Truth is Stranger than Fiction

[NUTTSGT]

As a firefighter, I can advise all of you that all this is typical human behavior and quite common.

 

[laser3kw]

As a firefighter, I can advise all of you that all this is typical human behavior and quite common.

that should become your mantra!

 

[b-boy]

Love the romex/outlet picture. At least they didn't try to hide the cluster ...

Actually I found it when I removed the ceiling.

 

[b-boy]

When renovating the same bathroom that had the above fried outlet issue I uncovered a cheapo extension cord under the bathroom door threshold with romex wire nutted in the walls at either end. This was done to avoid drilling 2 holes in the floor of the walls and temporarily running the romex into the basement.

I've never understood the extension cord thing. An extension cord costs about 5xs the amount of the same length of Romex wire. I guess someone just didn't feel like running to Lowes.

 

[dwasifar]

I've never understood the extension cord thing. An extension cord costs about 5xs the amount of the same length of Romex wire. I guess someone just didn't feel like running to Lowes.

From the description, I gathered it was a fit issue. Romex wouldn't fit under the door threshold, but a zip cord extension would.

 

[garagelogician]

I found this while replacing the microwave in my house (previously owned by a 1st generation Russian immigrant family). There must've been a range exhaust hood installed originally, so he just capped off the wires and stuffed them into the wall, then plugged the microwave into the outlet in the cabinet above.

It might not be the ideal fix, but I at least terminated them properly in a box secured to a stud.

He also only had the old microwave attached with the two screws through the top, there was no bracket supporting the back of the old one.

 

[b-boy]

I found this while replacing the microwave in my house (previously owned by a 1st generation Russian immigrant family). There must've been a range exhaust hood installed originally, so he just capped off the wires and stuffed them into the wall, then plugged the microwave into the outlet in the cabinet above.

It might not be the ideal fix, but I at least terminated them properly in a box secured to a stud.

He also only had the old microwave attached with the two screws through the top, there was no bracket supporting the back of the old one.

Well, at least he used electrical tape.

 

[Platonic Solid]

From the description, I gathered it was a fit issue. Romex wouldn't fit under the door threshold, but a zip cord extension would.

Exactly right. The previous owner prided himself in being frugal.

 

[b-boy]

I have 1 more.

My house had modern 3-prong outlets on the first floor. I checked them myself and actually replaced a few worn outlets. There was clearly a ground there, so I was happy.

While remodeling the basement, I got a little confused. I saw 1920s era 2-wire BX wire running up into the walls from the basement where all the outlets were located.

I did some digging and discovered that someone had clipped the old BX, twisted and taped it to NM and stuffed it behind the wall for each outlet.

They didn't even use electrical tape or wire nuts. They used some type of cloth friction tape.

Apparently this is how you add a ground in la-la-land.

 

[Falcon67]

I found this while replacing the microwave in my house (previously owned by a 1st generation Russian immigrant family). There must've been a range exhaust hood installed originally, so he just capped off the wires and stuffed them into the wall...

That's what the back side of our master bath counter light looks like, except it's live. The center of the vanity has a stud running up and they just punched a hole on both sides, drilled through the 2x and wired everything in the holes. I have yet to come up with a decent fix for it - about the only way I can come up with something is the notch the stud and sink a box in it. However, we want lights over each sink and not in the middle, so there is the issue of the box cover in the middle of a wall. The other way is a box in the attic - which is a total ***** because of the tray ceiling in the bedroom. It's a long crawl out to that wall location and hard to get to the drop off.

 

[Platonic Solid]

I'm sure this is common practice. My first house purchase was a 1905 construction Sears house that required FHA inspection/approval which it passed as all the visible wiring was up to code. Naturally all the visible wiring was in the basement. No one, myself included, thought to open any of the dozens of junction boxes in the basement that had romex spliced into knob & tube. The entire house was active knob & tube except for the basement.

 

[b-boy]

I'm sure this is common practice. My first house purchase was a 1905 construction Sears house that required FHA inspection/approval which it passed as all the visible wiring was up to code. Naturally all the visible wiring was in the basement. No one, myself included, thought to open any of the dozens of junction boxes in the basement that had romex spliced into knob & tube. The entire house was active knob & tube except for the basement.

Now I'm worried about what else may be hiding in my walls.

 

[Bert_]

I'm sure this is common practice. My first house purchase was a 1905 construction Sears house that required FHA inspection/approval which it passed as all the visible wiring was up to code. Naturally all the visible wiring was in the basement. No one, myself included, thought to open any of the dozens of junction boxes in the basement that had romex spliced into knob & tube. The entire house was active knob & tube except for the basement.

It's fairly common. When I get asked about rewires I usually push to replace wiring in the basement and the downstairs outlets, usually do a little inspection in the attic for hacked up splices also.

That just leaves lights and a few bedroom outlets on the knob and tube. I have zero issues leaving lights on a knob and tube circuit. The big issues are kitchen and bathroom outlets and the usual hack job splices in the basement and attic.

I feel like that is a good balance, if you want a total rewire then you should probably gut the house so you can insulate and redo the rest of the mechanical at the same time

 

[gtae07]

I believe Einstein once said that two only things are infinite: the universe and human ignorance; and he is not sure about the universe.

There is no limit to human ignorance; and they also reproduce and vote.

Ignorance and stupidity aren't the same thing.

How much of what we laugh about as "stupid beyond belief" really is, and how much is only stupid if you've had the education/background/experience that we have had?

 

[GrabberOrange69]

OMG this thread is scaring the sh*t out of me. We bought our retirement home and we're gonna rent our current home for income.

Maybe not a good idea...

 

[EOC_Jason]

OMG, ages ago I saw one of those ceramic tubes in a bucket with random bits and never knew what it was for. Looking up knob & tube on wikipedia and BAM... Looked exactly like those tubes! LOL

 

[PWC Repair]

I used to be addicted to Tide pods.....but now I'm clean!

 

[BFBOB]

Ill have to admit.. Did this with spaghetti as a kid... I know I wasn't the only one also.

Were you at least smart enough to cook it first?