Howdy, I've managed to damage an 8 guage wire that supplies a 220 electric heater in my cabin. Don't ask how...it's embarassing! The wire runs down from the panel, through the floor and into the crawl space. From there, it runs under the joists, back up through the floor to the heater. The damaged part of the wire is about 6" below the floor directly below the main panel...and unfortunately, I don't have a lot of slack to play with. So, I'm wondering..... Should I bite the bullet and replace the entire wire? If not, what's the proper way to splice the wire back together once I remove the damaged part?...is a junction box really necessary? Thanks a lot folks!

I currently have a wall mounted light fixture in the middle of a 16 foot long hall that will take one 60 watt chandelier bulb. It has a switch at each end of the hall. I would like to remove the current lighting fixture and either put in two ceiling lights or 3 wall sconces. I have changed out light fixtures before but one for one. How do I go about adding more than one fixture on the same switch and do it correctly? The current lighting is a little better than a night light but not by much. Any advice would be great.