Your Home Improvements
Hi Robert,
I live in Valencia and am interested in putting up a patio cover in my backyard.
I have a friend, who’s an engineer, and asked him about designing one. He mentioned that the city has pre-approved patio cover plans for anything here in Santa Clarita. Do you recommend going with one of these or should I go ahead and have my friend design exactly what I’m looking for?
I am not planning on staying in this home forever, but do want to enjoy the yard more. -- Cody N.
Cody,
I do highly recommend using a preapproved plan from the city as you will save yourself much time and costs going this route.
When you use a new design you’ll need to take it to the city, and, even with Santa Clarita being the best city to work with, it is still time out of your day to go during business hours and get through the system for approval.
You’ll also likely have at least a small fee from your engineer friend, I’m guessing, so factor that into the cost also.
With regard to this not being the home you’ll stay in forever, all the more reason to make something nice and functional, safe and useful, but not to go overboard with unnecessary details that may be per your taste yet possibly not that of your future buyer.
Use a city plan and apply that to your home size. If you are handy and can do this work yourself with the help of some friends/family, you’ll be able to erect a beautiful structure that will increase the living space of your home which ultimately will add to the desirability and ultimately, help in selling your home… all for much less than if you have to hire a contractor.
If you are, in fact, able to do this on your own, know that you’ll be in great hands with the city. They will guide you from their offices, and then the inspectors will work with you to get your project done by code, ultimately safely.
I definitely recommend you going with the pre-approved plans, good luck to you. Send me a picture of the finished job, I’d like to see it.
Hi Robert,
I am a resident of Santa Clarita and I own a property with a swimming pool.
There is a pool light but it isn’t functioning, and hasn’t been since we moved in.
I would like to get this fixed at some point, perhaps doing it myself. Can you tell me how extensive of a project this is, and how one would go about doing such a thing?
I’ve been told that this can be done without draining the water to the level below the light, but I just don’t see how this is possible.
If this is beyond my abilities, do I need to hire a “pool man” or an electrician? I’m completely lost on this, though willing to try. If you think a rather capable person would and should, tackle something like this. I look forward to your reply, thank you. -John M.
John,
It’s very simple as long as the cord has not gotten swollen in the conduit.
First and foremost, be sure the breaker to the light is turned OFF. To do this, open the bell box (this is the box just in
front of your light fixture, just above the ground with a cover over it) by removing the four screws. Test it with an electrical meter so make sure that there is NO power coming to those wires.
Next, lay on your stomach and unscrew the screw at the top of the fixture that’s in the pool and pull the fixture out.
It should have at least two-feet-plus of play in the cord so you can then lay the light fixture on the deck of the pool.
At that point pull on the cord from inside of the nitch (nitch is what the light is sitting in, the cavity). If the cord is able to be pulled and appears to be free then stop pulling immediately and do the following, a must. Return to the bell box and tie either a piece of nylon rope that is no bigger than the wire itself but longer than the distance that you’ll be pulling, to the existing wires after you have disconnected them from the circuit.
This is where you need assistance, being that this is new to you. Have someone feed the rope into the rose tube (conduit) as you’re pulling. Be sure to leave the rope in place, as you’ll need this to pull the new cord through and get it into position. Once you have pulled it all the way out and you have the rope, you can now disconnect the rope.
Now the new fixture is ready to be installed, and you’ll do this by reversing this process.
Tie the rope to the new pool light cord and then pull the rope until the new cord is at the bell box. Make your connections, being sure you follow the rule of thumb and this goes for any electrical work you do: first, the ground (green), then the neutral (white) and lastly the hot (this can be any other color such as black, red, and orange, and so on.
Be sure the new fixture is set in the nitch tightly and watch for any bubbles making sure the seal is tight. Also, be sure the GFI is working on the circuit by testing it.
The other circumstance would be if the cord cannot be pulled. In this case, I would hire a seasoned electrician who knows how to get the wire out of the conduit without tearing your entire deck open. There are tricks to doing this but do hire the guy who knows how to do this. Should you not being to pull the cord, feel free to write back and I’ll refer someone to you who can do the work.
Good luck, and be sure that your power is off completely at this area, prior to beginning any of this work.