It amazes me the garbage that the "professionals" tell people on these TV programs.
Tonight was a perfect example on HGTV on a kitchen remodeling show. The guy complained that the oven in his electric range doesn't work, so the "home improvement pro" advised him that he should replace it with a gas one. He further commented that gas is "cleaner".
How can anything be cleaner than electricity, as in zero emissions whatsoever?
Then, after the commercial, he outlines the project that includes (you guessed it) a new circuit for an electric wall oven.
Not to mention, the "pro" explained how easy it is to tap off the gas meter and do it themselves, not to mention running a circuit for the oven. "It's easy".
Can someone say BOOM? Oh, good Lord. My blood is starting to boil.
I'm with you on that. I saw a show where the handy man was wiring pendant lights over a counter. He methodically fished the wires through small holes in the ceiling then the camera cut to where the last screw was installed into the base of the last light. How much you want to bet no j-boxes were used?
There was one I saw on was done by an electrician. This may be just me and the pride of doing it right and do a good job doing it. The electrical installation appeared to be kosher. The heartburn I had was his approach to the project. He was installing a ceiling fan so it required a second switch. Instead of busting out the old box and cut the old hole out with 2 gang old work box, he cut a 12" x 12" section of the wall around the switch. No matter how good the drywaller is, those joints are going to stand out like a sore thumb not to mention the whole area will need to be painted. I do not like remodel work looking like remodel work. This case is a good example. what the sparky did cost more then just taken out the old box. Some are more pickier then others.
My wife likes to watch these remodel shows. When I am home and the just mention the word electric on the show, they change the channel. This is my arm chair quarterbacking. for the week
True that! I think that you are referring to an episode of some show that included "Jodie" and Pat (Simpson) where they cut out a huge chunk of wall for a second switch. I can't remember the name of the show, but they are all similar. If I recall correctly, they were very careful to encourage the homeowner to wrap the wire nuts with electrical tape.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
You must have bad drywall guys if they can't float out a patch so it doesn't show. Actually it is usually easier to fix a big hole than a small one. When my wife was building houses she was punching holes in drywall all the time to fix various problems. When you paint you always want to paint to a corner anyway. A small color difference won't show if you do the whole wall section.
How can anything be cleaner than electricity, as in zero emissions whatsoever?
That coal fired plant producing electricity causes no pollution???
My drywall usually needs patched after a remote becomes a projectile during these shows...
It's the end of the world as we know it.
Now that's my line.
Ian A.
...they were very careful to encourage the homeowner to wrap the wire nuts with electrical tape.
Twenty years ago, I worked with an electrician who was very consistent in wrapping wire nuts with tape. I'm not aware of any problems from these connections. What is the objection here?
Yup, been there, seen that. I once saw a woman dropping an outlet below a cabinet in a bathroom. They showed her taking the old over-counter outlet out, and the *POOF*, the next second she was installing the outlet below the cabinet. They didn't show a single instant of fishing through, cutting in the box...nothing. Magic!
Oh, and I have a drywall guy that can make anything look beautiful, no matter what kind of damage I have done with my saw. You just gotta find the right people to make you look good :-)
Oh, and the problem with wrapping wire nuts is not the connection it's self, it's having to be the guy who comes in later to try and get into the wire joint, especially if a DIYer was the wrapper. If wire nuts just "fell off" of wire joints, making the tape necessary, I'd switch to crimps. I think a lot of the old timers wrapped wire nuts as a result of having wrapped solder joints for so long and they just didn't trust the "new" tech. A properly installed wire nut should never, ever fall off of a joint, even under reasonable stress. Except for trying to keep moisture out (and there are better methods and materials for this), there is very little call for wrapping a wire nut in tape.
In this area, the waste from the power plants have a 20,000 year half life.
Dave
... I think a lot of the old timers wrapped wire nuts as a result of having wrapped solder joints for so long and they just didn't trust the "new" tech.
This makes sense. In my early days with the electrician, we worked on some older homes that had soldered joints. We wrapped the conductors, and continued past the end so that we had a built-up segment of tape that we folded back over the conductor ends and then finally wrapped the whole thing. The first time I saw him pull about a yard of tape off a roll, I wondered exactly how many joints he was going to wrap with it.
As far as the home improvement shows go, I stick with "Holmes on Homes" on the DiscoveryNetwork. Mike Holmes is absolutely adamant about rejecting poor work, whether by a DIYer or a contractor. It's a rare day that he doesn't call in a licensed electrician to fix the problems and code violations that he inevitably finds. Holmes is a Canadian, out of Ontario province (though he did work once on a California disaster), and I have to say I'm insanely jealous of our neighbor to the north. No matter what aspect of the house, he seems to know at least one superb specialist who can do just about anything.
I'm with you on "Holmes on Homes". This Old House isn't bad either; at least both shows are insistent upon hiring professionals.
As for taping wire nuts, it's usually because a DIY stripped the wires too long and wants to cover the exposed copper. I don't think that I've ever seen a professional who actually does this.
Lets say you do have a top notch drywaller that will drop what he is doing, come out to the job site and do 4 linier feet of joints and mudding. It will take him or her time to get it perfect. In the real world, you will not get it perfert all the time. If the drywaller is that darn good, they will be be booked and only drop what they are doing if they owe you something. If they do owe you, I would hold the credit for something better.
I agree the best and only way to paint to the whole wall. This all costs way more the just taking the extra time to pop the old box out.
I'm with you on "Holmes on Homes". This Old House isn't bad either; at least both shows are insistent upon hiring professionals.
10-4 on Holmes on Homes, don't watch This Old House though.
Ian A.
The story goes.. This old house was with Bob Villa, Some where along the line a job had no permit and was telivised.
He Got fired.
But they do have some great stuff on it. I'll have to look for the "HH" you speak of.
I heard Villa resigned because of or got asked to resign over the Sears ads. I'm sure Sears pays better than WGBH.
Villa is an idiot who talks right over his guests. Norm was THE MAN.
I always try to leave no sign of my remodel work but I do run into blocks in the middle of the bay from time to time.
4" hole saw makes a clean hole you can screw back on when your done.
In my own house I've had good results using 2 coats of joint compound and follow up with ultralight spackle. Palm sander makes a messy but fast job out of it. Sand until a depression it made so the patch doesn't stand proud (a term I learned watching Norm)of the wall.
When all is perfectly smooth use the canned texture. When dry give it a light knock down sanding. Paint.
In my house you have to look real close to see it, but different texture styles might be harder to blend.
On taping wire nuts I know of only one incident where it would of helped. My old partner was gluing a leveling ring into a PVC floor box when the wire slipped from his hand. Ground wire went into the wire nut on the hot wire and sparked. PVC cement dauber caught fire and a very surprised electrician went running out the front door across the brand new carpet and stomped the flaming dauber out on the brand new concrete walkway. I blew beer out my nose when I heard the story.
Is! NYW is now in season 13.
I still follow Norm & NYW on the internet, as it's been a couple of years since I could get Discovery on my satellite contract.
A fine craftsman and teacher and a real Gentleman who unfailingly gives credit to and encourages others.
Who's Bob Vila? There was a young guy called Steve, the Silver[sp?] brothers and the heating guy Richard when I watched the show. He must have been pre 1999?
These 'makeover' shows plagued the BBC a couple of years back; it used to annoy my wife no end to see some arty-farty plank staple fabrics to the walls, where they could never be cleaned.
Vila hosted This Old house the first few years, and later wen on to host his own Syndicated show in the mid 1990s to present
Since Vila left Steve Thomas hosted, replaced by Kevin O'Connor (I understand Steve just wanted to quit). Tom Silva was around with TOH before Vila left, I am sure. Richard Trethewey was there from nearly the start.
I have watch the hole suite of PBS DIY shows when I had cable in the early 1990s, and satellite since 1998.
Vila hosted This Old house the first few years, and later wen on to host his own Syndicated show in the mid 1990s to present
Since Vila left Steve Thomas hosted, replaced by Kevin O'Connor (I understand Steve just wanted to quit). Tom Silva was around with TOH before Vila left, I am sure. Richard Trethewey was there from nearly the start.
I have watch the hole suite of PBS DIY shows when I had cable in the early 1990s, and satellite since 1998.
It all started with Villa hosting,open story why he's gone. Then Thomas, This guy Kevin was actualy a customer, Then guest host. He is from (I Think) newton Ma.) So thats a good story, average gone good.
Norm was "THE MAN"! And if you don't know.... Your just young, thats not a bad thing.
Tom Silva has been there a while and Rich (the plumber) is kinda' new.
Villa is an idiot who talks right over his guests----
Villa is an idiot: Sums it up nice.
AGREEDED! This reminds me. His new partner, Reily. Didn't he chop off a peice of his finger on the first show?
Wow what a start!.
I caught one episode of "Bob Vila's Home Again" where Bob insisted on moving an old shed, and tacking it on to the house he was fixing up. The laugh was that Reily could barely conceal his disgust at this nonsense. A couple of his negative remarks actually made it into the show.
Reily? Wasn't he the handyman who single-handedly [sic!] wrecked Fawlty Towers?
I caught one episode of "Bob Vila's Home Again" where Bob insisted on moving an old shed, and tacking it on to the house he was fixing up. The laugh was that Reily could barely conceal his disgust at this nonsense. A couple of his negative remarks actually made it into the show.
Yep, old Reilly doesn't have much of a personality, that's for sure. I've always thought that he couldn't stand Bob, but to be honest, Bob gets under my skin too.
I've only ever seen one instance where something from one of these shows made me throw my drink at the television:
Can't remember the name of the program, but they were turning a garage into a "livable space". The roof of the garage was supported by A-frame trusses and the people redesigning it wanted to leave the ceiling open. Somewhere during the show, some designer or similar idiot decided they'd have a lot more of an "appealing" space if they cut out all those ugly horizontal beams. Presto-chango, in the next scene you see where they'd gone through and chopped off the bottom of every single truss. If that garage didn't collapse under it's own weight god help it if they ever get any significant snow.
I can't watch those shows anymore, they're bad for my blood pressure.
-John
I've only ever seen one instance where something from one of these shows made me throw my drink at the television:
Can't remember the name of the program, but they were turning a garage into a "livable space". The roof of the garage was supported by A-frame trusses and the people redesigning it wanted to leave the ceiling open. Somewhere during the show, some designer or similar idiot decided they'd have a lot more of an "appealing" space if they cut out all those ugly horizontal beams. Presto-chango, in the next scene you see where they'd gone through and chopped off the bottom of every single truss. If that garage didn't collapse under it's own weight god help it if they ever get any significant snow.
I don't know what's worse now, the electrical work or the de-structuring.
Ian A.
I saw a show several years ago where they were installing a ceiling fan.
The showed how to remove the receptacle, fish the wire (magically) up the wall, thru the top plates,into the attic and terminate it in a fan box.
After the commercial a SWITCHBOX had mysteriously appeared on the wall.
You KNOW that all those "Flip This House" clowns don't get permits and the have the stupidity to go on record, being responsible for the crap they pull. Any one of those buyers could sue the CRAP out of them.
Remember "Monster House"? They were the WORST.
They make the owners sign a release saying they are not responsible for fixing anything they screw up. I have heard horror stories about what happens off camera. If you didn't see it happen on film they probably didn't do it and when the cameras stop rolling they go. The homeowner is stuck spending lots of money to make these cosmetic changes something safe and reliable.
It always amazes me what people will do to be on TV.
“Chico’s putting in pot lights”
I always get a chuckle when I here that line from that HGTV design show hosted by Candice something or other.
Chico the “electrician” is always working diligently with his gold capped tooth, tattoos, four-foot long chunky gold chain and other assorted bling as he fishes the SPT2 cord through a void long side the bookcase to install a 120v sconce on the face of the trim.
“We’ll be back right after this message from our sponsor, Home Depot.”
I know that I saw on one of the news channels a few years ago that Bob Villa was being sued by the new owner (a famous entertainer whose name I can't recall right now) because of problems in one of the houses he built new for the series and subsequently sold off (Malibu Beach house season 3)
It was the project home that year and one of the features of this project was smart wiring, you could dial in and turn the lights on / off among other things. Allegedly after the sale the system failed in the on mode and the only way to turn the lights off was to unscrew the bulbs.
The lawsuit was against Mr. Villa, his production company, the installing electrician and the manufacturer of the system.
Apparently the only fix was to rip it all out and put in conventional wiring.
There has been no further information on this that I could find before posting so I am going to guess it has been settled out of court.
The best, ther very best one I ever saw went like this. A host (female) and a gentleman with an electricians toolbelt demonstrating the hanging of an exterior carriage stye wall mount light fixture. After mounting a metal pancake box into the opening he carved into the siding, (no connector on box, just the ko, and 12-2 size cable) he attached the hanger bar. Then he starts explaining that the existing wires are too long, so he cuts em to about 1" or so long and strips the ends. Next he stated that we don't need that bare one and he folded it up and pushed it back as far under the hanger bar as it would go. Then he finished installing the fixture, and made a big show of caulking around it to prevent if from leaking water into the inside of it which might be dangerous. This was on HGTV channel by the way.
I remember when I was in my teens thinking "This Old House" was boring - (and this is when most of the homes done were in the Boston MA area) Until the day Bob Villa walked out onto a freshly finished concrete floor - while the finisher was still on his knee board. There was a quick edit, and Bob had what looked like a 'shiner'. (The begginings of a black eye)
From then on, the show was interesting only due to the condesending remarks of real people on the site became more obvious.
Although they do seem to shy away from showing electrical work - and I believe it is a good thing - as we all know it is not something someone can pick up on the intricacies of in a 15 second blip.
But on occasion I spot some winners.... Heres one recent one. "In all of the junction boxes in this attic - none of the wires were twisted in the wire nuts - Therefore, for safety reasons we're not going to take any chances - we're going to replace all the wiring."
Now - I too am a fan of twisting prior to the nut - but I do not see this a reasoning for replacing all the wiring.... Especially when it is not required in the first place.... Nor would it require a whole re-wire of the house!!!
From what I've seen of them, the DIY shows over here don't really get into electrical issues that deeply. They'll talk about what style lights to fit, and sometimes we'll see their lek-trish-un connecting a few downlighters or something like that, but only briefly and not in detail. Given the misleading and sometimes plain incorrect information I've seen in some books and DIY video guides, that's probably a good thing.
In all of the junction boxes in this attic - none of the wires were twisted in the wire nuts - Therefore, for safety reasons we're not going to take any chances - we're going to replace all the wiring.
Hey, I just replaced my outside light because a seal had gone and water had gotten in causing some damage.
Now you tell me that I should have rewired the whole house instead of just replacing the water-damaged piece of cable!
Here's a 'DIY SOS'* clip. [*UK comedy makeover show].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSnL0TciPgDon't you just wish!!
I tried, but failed, to find the Jasper Carrott clip where 'Wiggy', the hapless TV DIY presenter, sawed his arm off.
Here's a 'DIY SOS'* clip.
Definitely what some people would
like to happen to some of these presenters! Looks like that van was on the wrong side of the road though.....
Bloody French drivers!
Alan, thank you for proving that Tim Taylor barely scratched the surface!
Tim Taylor usually
scorched the surface.
"I did that just to show you that when in doubt, turn off all of the breakers. Now come upstairs and let me show you how to treat an electrical burn."
i saw designed to sell the other night with the know it all blonde monica attempting to install a light fixture.they showed the ceiling box with the light bar and threaded nipple used to mount the light fixture installed.she explains that these here fixture wires have to be threaded thru this small tube (threaded nipple) then connected to the other wires!? they then cut to commercial and the light was done when they came back on. i wonder how she mounted the fixture with the wires going thru that little tube?
Maybe she just has more experience with n@pples than you do?