Living room into bedroom

[AHS 1,440]

Oh boy, what a fiasco! I’m an electrician, so I have seen some a lot of ‘ut ohs’, but nothing like this house! Ok, so I was going to install an double gang box for outlets under the bay window and I was going to replace the wire to each side of it. One side of it (5’ to the next outlet)  and it had two breaks in it both put together with wire nut, just thrown in insulation! No box or anything! I’m taking out the knee wall and adding more insulation.

[Achto 27,609]

At least they put tape over the wire nuts.

[953 nut 55,321]

You just never know what surprises are hidden behind drywall.           Now the question is how many other little No-Nos exist.    

[ebinmaine 67,627]

I've been lucky on my house as far as the electricity and plumbing systems because they were done by companies with great reputations.

The general framing of the house is also in great shape.

 

What Trina and I run into as we are doing all our remodeling is that the first couple that owned the home did a lot of...... "Finishing"....

 

Unfortunately they did most things about 90 to 95% correct so we get to fix all the stuff that is in that top five or ten as we go to change things around. 

[cschannuth 3,816]

9 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Unfortunately they did most things about 90 to 95% correct so we get to fix all the stuff that is in that top five or ten as we go to change things around. 

i’ve been in construction for almost 40 years and I’ve always said that the last 5 to 10% of a project is the most difficult to finish. I guess your previous owners really took that saying to heart … Ha ha

[JoeM 7,874]

My Dad, when he worked for you it was right, in his house well.........I carried a tic tester! My brother got his old place and until it was rewired complete, found all kind of jewel repairs.

I was stripping some wire to install in a panel and shook like a dog pooping razor blades. The old man was on the basement steps and seen it. He said "did you get shocked?" I said na "I ALWAYS SHAKE LIKE THAT WHEN STRIPING WIRE. It was back feeding from an old ungrounded circuit. " 

I know we don't care for inspections but it does help I figure to lessin that stuff. You still have some free lancers though.

[ebinmaine 67,627]

4 minutes ago, cschannuth said:

i’ve been in construction for almost 40 years and I’ve always said that the last 5 to 10% of a project is the most difficult to finish. I guess your previous owners really took that saying to heart … Ha ha

That's funny right there. And you nailed it.

 

 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

When we were remodeling this place there were TONS! of issues like that.  Probably the worst one that I found was in the 'attic' which was inaccessible until I pulled down the drywall from the ceiling.

 

There WAS a box, but it had no cover on it.  The wires were LOOSELY twisted together and hanging out of the box with NO WIRE NUTS on them!  They ARCED and SPARKED as I pulled down the drywall... THAT LOOSE!  Gee... I wonder why the lights blinked when we walked across the floor?

 

Scary stuff.  Needless to say, this place has NONE of the original wiring left.  100% replacement.

 

Should I mention the plumbing?  naaaahhhh, use your imagination!  Think of the worst plumbing nightmare you can.  That was this place.  But, the price was right.

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Racinbob 11,094]

Any wonder why so many fires are caused by electrical issues? 

Over the past 45+ years my wife and I have been married we've bought and sold several homes and have always made out very well enabling us to 'upgrade' after each sell. When we decided to escape Florida in 2017 to come back to our home state we knew it would pose some issues. I did make a couple trips up here looking at houses but it takes more than one walk thru to get to know what a house needs. We've always leaned towards houses that we knew needed some work. As I've said to realtors many times, we look at a house for what we can turn it in to and not so much for what it is. It was no different with the first house we bought when we moved back. We knew it needed work. I NEVER request a home inspection because I have yet to see one worth the paper it's written on. I made an exception on that first house because I wasn't able to spend the time going over it. The report came back fairly good with just a few issues noted. This was one of them:

 

 

The inspectors suggested repair........install a cover plate. As I started updating the house I came across issue after issue. Electrical, plumbing, structural, you name it. It wasn't long before I decided the best thing to do was start from scratch. Sledge hammer, sawzall,, dumpsters, etc. Two years later we were well rewarded for our efforts and bought the place we have now (the last one we're doing). 

 

This swayed from the subject but the point I'm trying to make is to never put much weight in a home inspection report. And never, never, never rely on the report for the critical systems. I don't want to step on the toes of anybody here that does home inspections but I have yet to see a proper report on the critical systems. Personally knowing many of the qualified contractors up here hindsight told me I should have contacted them for a proper inspection. 

 

Fortunately @AHS you are qualified to find and repair the electrical issues before a disaster strikes. 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

Here is an example why one should never install a metal box directly on a below grade foundation wall:

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[squonk 41,155]

My favorite electrical issue. We have "project houses "where I live .These are small homes built in the 50's designed for soldiers looking for there first home. They were designed to last 30 years tops. 

 

Well  they are still there. Many have had additions put on them. My niece's home is one of them. 3 years ago 2 weeks before Christmas her Step-father, (My B-I-L) calls me. Half of the outlets in the house don't work and they weren't all in the same room. He wanted me to come see if I could figure it out. I get there. There are 2 small boys living there and toys are everywhere. My BIL has almost EVERY OUTLET hanging out of the walls trying to figure out what's going on. No breakers are tripped. I'm trying to trace out how everything is run. Then I remember a sub panel in the garage. I go out there and it's a good 20 minutes of work clearing crap out of the way to get to it. Nothing tripped. I see romex coming out of the panel going off in a wayward direction. I follow it out side to a outdoor outlet. Her husband goes balls-out with Christmas lights I look up at a power strip on the roof and about 25 light sets and triple plug adapters in this power strip. None of these are plugged in fully. And it's warm out that day and the water from the melting snow is bridging the prongs on all these lights. I unplug the main feed from the strip and Wha-la. Outlets in the house all work. And I did not help put all the outlets back in the walls.

Edited March 2, 2021 by squonk

[Racinbob 11,094]

Ya thunk this would have been mentioned in the report. 

 

[Handy Don 12,237]

11 minutes ago, squonk said:

My favorite electrical issue. We have "project houses "where I live .These are small homes built in the 50's designed for soldiers looking for there first home. They were designed to last 30 years tops. 

 

Well  they are still there. Many have had additions put on them. My niece's home is one of them. 3 years ago 2 weeks before Christmas her Step-father, (My B-I-L) calls me. Half of the outlets in the house don't work and they weren't all in the same room. He wanted me to come see if I could figure it out. I get there. There are 2 small boys living there and toys are everywhere. My BIL has almost EVERY OUTLET hanging out of the walls trying to figure out what's going on. No breakers are tripped. I'm trying to trace out how everything is run. Then I remember a sub panel in the garage. I go out there and it's a good 20 minutes of work clearing crap out of the way to get to it. Nothing tripped. I see romex coming out of the panel going off in a wayward direction. I follow it out side to a outdoor outlet. Her husband goes balls-out with Christmas lights I look up at a power strip on the roof and about 25 light sets and triple plug adapters in this power strip. None of these are plugged in fully. And it's warm out that day and the water from the melting snow is bridging the prongs on all these lights. I unplug the main feed from the strip and Wha-la. Outlets in the house all work. And I did not help put all the outlets back in the walls.

I get it. Sometimes you gotta shake your head and run.

A former coworker was buying a house and knew that I was pretty handy so he showed me pictures he took while touring the place. Simple two-wire lamp cord (zipcord) plugged into an outlet in the garage and the other end of the wire just disappears into a spackled hole in a wall about 6" away. On the other side of the wall, the cord comes out and is stapled along the baseboard about 15' and goes back into the wall next to a duplex outlet with a lamp and television plugged into it. The coworker knew this wasn't strictly kosher, but asked if it would be ok to use for a while until he could afford an electrician to fix it. 

[AHS 1,440]

20 hours ago, Racinbob said:

Ya thunk this would have been mentioned in the report. 

 

Who!! I would have mentioned that! 

[AHS 1,440]

Here’s an update, after day 2. There was a 2x10 underneath the bay window so we had to frame out a little bit bit more. We filled it all with insulation! (It’s a gambrel house) got the closet sorta framed. Tightened up some wiring, I had to add a 2 gang box so it could be exposed!

[Pullstart 62,912]

I commend you for turning a living room into anything else!  At our old house, I built a master bath out of a living room.  It was pretty much a total gut and redo.  I even cut an 8’ hole in the exterior wall to reframe for a big bay window above the garden tub!

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by pullstart
Duplicate

[rmaynard 15,514]

This is one of my all time favorites. Saw this on a job. Looks like the guy ran out of 14ga Romex, but had some thermostat wire. Guess he figured that all the stands of 22ga hooked together would be just as good as one strand of 14ga. 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by rmaynard

[AHS 1,440]

On 3/3/2021 at 9:00 AM, rmaynard said:

This is one of my all time favorites. Saw this on a job. Looks like the guy ran out of 14ga Romex, but had some thermostat wire. Guess he figured that all the stands of 22ga hooked together would be just as good as one strand of 14ga. 

 

No no no!! Wow, I’m surprised that guy didn’t catch the place on fire!!

[AHS 1,440]

Nice job @pullstart Unfortunately we have a two bedroom house (now three beds) and we have 2 kids, and our kids are sharing a room. Definitely unfortunately, all my money is going to this instead of buying more wheelhorses!! Here is some more progress...

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

20 minutes ago, AHS said:

I’m surprised that guy didn’t catch the place on fire!!

 

Naaaahhhh, he's only running 10 kW of 'grow lights'!  What could go wrong? 

[AHS 1,440]

1 minute ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Naaaahhhh, he's only running 10 kW of 'grow lights'!  What could go wrong? 

On a 50A breaker!!😀👍