Wiring woes: Why oh why...

[Mr. Whippy]

The BossLady and I are renovating the basement.   Basically pulled out the old walls and put in new, properly bulit walls.  As we went along, I did the wiring.  Fixing questionable wiring, dodgey installations and running a couple of new cirucits.

As I'm going over the final installs and code requirements, I find out that the guy (licensed) we hired a dozen years ago to install 2 baseboard heaters didn't follow code--at all!

Both baseboards were installed under outlets.  One is "corrected" because I installed a shorter baseboard hydronic unit.  The other has the outlet directly above the heater.  Nice.

I'm thinking I'll leave it for now, and when it comes time to repaint/repair the walls, I'll move the outlet (or the heater, or both--I don't know).

Seriously though, how do these guys sleep at night?

[ducktapehero]

Seriously though, how do these guys sleep at night?

On a big pile of your money.

[thebullfrog]

Seriously though, how do these guys sleep at night?

On a big pile of your money.

Exactly.

[Gareth]

I genuinely think some of them don't know better (though of course they should).  I remember a few years back when I was interviewing for a electrician to come work for me, some of the applicants were pathetic and almost certainly dangerous.  One guy basically couldn't answer even one technical question let alone anything about good practice.

Others are of course just out to take you for a ride.

[Mr. Whippy]

Geeze no kidding.

This is the same renovation where I found this little beauty:

[Gareth]

smurfing hell! 

[Threeme2189]

What is that?

[Neil]

Their were some choice wiring jobs in my house when I bought it but I don't think anything quite as ugly looking as that

I've found that asking around for recommendations is still the best way to get good tradesmen.  Though last time I needed new circuits fitting I took the recommendation of the company supplying my kitchen.  Turns out the kitchen was crap and so was their recommendation

Before you ask why I didn't do it myself, the rules of what you can and can't do yourself in the UK are quite strict.  Since the introduction of part two of the building regs. you can't fit any new paths without  relevant bit of paper and test equipment.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Sadly the muppet's who've wired up part's of my school would probably aspire to that standard of bodgery

[Sparky415]

Geeze no kidding.

This is the same renovation where I found this little beauty:
(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

I might try to copy that 

[Mr. Whippy]

That's 2 branch circuits going in, and about 6 lines headed out. (Just for reference)

[thebullfrog]

I can't even make sense of what's going on in that picture. It's like something from M.C. Escher. I've actually considered getting into the electrician field, but don't even know where to begin. Though I suppose not doing THAT is a pretty good start...

[Mr. Whippy]

It was like a makeshift subpanel,  but without the safety:  No pesky breakers, no fiddly anchors.  Just set it on a shelf and fuggitabout!

I just wish I had been more skeptical about the baseboards.  It didn't seem right, but hey, a licensed electrician installed it so hey! It must be right. 

[asupernothing]

A while back, when I was real young my folks hired an "electrician" to do some fairly simple wirings. After having had to rip out everything he did, because it was all faulty and VERY dangerous, I decided that I was not going to need to ever pay someone a large amount of money to halfass a job I could do quite competently on my own.

There are some very good electricians out there who will charge reasonable and do good work. However there are many more who don't give a hoot about what they do and just want to make as much money as they can.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I have one of the good ones, and I'm glad because I'm not comfortable doing any significant electrical work myself.  Plus, since I own a small apartment building, I would be displacing more than my own family if something were to happen.  When there's a safe alternative to following The Code, he offers it to me if it will save me a few dollars, and I appreciate it.  I usually don't take it, as I get to write off all these expenses at the end of the year, and more importantly, if it's code, it'll be easier for another electrician to figure out what to do if my usual guy isn't available. 

Like a mechanic or a veterinarian, find a good electrician and keep him happy.

Def

[asupernothing]

Like a mechanic or a veterinarian, find a good electrician and keep him happy.

Just the other day I had a guy try to hire me to do some work on his house. However his demeanor was overall insulting, and I got the feeling that he was trying to get a large amount of work done for a fraction of what it should have cost. I declined the job because I had a bad feeling that it would have been more trouble for me than it was worth.

The point being that if you want good work you should be willing to pay a reasonable amount for the labor.

[Sparky415]

Unless I am desperate I won't work for anyone that comes out with “can't you do it cheaper than that there's a bloke down the pub who will do it for 100 quid less” or “I've been looking on the internet and that's too much” 

You have to laugh

[thebullfrog]

Yeah, because we all know that everything on the internet is a lie

[Sparky415]

Yeah, because we all know that everything on the internet is a lie

Except when people talk about Multitools!