Federated Handy People

The picture above is just for laughs. I did not take that picture.

Residential electricity isn’t as difficult or as dangerous as most people think. However, a person should know all the basics and seek counsel before trying DIY projects. Sometimes you may think it’s safe to proceed when it’s not.

For example, I have discovered residential wiring situations where a wire was connected to two different breaker switches. I won’t assume to know how it happened that a person powered a circuit from two sides, but that’s the kind of mistaken assumption I only make once.

In my case after tracing the visible wire all the way back to the breaker box and flipping off its switch, I assumed all the downstream connections of the wire were de-energized. As my cutter crossed through the wire’s insulation I found out the downstream was actually another upstream into a different breaker switch. It made a spark and damaged my wire cutter (not a big deal).

In hindsight, I didn’t test the wire to see if it was at 0-Volts after the breaker was off. I shouldn’t have had to, but it is what it is.

In the following case, the extra time spent inspecting paid off.

In this bathroom, we had two problems. The inspector failed the socket for not being a GFI (and for no ground wire present). Secondarily, the form, function, and appearance of the switches were unacceptable.

I initially assumed I’d be getting out my 54-inch long flex drill bit to be able to “fish” a new ground wire up into the existing gang-box from the crawl space below.

Instead, after exploring the wires available in the two gang-boxes, I found the circuit on the left for the exhaust fan already had a good ground wire available.

That’s where the payoff of doing things right instead of doing things in a hurry are usually found. Most of my friends, who are craftsmen/tradesmen, lament at length about how managers—who don’t understand the work—will push speed over precision. We all joke, “never a time to do it right, always a time to do it over“. If you work for yourself, there’s always enough time to do it right; I will take that extra time every time.

So, instead of the difficult job of routing a new ground wire, I was only faced with the easy puzzle of getting an extension of the existing ground wire from one box to the other through the wooden 2-by-4 that separated them.

Now the customer has their elegant multi-function timer switch for the exhaust fan, GFI-protected sockets, and easy-to-clean switches & outlets.