Oaken Gearbox

When I moved into my "new" house last year, I quickly realized that something about the switches for the light above the stairs wasn't right. Once the upstairs switch was "off", the downstairs switch no longer turned it on. Although it isn't hard to wire up two switches to control one light, cleaning up after someone else who did it wrong can turn into quite a puzzle. The first step is understanding exactly how these simple, convenient circuits work. The diagram below shows this. This is not the only way to wire it, just the simplest. If you want to see a few of the stranger variations, check out this link . Note that each one does the same thing, it just splices the wires in different places. To begin unraveling the puzzle you will need a multimeter , screwdriver , and maybe a pair of pliers . First, flip the breaker for the circuit you're working on. Pull the covers off both switches and pull unscrew the switches from the box.  Before to...

This is something that is really easy to do, but many people aren't aware of, including, apparently, the previous owner of my house. Simply lower the blinds all the way, pop off the little plastic covers on the bottom, and cut the strings off. It's a little scary,  but just make sure they aren't too short and you'll be fine. I also took this opportunity to take out the broken slats from my blinds and replace them with extras from the bottom that I cut off. Retie the strings at the bottom of your blinds, making sure the pull cords are even. Cut off the extra string, and burn it with a match if you're worried about fraying. That's it. Clip the plastic plugs back in and you're ready to go.