Every once in a while one opens a wall and finds the handywork of the home-owner before. I’d love to hear opinions on this.
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I've seen worse.
What are the thin red wires?
Red wires are doorbells. Brown twisty is (we think) phone. Did I mention that we didn't remove the box cover. There was none, just the plywood panel. Some of those wires come from and supply knob and tube. One wire was aluminium. The extension cord was once plugged into the box and the female end re-emerged on an upper floor, dangling out of a stair riser (one of several 'extra circuits' created by daisy-chaining extension cords like this through walls, floors and cupboards). At least previous home-owner had cut off interior wire trenched through the lawn to the garage.
The real reason I posted was hoping to hear the stories of 'worse' for entertainment.
Had 12-2 used between 3 way light switches, bare ground was the neutral. Garage was 2 circuits that used a single 12-2 from the house in a barely trenched rigid conduit, that also had 2 pair of telephone wires. Only discovered this after they were cur free of the old fuse box, so not sure if the circuits were on different legs. Also had a small wall box (14 cu in?) that was fed by 2 single K&T, had a 14-2 braided NM out to outlets, contained a 3-way switch that was wired to the other 3 way with 12/3. I think it must have taken a hydraulic press to get all those wires in there the first time. I believe the newly coined term is POD, previous owner's doings.
>> ... hoping to hear the stories of 'worse' ...
Oh, I don't remember the details. It's been a long time. The thing I do remember was the lights on thermostat wire or telephone wire. It was all of a piece. The wiring was a perfect match for the bazillion cockroaches and the rusted out galvanized drains.
And I'm not sure we improved it all that much. I somehow managed to miswire the kitchen ceiling fixtures. We didn't figure that out until the sheetrock was on, so we ended up with a 2 foot run of Romex sneaking across the ceiling between the two lights.
Pretty much like my house, only nicer. B-caps had not been invented yet when they did mine. I removed a nasty old flying saucer light fixture in the kitchen. About 10 cotton/rubber 16 gauge pairs jammed into it with a hammer. No caps. Just cloth electrical tape. About 2 turns per splice. There was a breaker for kitchen lights. I turned it off, cut and traced the wires, rewired the kitchen with new romex all the way back to the panel. When I got done, the kitchen lights worked fine but now I had no power to about 11 other outlets randomly scattered through the house. Took me a month to get lights back in the living room and another 3 to fix the rest. About 20 breakers in the panel, but 80% of the house somehow fed through that one box in the kitchen ceiling. The basement has 4 sets of everything. None of the old stuff removed when they rewired or repaired. Several sets of plumbing. Loads of old cotton wire. A lot of it disconnected at the load and at the box but still hot from somewhere. Everything cross fed. 2 oil tanks and several water heaters. Filled 2 dumpsters last year with old crud and have more yet to go.
I should have taken pictures of our family room, a converted patio cover. It looks like the guy who did yours must have practiced on mine. It took a good electrician and his helper two days to clean up the mess that was that room and the garage.
I say go for the extension ring and close`r back up. That`s way more work than it`s worth! :)
You may want to silicone the cracks and holes in the box to contain the sparks better, too.
We bought a fixerupper that eventually became a knockerdowner. It had a 100 amp box of spiderfestwires. 30 circuits wired in yet 4 shut off everything in the house. We never found out what part of the city we were powering but always assumed someone was really unhappy when it was eventually gone. Miami
How'd you get that picture of my basement?
What I had in house I bought for daughter came close. Also had K&T free air spliced into Romex. Had switched neutrals in lights, and the detached garage door opener wouldn't work unless the kitchen light was on. Two electricians spent most of a day on it, splitting out the Medusa box and adding a couple of new circuits. I heard quite a few pops and crackles when they flipped on the new CBs, also. Is this called electrical work "by ear," sorta like the way they parallel park in Chicago?
Well, here's a couple that I remember -
I was remodeling a house that belonged to a guy famous for fiddling with the contractor's work on weekends, you know, to help things out...?
To demo a wall, I found the breaker for the receptacles on that sid of the room and killed it. Found out later that the same receptacle was fed from another circuit through a switch. Somebody turned the switch on while I was cutting next to the wire. apparently, the work of the HO once upon a time.
On another - a kitchen remo, I found a spot where several witres were fed tight in a corner, and there were three sixteen penny nails driven through the mass from other side of a 2by.
That wasonly a minor problem found in that house though. The ceiling joists were also the floor joists fro a room above. There were a couple that were butt sisted with a 6x6x1/2" plywood gusset plate and a gazillion nails. A chimney run up through the roof and cut through the rafters with no header. A mud slab in the cellar with lots of beer cans for aggregate, which probably accounts for some to the other workmanshio - or lack thereof
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looks good compared to one hack job i saw many years ago, previous owner had wired lights for his basement ceiling with 75 ohm antenna wire with no boxes for the splices, they were marred together above the drop ceiling
caulking is not a piece of trim
Seen similar on fire calls.The big thing around here is not to pay your electric bill ,get cut off then tap into your neighbors power via extension cords 1st floor to 2nd to 3rd.One guy gets the bill they split it via the welfare check.They run the whole building on one extension cord with a ball of electrical tape for the splice.The cord is run hanging out the windows. Job security I guess
Not electrical but I went to look at a house once and walked down into the basement to find the water pipes had all been cut off about 6 inches below the floor. Then garden hose was put on using radiator hose clamps. It just looped throughout the basement. Whole house plumbed that way. DanT
That is common in Baltimore in the summer. One rowhouse loses power, so they run the AC unit with a series of 18 gauge extension cords from the adjacent rowhouse, and since cords look ugly, they put rugs over them. Eventually it all goes poof. Then they have to deal with the fact there is no water pressure because all the locals have opened up the fire hydrants for the kids to run through. Later, on the news, I find out it is my fault. ???? Now I remember why I moved.
Not sure which is worse out the window with the cords (interesting when it rains)or under the rugs(when it goes poof)
The hydrants all turned on is another thing.We get them fully turned on with the stem nut cut clean(fun is)
Stay Safe Greg
If you ever go to pull a permit in Natick, MA you'll see a "bath fan" on display there. It was pulled out of a bathroom remodel a few years ago. It's made up of a large (probably about a gallon) stewed tomato can. One end opened (intake) and a 3" hole cut into the side of it (exhaust). Inside is a small electric motor with a little propeller blade screwed into the tapped "drive shaft". Lamp cord wire nutted to armored cable completed the package.
I think you could probably buy a Nutone cheapy for less money than the time it would take to make the thing would be worth.
I had a HO call me for doing some sheetrock mud and primer..followed by trim of his choice. He informed me he had a local (NC) guy help him hang the rock..and it was all set for taping..just one room..12x16 ciel and walls
Imagine my suprise when I got there and saw that...ALL the sheetrock was put up...backwards. I mean, I could not keep a straight face..I had met this man on a social basis a few times earlier so, it was not like I had no idea how he would respond when I guffawed and wiped the tears from my eyes..
Finding a hunk of scrap..I showed him his error..he said the paper looked to thin to sand down smooth, so he thought the cardboard looking side would be better..
A few weeks later he had a rocker that I recommended hang and finish the job..I followed with trim..after explaing to him, I DO NOT STAIN FINGER JOINT...I am still grinning from that job.
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That is AWESOME!!!! Still have tears running down my face. Wife downstairs thinks I'm nuts, but well worth it. That's too good to be true.
I've seen a lot worse. A house we rehabbed for Habitat had one circuit in the basement that consisted of four separate lengths of wire (3 romex and one lamp cord) held together with wire nuts and hanging loose from the ceiling. That is to say, the entire weight of the wire (about 10 feet length) was on the wire nuts.
Here in Chicagoland, in most locales Romex is a no-no. Conduit is King. I discovered the following while replacing a bath fan. Someone (previous owner?) had cut the conduit and tapped into it with Romex. No box for the connections. I guess he thought the attic inslulation covering the electrical tape was enough. Found another place where another connection was not in a box, and another where fittings weren't used to go into the ceiling fan box in another room.
Moral of the story: Be careful where you tread. I'm glad I didn't step on any of these!
Pics attached. Hope they turn out. My first attempt at posting pics.Pete Duffy, Handyman
Do not know what the problem it's code. Code of the wild.
Our house is similar vintage. When we bought it, about twenty years ago, it still had several K&B runs, along with circuits run with 16 gauge lamp cord. After finding that behind a wall in the bathroom (who needs a GFCI when its ALL fault all the way) I decided that nothing but a total re-wire would let me sleep at night. There was just no way to know how many time bombs were buried behind walls, and I didn't really feel like finding out at 3AM one day ("Using a smoke alarm to discover wiring faults"). I left knobs on the attic ceiling and tubes through the rafters, just to be able to go up and reminice.
On one memorable job, I had a motion sensor light mounted to the side of vinyl siding with an extension cord running beneath the siding down to a hole into the kitchen wall. It fed a male plug that was plugged into the garbage disposal outlet beneath teh sink. The thing only worked when after dark, something moved in the back yard while someone was using the garbage disposal...
ROFLOL
"Quick Martha ! Turn on the garbage disposal ! I think I heard something out back !!"
If I survive, I have survived.
But if I have enriched someone else's life, I have succeeded.
quittintime
This might be a brilliant piece of psychology. Let the potential burglar think it's the sound of the HO running the previous burglar down the garbage disposal.... ;-)
-- J.S.
I'm imagining what it would be like if it were backwards. Disposal only works if the outside light is on. You flip the disposal switch, nothing happens. You fish for a spoon that fell in, the dog runs across the backyard, and all hell breaks loose.
Isn't it obvious the real problem is none of the former occupants had a subscription to Fine Homebuilding. Then they would have gotten the straight scoop.
Hey so your the guy who bought my old house man I am glad I dumped that place when I did. Just dont look in the bathroom wall...:>)
I was doing some wiring for Slim shady. Came up with a extisting wire that was hot but couldnt find where it went. Disconnected it and still couldnt find where it went. None of his room mates complained missing any outlets. All power is where its supposed to be. Checked everywhere.
The mistery of the hot wire..sounds like a rez novella. BTW its been 3 months and still no problems....
Darkworksite4:
Gancho agarrador izquierdo americano pasado que la bandera antes de usted sale
Clearly this is an opportunity for a "What's the difference?" piece. They could illustrate the inside vs. the outside of a sheet of rock.
Pete
switched neutrals?
WELL!!!!!
Some people like a choice you know
The last house I bought had a good homeowner botch. The owner had a air ventilator installed, but we never noticed the air any fresher in this house than the old one.
Everytime I checked on the ventilator it was running. Installed right, etc...One day I was checking it, it turned off. My wife had turned off the 3-way light in the basement stair case. The air is much fresher now that I'm wired into a constant power source.
Edited 3/16/2004 12:47 pm ET by hammer-n
Nice! I had a good one once on my first house. An outlet in a bedroom didn't work and I spent two days trying to trace the homeowner wiring through the attic and the basement to try to locate the problem. I couldn't find where this damned outlet tied in! Finally I got so irritated that I just took a saw to the drywall and opened up the wall cavity. There I found a one foot long piece of romex leading from the outlet box to thin air-- it had never been connected to anything in the first place!
J. Painter
ROAR! HaHa Too good! Just too good.
Two of my favorites:
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He, he. 1294 brought back old memories. My 1911 Denver digs looked like that with series of fuse boxes intermingled with a few breakers. Had a total of 100A in the building, split between the store front (my shop) and the apartment above. Worked OK so I left it alone. And the building still hasn't burned down 20 yrs later. Possibly the structural brick walls have helped. Or maybe somebody figured out the rat's nest of wires. One of which went to the next store front. Hot on his side so I continued to make use of it.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Forgive my ignorance, but what`s that brown powdery flammable-looking stuff in the bays? Yikes!
>>what`s that brown powdery flammable-looking stuff in the bays? Yikes!
I don't remember and can't tell from the full size pic
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in (now it looks like) April and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim and Rich and Steven and Mark and Jason and Shep and Jen and Mike and Joe and Bill and Ken for their offers!
Several donations have arrived! Thanks and God bless!
Moss..what else?
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Sphere, yer getten better.
The drool on mosseaters face gave it away..Just an observer here..JAFO..
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Plumbing and electrical, NOT for the DIY.
Now I wish I had pics to share with you guys. The elect. service wires running to the pole barn at my current place when I bought it was interesting to say the least. While I'm not an electrician, my dad is, and I learned a few things working with him.
Things like...If your going to run an overhead service to an outbuilding, twisting together 4 lengths of thinly insulated #10 copper will not hold up to weather; Service wire cannot be used as its own strain relief; Duct tape and rags are not proper insulators when penetrating a hole cut through a steel panel; outdoor light poles should be free standing, not tethered to the structure.
Needless to say, I have a new underground service running to the service panel in the barn.We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.The real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light.-Plato
>> ... outdoor light poles should be free standing, not tethered to the structure.
Was the light pole holding the barn up, or vice versa?
And why shouldn't outdoor light poles be tethered to a structure?
Structure was holding up the light pole..Dad figures the pole was as old as him... 75+ LOL. First off, neither one of us was going up that pole in our spikes, way too iffy!! Then when we leaned a ladder against it, it shifted a little.After we got the outside light fixture off of it and cut the tethering wires, we discovered the pole wasn't buried at all but just sitting on the surface. It fell over on its own. We got to laugh when I was cleaning things up and I carried the pole away all by myself!! After all, how often have been able to carry a 45' cedar utility pole by yourself, I suspect that was my first and last time!!We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.The real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light.-Plato
First, don`t drool. I slobber.
Second, once you post a reply, you`re no longer just an observer. You have entered the fray.
Third, JAFO ? Hey....Hey! Don`t make me come over there! Why, I oughta`.....
41169.38 in reply to 41169.36
Moss..what else?
Possibly what caught my eye. Excellent observation, O round one.