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Money pit. :={
Jul. 10th, 2011 02:33 pmWell, owning a house has its good and bad points. :=/
One of the bad points is finding issues from the previous owner(s).
Those that know my property know that I have a 90'x24' shed that used to be a chicken coop.
Well, a couple of weekends ago![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
u_t_tiger wanted to use the bathroom that is in the shed. He told me the light was burned out. No problem, I'll fix it the next day.
Well, that "burned out" light has turned into a major issue. We changed the bulb with a good bulb, but no dice. I checked the circuit breaker and it was on. I tried checking on other lamps on the same circuit and they were dead. o.O
Last weekend I started tracing the wires and found splices that were just that: wire-nutted together and taped, no box; that is illegal. I pulled off a board and found a huge mouse nest; not surprising since I live in a wooded area. I cleaned out the nest and found bare wires. O.O
I checked voltages and found no voltage to that location. I also found a junction box that was covered up with a board. A big no-no that is totally illegal.
Today I put a signal injector onto the wires so I could find the proper breaker; it was one of two, one of which has two wires on the breaker itself: another illegal move. I found the breaker, but lost the signal in the area of the old mouse nest. After a bit of searching I realized that signal was being lost between the injection point, a taped splice, which was near the mouse nest, and the junction box. After pulling off another board I was able to trace the cable itself and cut the cable near the junction box and pulled it back from the injection point. When it was totally clear I found another corroded point where the hot and grounded wire were totally disconnected. That's where the power was being lost. I have since pulled out all the old, corroded wire and old box.
I am so thankful and lucky I didn't have a fire.
At this point I'm thinking of running totally new NMC wiring to the outside, to keep the mice from the wiring and putting the bathroom light switch on the outside of the building. It's that or run conduit in the concealed spaces to keep the mice from chewing the wiring. I will also put in another breaker to do it right. I may be lackadaisical about somethings, but I'm very serious about permanent 120/240V wiring. You can get hurt/killed or cause a fire if you don't do it right.
I would love to re-wire the entire shed, but I don't have the spare $$$$s to do it.
Is it any wonder at times I don't have any spare cash. :=/
One of the bad points is finding issues from the previous owner(s).
Those that know my property know that I have a 90'x24' shed that used to be a chicken coop.
Well, a couple of weekends ago
u_t_tiger wanted to use the bathroom that is in the shed. He told me the light was burned out. No problem, I'll fix it the next day.Well, that "burned out" light has turned into a major issue. We changed the bulb with a good bulb, but no dice. I checked the circuit breaker and it was on. I tried checking on other lamps on the same circuit and they were dead. o.O
Last weekend I started tracing the wires and found splices that were just that: wire-nutted together and taped, no box; that is illegal. I pulled off a board and found a huge mouse nest; not surprising since I live in a wooded area. I cleaned out the nest and found bare wires. O.O
I checked voltages and found no voltage to that location. I also found a junction box that was covered up with a board. A big no-no that is totally illegal.
Today I put a signal injector onto the wires so I could find the proper breaker; it was one of two, one of which has two wires on the breaker itself: another illegal move. I found the breaker, but lost the signal in the area of the old mouse nest. After a bit of searching I realized that signal was being lost between the injection point, a taped splice, which was near the mouse nest, and the junction box. After pulling off another board I was able to trace the cable itself and cut the cable near the junction box and pulled it back from the injection point. When it was totally clear I found another corroded point where the hot and grounded wire were totally disconnected. That's where the power was being lost. I have since pulled out all the old, corroded wire and old box.
I am so thankful and lucky I didn't have a fire.
At this point I'm thinking of running totally new NMC wiring to the outside, to keep the mice from the wiring and putting the bathroom light switch on the outside of the building. It's that or run conduit in the concealed spaces to keep the mice from chewing the wiring. I will also put in another breaker to do it right. I may be lackadaisical about somethings, but I'm very serious about permanent 120/240V wiring. You can get hurt/killed or cause a fire if you don't do it right.
I would love to re-wire the entire shed, but I don't have the spare $$$$s to do it.
Is it any wonder at times I don't have any spare cash. :=/
