As a home inspector, I see lots of do it yourself work. Some better than others. Universally, the worst and most dangerous work I see is do it yourself electrical. Most people just flat do not know what they are doing -- despite what the box store might tell them they are capable of. I see main panels with the neutral and ground buses not bonded, I see distribution (sub) panels that are bonded neutral to ground -- both wrong. I see no earth grounds, I see the water-pipes as the earth ground. I see reversed wires and no grounds. How about the one do it yourselfer who had an outside outlet and had reversed the ground and the hot. The hot was on the metal junction box hooked to a wooden pole. Think about grabbing onto that metal cover, standing there in a mud puddle. It might be the last thing you ever think about. And there are the GFCI outlets wired wrong so they do not function. Or check out the wire-nuts applied so loosely that the connections are warm from the resistance of a bad connection. Then there is the one that really frosts a home inspector's fanny -- and it takes a lot to do that. It starts with splices not in junction boxes and goes from there: The person who disconnects wires and leaves them unterminated and unprotected and hot. I was in a dark attic once, by accident I saw two wires over my head: Live 240V from an old water heater. I will repeat LIVE. How about crawl spaces. They leave live wires in crawl spaces, sometimes with wire-nuts other times not. When there are bare live wires it is really scary, but when the wire nuts are about to fall off, that is not so good either. So the unsuspecting inspector, or the kid running his new stereo wires under the house, might run across these -- while laying on his belly in an often damp space. Enough of a tirade, but I ran into this three times this week. You can putz around with your steps, louse up the drains, rot out the wall -- but please, take enough time and caution that you do not kill someone with your sloppy and unsafe wiring.
120V live Attic 120V live, crawl space
Thanks for dropping by,
Steven L. Smith
bellingham wa. property inspection
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Great post. As a real estate professional, I am trying to learn as much as possible.... the more informed I am, the better help I am to my clients.
Thanks.
David,
I agree and there are some things it is okay for a home owner to do. But when it comes to things that are life/safety issues it gets to be nuts. Half the time with the electrical no permit is involved either, so even a harried code inspector does not give it a sideways glance.
David, I like to say, You can do it, No, you can't! I have been in the big box store and overheard some of the "experts" dispensing advice to customers that was plain wrong. But I have encounter people who work there that are competent. The problem is how is the home-do-it-your-selfer going to know the difference.
Steven, I could not agree more about electrical. It can kill you. I will tell my clients if you want to play with the plumbing the worst you can get is wet, with electricity you can end up dead. Don't fool with it, get a professional.
My attic encounter with electricity was similar. This was an older home that had been hacked to death. It had several additions that were poorly done and the general quality of work was low grade amature. The attic was a very tight space and as I was getting my bearings squatting there I noticed a bare wire just above my head running along the length of the attic section. I pulled out the tester and it was live! That was scary.
This is the best wiring I have found at any of my inspections:
The home had just been renovated.
I don't think I'll ever find something to compete with that, but you never know.
Russel,
I think those half way renovations can be where the worst comes into play. Oh gee, cut some knob and tube, but not much. Lets put a wire nut on it.
Whats wrong? it is properly labeled.
LOL
Mike,
Yep, that is pretty nice work.
I recently to a dead face off an electrical panel and noticed where a wires insulation had been nicked when the home owner had stripped the outer cover and had since been arcing in the panel. I wanted to make sure it didn't touch the "dead" front so I took a section of wood and pushed........POP, FIZZZ!!!.
Good stuff, thanks mister homeowner.