This morning the power went out in the two back bedrooms, shutting off my Internet connection and closing down the big computer.
Jeemineee.
Called the electrician, whose services I haven’t needed in an age or two. He came over with a sidekick, and they spent the ENTIRE MORNING wrestling with the wiring. Truly: they were here for a good three or four hours, and no grass grew under their feet.
Ultimately they decided the problem lay with the previous homeowner’s DIY Adventures in Wiring. Satan, as the guy is still (un)lovingly known, made a hobby of taking on challenges in the building trades. Seriously:
- He removed a plastic shower surround in the master bathroom and installed new plumbing and stone tile all by his manly li’l self. Nice job…except the stuff has to be resealed every six months….yes, indeed: filling the bedroom with toxic fumes each time. 😀
- Removed flooring in living room, dining room, and hallway; replaced it with new tile.
- Rebuilt a wall between the living room and the front bedroom, removed by a prior owner. In the process, forgot to re-install the doorbell, so….now we have to rely on those battery-operated (highly-stealable) bing-bongs.
- Removed the asbestos popcorn from the ceilings and replastered them.
- Note that he didn’t understand how dangerous asbestos is, and so breathed in great quantities of dust as he scraped the stuff off the ceilings…
- Installed a new mantel over the fireplace…out of code.
- Installed new Home Depot cabinetry and tile countertops in both bathrooms.
- Replaced the master bedroom window with a sliding door (Burglars Welcome Here!)
- Replaced the master bathroom sink with a shiny new Home Depot fake marble sink.
- Filled in the wall between the living room and the front bedroom, which a Previous Genius had ripped out so as to create a gigantic party room.
- But didn’t notice that in doing so, P.G. removed the wiring for the doorbell. So now, the only doorbell that works for this house is one of those battery-run portable things.
- Installed, for reasons incomprehensible, an electric outlet on the front porch down near the ground, where it gets drenched every time the watering system comes on.
- Built the side deck on the west side of the house, and did a good job of it.
Great work. Seriously!
But…
Well, if you’re not a licensed, bonded electrician, you really shouldn’t be messing with wiring and electrical fixtures. /eyeroll/
At any rate, today’s Adventure in Homeownership set me back $380.
Uh huh.
While I’m glad to get the tangle in there cleaned up some, frankly, I doubt if it was necessary. I’ve been in this house for…what? eight or ten years. And no problems have ever ensued from the wiring lash-up in the office.