How to Install an Outdoor Electrical Outlet
Bringing power to a deck with electrician Keith Diemer
In this video, electrician Keith Diemer lights up a deck.
Steps:
1. Turn off the electricity at the main electrical panel, then use a hammer-drill and carbide-tipped masonry bit to bore down through the garage floor and into the crawl space. Position the hole alongside the main electrical panel.
2. Pull plastic-sheathed electrical cable up from the crawl space and into the garage.
3. Attach metal conduit to the ceiling of the crawl space. Feed the cable through the conduit.
4. Drill a hole through the exterior house wall and into the crawl space. Position the hole just below the deck.
5. Pull the cable from inside the crawl space through the hole in the wall.
6. Slide the cable into a length of flexible conduit. Pass the conduit through the hole in the house wall and into the crawl space.
7. Use a drill and hole saw to bore a hole down through the deck.
8. From below the deck, push the flexible conduit with encased cable up through the hole in the deck.
9. Attach a watertight cable connector to the end of the flexible conduit and to a watertight electrical box.
10. Slide the box down onto the end of the conduit. Join together the two watertight connectors by tightening the threaded nut.
11. Use the hammer-drill to bore holes in the brick wall, then tap in plastic wall anchors.
12. Fasten the electrical box to the wall by driving screws into the anchors.
13. Strip the insulation from the end of the cable and attach the bare copper wire to the green grounding screw inside the box.
14. Make the wire connections between the cable and a GFCI outlet.
15. Screw the outlet to the box, then apply a bead of silicone around the face of the box. Screw on the box cover.
16. From inside the garage, install a cable connector onto the main electrical box. Pass the cable end through the connector, then tighten the connector.
17. Make the wire connections between the cable and the electrical panel, then install a 20-amp circuit breaker.
18. Connect the black cable wire to the circuit breaker. Turn the power back on and test your work.
