I got a call to finish up a job that had been sitting for about a year. The job supposedly had a "rough inspection". At first glance all that the job needed was a 2" riser run out of the meter base, an extra ground rod, and some minor "tidying" up of the service wires. All the light fixtures were already hung,outlet put in and breakers put in the panel. That's where it all started down hill. I noticed there were no AFCI breakers in the panel, so I started to ohm out the panel thinking I would see what was what. My tester started reading a direct short on all the circuits. I at first thought maybe my tester was reading through the light bulbs. I then thought I better pull out one of the outlets to see what kind of job the first electrician had done. There was a light switch right next to the panel and a receptacle. I pulled the light switch out, and WOW, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The neutrals were tied together with a "pigtail", and the pigtail was connected to one side of the switch, and the hot wire was connected to the other side. That's where it all started, well almost. I guess the first clue was when I pulled out the wash machine outlet and saw the wires were not tight. I then pulled out the receptacle outlet at the panel, an another WOW and double WOW. This guy had the hot and neutral connected on the same side of the receptacle. I couldn't believe what I was seeing again. I then went to the back part of the house and pulled out another receptacle, and just as I suspected, the black and white wire were on the same side of the receptacle there also. To make a very long story shorter, all the outlets in the house were wired like this.
Not only that, but when the man was stripping the wires, he must have used the size smaller than for # 14 wire, because the wires were almost broke into where the stripper "bit" into the wires. Pulling the smoke detectors down, made my "nightmare" even worse. He had a black and white wire tied together and hooked up to the yellow wire on the smoke detector
Well after getting in touch with the new owner of the house( which was a contractor who had bought the house and was fixing it up to rent) and relaying this sad story to him, I proceeded to "fix up" the mess. After going through all the outlets
and switches in the bedrooms and living room, I started in the kitchen. Double wammy again. Another sign of this fellows "dumb" was when I found 1 outlet in the living room with #12 in it. I then proceeded to take out all the outlets in the kitchen to ohm them out and see what he done. I found the dishwasher wire coming out of one of the counter receptacles, which fed into the living room, which fed back into the kitchen which fed 2 light switches for the kitchen lights, and that is where I have stopped so far. Oh well, then there's the bathroom receptacle that is fed off the bathroom light switch, and not to mention several walls that are about 3 to 4 ft. long without an outlet on them. Though he did seem to think the outlets were suppose to be about 6ft. apart everywhere else. My story is just beginning. The new owner is very nice to tell me to go ahead and fix it. I called the electrical inspector who was supposed to have checked this job on the "rough", and told him a few things that I found. His comment was that all that inspected was "spacing, and grounds"
I wander how he could have missed the #12 wire coming off the kitchen outlets to feed the lights, and the walls that had no outlets on them where they should have had them
I was nice and said maybe he done this after it had been inspected. After seeing this much, I knew whoever wired it COULDN'T have been an electrician. Sure enough after further investigation, I found out it was the previous homeowner that had done it. I politely called the inspection office and ask them to NEVER LET THIS GUY NEAR ANOTHER WIRE. The secretary seem to find humor in this. Well my ranting has just begun, and I have not even hardly started on fixing this mess up. Good thing about it is, that it's work and the new owner is willing to pay me to straighten it out. I do thank The Lord for that. I just hope the wires inside the wall are alright
After I get close to straightening what I see out, I'll temporarily put power on the house and see what happens. I have been in the trade for around 39 years and this has to be the "ultimate dumb" I've ever seen. What's so dumb about it is not that someone didn't know what they were doing, but that they didn't ask anyone who did. Well I'll stop for now. I would be interested if anyone can "top" this throughout your experience with DIY'ers. Well I better pull my wits back together again, there's no telling what I might see before I get finished...Well I guess I've vented a little, maybe I'll feel better now
