I have an electric retrofit and drywall question.
A little background — my parents are in their 70s and live in New Orleans, their house was flooded in Katrina, and they moved into a condo. They hired a guy to renovate the condo and they just moved in a couple of months ago. Someone in the condo next door to them was renovating and opened up a common wall. The neighbor’s electrican comes over and says “Hey, your wiring is not up to code.” Sure enough, my parent’s condo was wired with Romex instead of armored BX cable, which violates code in a multistory condo building. (At least they used plastic grommets in the steel studs.)
They met with their general contractor and electrician and after the contractor lied about the inspections etc. he finally came clean and said there were no inspections and “they will make it right by re-wiring everything with armored cable,” paying for a place for them to live temorarily during the work, etc.
The question is — what should they do? Below are a few possibilities. I know there are more.
1. Assuming they let the guy rewire the condo by cutting and patching strategic holes in the sheetrock, can this be made to look decent? I am thinking about all the sheetrock butt joints and trying to get the thinly tapered mud needed for butts to stick well on the already-painted drywall.
2. Should they tear out all the drywall (and baseboard, crown and trim) on one side of each of the affected walls, and redo those entire walls, including the trim? Will they be able to remove glued and screwed drywall without damaging the steel studs?
3. Just live in the condo as is. Obvious problems with this one, including safety and liability issues.
4. Tear out all the drywall, get plans and permits, and have everything inspected. It would probably kill my parents to have to go through all of this, as the original renovation took more than a year. They have been living out of suitcases at other people’s houses for a couple of years.
The inspection issue may be tough because there are no plans and no permits. The renovation matches another condo this guy did in the building, so they thought they knew what they were getting without plans. (I’m amazed the condo would let anyone perform work without plans and permits, but that’s another story.) Early on I told them they should get plans, contracts, etc., and I even sent them a copy of the book “House” by Tracy Kidder, but they didn’t listen. That’s water under the bridge, and as much as some of this is their fault, it doesn’t help to make them feel bad, as they are older and my Dad already went to the hospital once because of the stress of dealing with this contractor.
The question is what to do now… Will #1 look like a patch job? I wish I was down there to help them through all of this. It is frustrating that they almost never called me for advice during the construction process (or listened to the advice I gave them)even though we get along well — it’s their nature to try to solve things themselves without “bothering” other people.
Billy
Replies
I have another question.
I am not sure, but Ithought that there should be a fire wall between the units.
That is Unit 1, DW, stud, DW, studs, DW Unit 2.
If it was built that way the when the 2nd unit walls where open they would not have seen the wiring in the first unit.
Maybe this was an older building before those requirements or theere may be more systamatic problems with the building.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Good point, Bill. It is an older building, which is pretty typical in New Orleans. It's a nice place on a nice street, but the thought of contractors doing work freely in the place without permits gives me the jitters. Especially without firewalls.
Billy
The short version: Get away from New Orleans! All Katrina did was wash the streets; New Orleans was dysfunctional long before then.
Next, make sure of your facts. It is very possible that NM (Romex) is in fact legal in the application. Likewise, it is also possible that the common wall qualified as a firewall.
After Katrina, NOLA let contractors 'inspect' their own work, in the need to get the city running again. Personally, given the town's record of incompetence and corruption, I suspect the self-inspections were better done than the 'city' inspections before.
I suspect that the best way to approach your concerns is to cross the river to Biloxi, and hire one of their "home inspectors" to come over and look things over. Then, check your city hall to make sure that his suggestions are allowed.
The facts are checked. Romex is not code in that application per the electrician that did it as well as per several other competent large electrical contractors and both residential and commercial contractors.
Apparently it makes you feel good to badmouth New Orleans and I know where you're coming from, but your rant isn't helpful in the least. My Dad is 77 years old, he is not leaving the city, all of his friends who haven't died are still there, and the question is what to do about the current situation.
Billy
PS Biloxi is not across the river -- it is in the opposite direction. And the general contractor who allowed this lives in Biloxi, so that sure ain't the solution.
Edited 1/12/2008 3:27 pm ET by Billy
Edited 1/12/2008 3:27 pm ET by Billy