FH-505 Assembly with hardwood floors & tape wire lighting

[hjatwater]

Hello!

I'm building the Duracraft Farmhouse FH-505 and I'd love some advice on how and at what point in the assembly I should install the lighting kit.  

I want to install the hardwood flooring that came with the dollhouse kit.  I bought a Cir-kit deluxe wiring kit (from Facebook Marketplace for $20!).  I put up the exterior walls of the dollhouse, thinking it would be easier to do the wiring once I had the house assembled and had a better idea of possible room layouts and lighting placement, then I would install the hardwood flooring.  However, I'm now thinking that it may be a pain in the arse to install the hardwood after I have the interior walls in place, and I think it would look better if I installed the interior walls over the top of the hardwood floors.  So now I'm stumped.

Should I run the tape wiring along the base and across the base floor into the three first floor rooms (per the sample wiring diagram in the Cir-kit instructions), leaving enough length to run up the walls and ceilings, then install the hardwood, interior walls & second floor?   

Could permanently installing the hardwood floor over the tape wire cause any issues down the line?  Or is there a way I could install the hardwood on a thin sheet of plywood or something, so that it could be easily slid out if there were ever problems with the tape wire under the flooring?  Would I have to do that room by room and affix the interior walls to the base floor, or is there a way I could do the entire first floor in one piece?

Or should I just re-sell the Cir-cut kit and go with a different wiring system that's more easily installed after the hardwood is installed and the house is assembled?

Thank you very much!             

[Mid-life madness]

First off, let me just say, miniature electrical installation is not for wimps!!!!

Secondly, do not use the tiny nails to make connections like the instructions tell you to! Use the eyelets instead.

Thirdly, there is more than one way to electrify a dollhouse, and I do it a little differently each time.

This is a good video to watch....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaswR0TcQRE&t=1344s

 

[fov]

It's fine (and common) to install tape wire under hardwood floors or wallpaper -- that's what it's designed for! I would put the house together, then do the tape wire, then do the floors. You might need to attach some pieces of tape before assembly to be able to span the first and second floors or to get the tape into some of the rooms. It depends on how the house is laid out.

[havanaholly]

You will probably want to lay your floors on a removable template like posterboard for later troubleshooting the electrical system.

[hjatwater]

On 2/15/2020, 1:34:26, Mid-life madness said:

First off, let me just say, miniature electrical installation is not for wimps!!!!

Secondly, do not use the tiny nails to make connections like the instructions tell you to! Use the eyelets instead.

Thirdly, there is more than one way to electrify a dollhouse, and I do it a little differently each time.

This is a good video to watch....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaswR0TcQRE&t=1344s

 

Thank you for your suggestions!  I have this habit of biting off more than I can chew, which either leads to learning something new, or ends with another unfinished project in my basement .   

[hjatwater]

On 2/15/2020, 6:22:44, fov said:

It's fine (and common) to install tape wire under hardwood floors or wallpaper -- that's what it's designed for! I would put the house together, then do the tape wire, then do the floors. You might need to attach some pieces of tape before assembly to be able to span the first and second floors or to get the tape into some of the rooms. It depends on how the house is laid out.

Thank you very much!  

[hjatwater]

On 2/15/2020, 9:23:41, havanaholly said:

You will probably want to lay your floors on a removable template like posterboard for later troubleshooting the electrical system.

Thank you for your suggestion, Holly!  I've been making cardboard templates of the walls and floors as I assemble the house.