home wiring

[bignasty27]

i have a question,how can i change a 3-way switch to run independantly?
right now i have two separate switches operating 3 lights.
what i want to do is control one area of the room with 1 switch and the other hall way light seperatly.can this be done???
my house is two yrs old...let me know thanks

[6pack]

I'm assuming you mean to do this simply by retwisting wires and not having to do any other installation. Only way would be if possibly a extra wire was installed for poss future paddle fan or something else. You would need to tell us what you have there now for wires(# and colors). This would require dropping fixtures and opening sw boxes. Generally the extra wire needed is run between switches and that wiring is generally run in walls point to point not in the fixture boxes themselves. A spare wire would be the key here and also where that wire is run. Also is the wiring accesible from an attic way above. Repost those findiing's and maybe we can help you! hopefully simple??? GL Take a look at opening page(switch wiring, to help you understand a 3way connection!)

[imported_Ohm1]

It can be done, but you will most likely need to run an extra switch leg. Power want be a problem, because it can be stolen from your 14-3 NM wire.

You will need to find-out what you have in each box. The imporant things we need to know, is which box has a wire going to the light fixture from the box, and which box has the power (current). In addition, we will need to know how the lights where jumped together. So, we need to know how many wire are in your light fixture boxes. If you have attic access, this will make your job--when wiring--much easier! As wanna said, we will need more information. Write us back.