electrical

Yesterday, Sheila helped me install the ridge cap on the play house and outdoor grill kitchen.  Once we had the roof all sealed up, we then tackled some electrical including installing the lighting.  It looks pretty good!

Even though we made some noticeable progress yesterday, it was slow going.  First, I needed to remember how to join the ridge cap for intersecting ridges.  Then, I had to cut, then bend, then flash, then install. 

This first piece of ridge cap was bent in a way so it could be folded over the adjoining perpendicular ridge.  I also added some flashing that was cut and bent to shape.  


Installing was slow going because it was difficult to reach the area where the two ridges meet.  I had to lay across some boards on the roof while Sheila held the step ladder in place.  Plus it was hot up on that metal roof and the sun was blindingly bright reflecting off the new shiny roof!


The second piece of ridge cap was also cut and bent so it could fit right on top of the previously installed ridge cap...  then I applied some silicone sealer...  then the ridge caps were screwed together in place.  Then, I added some additional silicone sealer to ensure all the exposed joints were weather-sealed.  This joint came out nicely.


Here are a few shots of the finished roof with the ridge cap installed...




Then, we decided to install some electrical and the lighting fixtures so we could see what we were grilling later last night.  This should have been an abundantly quick and easy task but it somehow turned into a electrical troubleshooting project that ate up a lot of time and energy.

I didn't have any extra light bulbs on hand so I borrowed a few light bulbs from fixtures inside the house that we use all the time.  After we bought more light bulbs, I'd return these to their original fixtures in the house. 

I cut the mounting boards...  drilled and screwed them in place...  assembled the new fixtures...  and installed the fixtures on the new mounting boards.  Then I ran the wiring to a junction box...  cut to length...  then I connected the wiring to power...  no lights...  

I reconnected the power...  again, no lights...

I went inside to find my multimeter...  disconnected ALL the connections...  and started testing connections.  I couldn't figure it out.  All my connections were correct and I should have light.  Then I disconnected everything again and then only connected one fixture...  still no lights.  

At this point, we killed tons of time and energy and did a lot of work for nothing.  It was time to test the lights bulbs that worked just yesterday...  it turns out that ALL THREE BULBS were blown out!  

I had some extra LED spot lights on the shelf so I grabbed those to use temporarily.  I don't want spot lights for this application but any light is better than no light.  I would replace them on our next trip to The Home Depot or Lowes.  I reconnected all the wiring...  tucked all the wiring into the junction box...  applied power...  we now had lights!  



The lighting is nice and warm which is exactly what we wanted.  The sink will be placed in the countertop between the two lights seen on the left....  with another countertop running across the back wall between the other two lights running toward the grill.   I used the grill last night and had absolutely no problems seeing.  

Although we wasted some time and energy with some needless problems, it was another productive day!



Comments