ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion XXXX the Carpenter

Thanks for the evenhanded response, Bill.

I understand y'all's reluctance to do much in the way of DIY'er question answering, what with not being able to see the problem first hand, liability, safety, etc. and because the "newbieness" of the questions can drive the more experienced types bonkers as they come up over and over and over... Especially stuff y'all covered in "Wiring 101" (or the equivalent) and thus "every electrician should know this by now" but isn't necessarily obvious to non-electricians.

I am a DIY type, but don't have a house to do any wiring or anything in right now so I am "harmless" as far as that goes, so y'all needn't worry.

I'll go back to lurking, I don't want to see this board dry up either.
-cajun
<lurk mode ON>

This type of wiring practice, needs
to be stamped out, to the max, guys.
I really do not care about DIY work,
provided that it is kept within reasonable
limits.
Of all the DIY work, that I have certified,
I think that I have had one (1) socket-
outlet incorrectly wired, over a spread of
1500 customers.

Trumpy,

A smart DIY-er should know when a job is beyond his capabilities and when it is appropriate to call in the (duly licenced)professional.

For instance, while I'm not afraid of replacing rotten cable inside walls and adding new sockets (as long as it's within circuit capacity), replacing cracked wall sockets, or broken switches, I will not try to undo the hack-job pictured above. Nor would I try to completly wire up a new house without help from a pro.

An even more morbid example. My aunt's apartment building in New York has rotten wires in the walls, coupled with a by-passed fuse box (no protection), surface-mount zip-cord (plug one end of the cord into an outlet and staple it along the wall) extension sockets, rusting boxes, etc.

Her landlord is a slumlord who has refused to fix this crap up.

I found out how bad the wiring was when replacing a worn-out, ancient wall socket (the plug pins literally slipped out of the holes) took about a day's work trying not to further crumble the perished insulation and not letting the box (which had come loose from the studs) fall into the void behind the plaster & lath!!

The building as it is is a firetrap, the owner refuses to fix it...and if I start poking around in that hell I'll probably be responsible for more bad than good.

I've seen stuff like that in NYC (Brooklyn, Coney Island area)
Zip cord stapled to the walls, duplex receptacles extended to 12 outlets by the ingenious use of adaptors, 3way extension cords and power strips,.. The ground got lost somewhere... I wasn't able to get further into that mess, so I don't know what was hidden behind. All light switches were worn out, and in the room I was living in there was one single duplex receptacle. In the bathroom there were none at all, so I had to plug my hairdryer (1200w) into the mess described above.
I also remember rusty and broken conduits with stalactites hanging down at deKalb Avenue D train stop before and during renovation.
My worst memories of living in NYC.