The Dumb Things DIYers Do...

[zythinl]

HAHA WOW i love this post i gotta add mine.. so my house is over 100 years old and i grew up in it so i "Thought" i knew what i was gettin into. well >...
started remodeling and redoing electrical because i thought it was all knob and tube what i found was knob and tube through the walls then on the runs they put BARE COPPER WIRE through the ceramic tubes.. THAT i could not understand how ther was no fire couldnt get worse then this HA went into the crawlspace with a buddy of mine running new wire and he ran his arm over and all we seen was sparks like crazy.. well it was a 220 line run as bare wire just wraped around the old glass ceramic knobs but smaller then the ones on elecrical poles :O and yes my buddy got burned good but is ok now. so what else did i find well there was a 15 amp breaker i traced to find out it was run outside to the light, and all of garage, and all of TWO other out barns that are like 30X50 or so for farm use. now i know why i could never run anything out ther,.. also this place is made of solid native timber, NONE strait nor 16 on center IF u can find one ull never get a nail in it right, also found out i had 2 small walls that consisted of 2 2x4 that were just toe nailed then dry wall put up between them at 8 ft between them :O so im glad i gots that outa my system only if it is a small bit of what i have found so far

 

[Bird]

zythinl, I wonder how many of our members are too young to even know what you're talking about with such things as ceramic knobs. And I don't even know when they quit using such things. About 30 years ago, I installed some ceiling fans for my parents in a home that was built about 1921-22 and my grandparents bought in 1943 and I found those things in the attic.

 

[turnkey4099]

Redoing plumbing. Original entered dthrough North basement wall, ran to SE corner and Back almost to point of entry to the HW heater then back to bath on South Wall... I took out enough 1/2" galv pipe to replumb two houses.

Wiring. Replaced all wireing with romex and new boxes. Removed one outlet box in Living room (West side of house) - lost the power to an outbuiling NE of house. Found they had run from box centered in the basement to west side to that box, then clear back across the basement to the East side. Still sstuck with a 3-way switch using two wire romex as the legs (black an white wire) connected to the white from a different circuit in the outbuilding.

Harry K

 

[DavidVT]

Bought Dad a garden tractor in the 70's for his summer camp (now my year round home).
At the end of the summer he needed a place to park it for the winter.

A friend cut the sill at the far end of the house so Dad could drive the tractor into the house.

The tractor was still running a few years ago by the guy who Dad gave it to. But the end of my house is at least 8 inches out of square now due to that sill being cut..

Got to love a 170 year old farm house...

As to wiring, except for finding reverse wired GFIs when I rewired it, it is pretty good.
Plumbing and venting continue to be a challenge, ferncos are my friend and I don't like cast and lead sewer pipes much any more....
The curtains stopped blowing in the winter after I replaced all the windows.

Should have Bulldozed it but emotions got in the way... what was I thinking...

 

[von-mil]

Speaking of "Let the next people deal with it", my mother purchased a home where someone installed a water heater, THEN decided to enclose it in a closet. When the time came to replace the water heater, we discovered that the old one could not be removed without tearing apart the door frame first. Her replacement heater now resides in the garage - three feet away from her new broom closet.

 

[dmccarty]

The previous owners of my home had completely sealed the attic with no vents "so that hot air couldn't get in".

This actually is not a bad idea. If it is done correctly. The IF is the hard part.

JLC Online - Article - Roof Ventilation Update

If one has AC ducts in the attic it is a good idea to consider sealing the attic from outside air. Our HVAC ducts are in the attic and I really wanted to seal off the attic. But I knew it would be a battle with the inspectors. It looks like after we built the house the building code changed to make vent free attics a bit easier to do.

If we had a crawl space we would have gone vent free. If the inspectors had fought us over the issue we would have not what they required to get a CO and then fixed it after moving in to the house.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

If one has AC ducts in the attic it is a good idea to consider sealing the attic from outside air.

I think you'd have a hard time convincing anyone in the building business or HVAC business. I think your link was talking about "northern" homes; not homes in my area. At any rate, I have the AC ducts in the attic, pretty much covered by blown in insulation, we have soffit vents (some of which may have gotten partially blocked by the insulation, and I had two wind turbines installed since we've been here and the attic stays noticeably cooler since the installation of the wind turbines.

 

[Travelover]

I think you'd have a hard time convincing anyone in the building business or HVAC business. I think your link was talking about "northern" homes; not homes in my area. At any rate, I have the AC ducts in the attic, pretty much covered by blown in insulation, we have soffit vents (some of which may have gotten partially blocked by the insulation, and I had two wind turbines installed since we've been here and the attic stays noticeably cooler since the installation of the wind turbines.

Agree. Get one of those indoor / outdoor thermometers with the wireless remote and stick the remote in the attic. You will be amazed at the temperatures up in the summer.

 

[wykubotaguy]

I am a licensed electrician and have seen lots of nightmares in house and shops. Today had customer call that furnace wasn't working. Tested power to furnace found open neutral. Was able to trace back and found junction in light fixture box. The nuetral for the furnace was attached to the ground screw on the fixture bar (wth!). Light that was fed downstream from that had neutral wire capped going to it. Pulled down that fixture and found a neutral wire that was coming from somewhere in ceiling. Later found that wire was bonded to the water pipe and used as a neutral. Crazy, plumber could have cut pipe and been electrocuted.
Another service call, customer called and said contractors had cut line somehow. Contractors were replacing water line in street. Found main neutral feeder had come loose and water pipe bond was beeing used a neutral back to power pole through the ground.
Bird, Knob and Tube wiring is a still acceptable practice per the National Electric Code.

 

[chopped]

Imagine it this one went over into the water?
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