walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
wire prices are hitting covid levels. most wire is made here but raw materials are not. Thank tariffs for the increase in prices.
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Home Improvement - Undoing Previous Owners "Landlord" Specials
- Thread starter aparch
- Start date
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Nursery at 90%
Doing a stylized Polaris. Otherwise the stars need a second coat and I’ll (finally) be done. Extremely happy with the results.
bsky.app
Doing a stylized Polaris. Otherwise the stars need a second coat and I’ll (finally) be done. Extremely happy with the results.
dxmnkd316 (@dxmnkd316.bsky.social)
Pretty happy with how the nursery turned out. Just need to finish Polaris. Metric sockets make for a very handy way to fully represent apparent magnitude.
bsky.app
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Was going to run a new Romex cable to a laundry light switch so it has a neutral. Was not expecting the guy to have actually used wall clips when he finished the basement.
Glad I ran my new endoscope through the wall before I started trying to pull new wires.
I could just cut a hole in the drywall and patch it, but frankly, I don’t want to go through that effort. I also don’t have one of those extended bits that let you bore a new hole in the studs. Oh well.
I did, however, replace the shitty old light in the nursery with a fancy new Hue ceiling light. Makes the room look even better in terms of finish and probably doubled the total brightness in the room. Getting so close!
edit: needed a neutral because I wanted to install a smart switch that turns on with motion. Helpful when carrying full loads into a dark laundry room. I know I could use a “no neutral smart switch” but I don’t like how they operate. “Off” is basically extremely low, but not zero, amps so the lights appear as though they’re off. I’m sure this is perfectly fine but something doesn’t sit right with me about it.
Glad I ran my new endoscope through the wall before I started trying to pull new wires.
I could just cut a hole in the drywall and patch it, but frankly, I don’t want to go through that effort. I also don’t have one of those extended bits that let you bore a new hole in the studs. Oh well.
I did, however, replace the shitty old light in the nursery with a fancy new Hue ceiling light. Makes the room look even better in terms of finish and probably doubled the total brightness in the room. Getting so close!
edit: needed a neutral because I wanted to install a smart switch that turns on with motion. Helpful when carrying full loads into a dark laundry room. I know I could use a “no neutral smart switch” but I don’t like how they operate. “Off” is basically extremely low, but not zero, amps so the lights appear as though they’re off. I’m sure this is perfectly fine but something doesn’t sit right with me about it.
walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
New code says neutral at every switch but they used to make proximity switches that used to use the ground for the neutral. The amount of current is negligible until you have an office building full of them and code got changed( within the last few code cycles so not more than 6 yrs ago). They make proximity sensors that go on lights , leave the switch on all the time and you are good to go. Even easier, they now make light bulbs with them built in. https://www.amazon.com/Equivalent-A...ocphy=9002901&hvtargid=pla-2281435179258&th=1
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
No ground either.
I'm awaiting a price quote on some landscaping.
It's a lot of work and I'm hoping it's "only" in the $5000-7000 range but I'm a bit nervous.
- Add some french drainage to the side of my house where I'm getting a lot of water in the basement (100 year old home) and add a cistern
- Grade the area so it slopes away from the house
- Put down stone in this new area to keep biological material further away from the foundation
- Rebuild some existing flower/garden area on that side and back of the house as well as on a side of my garage. Pull out some stumps, take out a nice but way overgrown bush that's much much much too close to the house
- Replace the decrepit walkway edging in the front
It's a lot of work and I'm hoping it's "only" in the $5000-7000 range but I'm a bit nervous.
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Hey, welcome back. Hope things are going well with you.
My wife and I had something both strange and funny happen to us recently.
We live in a very old Victorian style home, built sometime in the 1800's. Despite the fact that it is just the two of us rattling around in close to 5000 square feet of space, she insists on a constant stream of small "remodeling projects." I think she likes them because they frequently reveal things about the home that she didn't know before.
Her latest project is to redo an 8' doorway between what is the front room and what was probably some sort of "sitting room." She has never liked the woodwork around this doorway, so she hired a guy to create something she felt better fit the style of the home.
As he was tearing out the old frame, he discovered that the doorway actually had a pocket door, and furthermore, the pocket door was still hanging on the rail, hidden inside the wall all these years. As he was pulling it out to see what kind of shape it was in, he discovered a drivers license and a credit card, both of which expired more than 40 years ago.
The person identified on the card and license was a prior owner of the home. So, now the question is, was this some sort of weird time capsule, or if not, why were they in there?
We live in a very old Victorian style home, built sometime in the 1800's. Despite the fact that it is just the two of us rattling around in close to 5000 square feet of space, she insists on a constant stream of small "remodeling projects." I think she likes them because they frequently reveal things about the home that she didn't know before.
Her latest project is to redo an 8' doorway between what is the front room and what was probably some sort of "sitting room." She has never liked the woodwork around this doorway, so she hired a guy to create something she felt better fit the style of the home.
As he was tearing out the old frame, he discovered that the doorway actually had a pocket door, and furthermore, the pocket door was still hanging on the rail, hidden inside the wall all these years. As he was pulling it out to see what kind of shape it was in, he discovered a drivers license and a credit card, both of which expired more than 40 years ago.
The person identified on the card and license was a prior owner of the home. So, now the question is, was this some sort of weird time capsule, or if not, why were they in there?
St. Clown
Ideas Posted are Likely Not My Own
1) Welcome back.
2) Speaking from the experience of being a former landscape employee, I think your estimate range is at least $5,000 low.
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
So last night I finally had a spare 15 minutes with the kid asleep and I could finally install a new smart switch and companion switch to replace an old three-way switch.
Two hours later I had the entire two-gang jbox apart and every wire had been detached because the wiring didn’t make sense.
Turns out the builders saved money (and in my opinion cut corners) by using a multi wire branch circuit. Apparently legal per code, but they used 12/3 romex with the red and black on two separate circuits.
This way they didn’t have to run two cables across the house. Real vulgar stuff IMO.
So now I’m in a real fuckin pickle because I stupidly assumed it was a standard 3-way and had three cables coming into the box for the 3-way and two for the switched outlets in the room.
No, apparently at LEAST one of those extras is a separate cable to the kitchen & dining lights & garage opener
I took a bunch of pictures before I uncapped everything but like, I think I went too far and now I need to figure out which cables are which.
I’ve identified the shared line cable. That’s easy. But now I need to figure out which line is the light load, which is the traveler, which is the switched outlet, and which is the branch that apparently powers my garage, landing, front yard lights, kitchen lights, dining lights, deck lights, and god know what else. What a fuckin mess.
And before you mention how stupid I am, please don’t, I’m already feeling pretty dumb here. I’m probably going to need to call an electrician.
Two hours later I had the entire two-gang jbox apart and every wire had been detached because the wiring didn’t make sense.
Turns out the builders saved money (and in my opinion cut corners) by using a multi wire branch circuit. Apparently legal per code, but they used 12/3 romex with the red and black on two separate circuits.
This way they didn’t have to run two cables across the house. Real vulgar stuff IMO.
So now I’m in a real fuckin pickle because I stupidly assumed it was a standard 3-way and had three cables coming into the box for the 3-way and two for the switched outlets in the room.
No, apparently at LEAST one of those extras is a separate cable to the kitchen & dining lights & garage opener
I took a bunch of pictures before I uncapped everything but like, I think I went too far and now I need to figure out which cables are which.
I’ve identified the shared line cable. That’s easy. But now I need to figure out which line is the light load, which is the traveler, which is the switched outlet, and which is the branch that apparently powers my garage, landing, front yard lights, kitchen lights, dining lights, deck lights, and god know what else. What a fuckin mess.
And before you mention how stupid I am, please don’t, I’m already feeling pretty dumb here. I’m probably going to need to call an electrician.
walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
Multiwire branch circuits are perfectly fine, no difference than 2 separate circuits coming into that J box(except it shares the neutral, the service into your house is exactly the same). Is it on a 2 pole breaker? Should be for present day code but if its old it wouldn't have to be. For it to share a neutral it would have be on opposite phases so its 240 across the red and black. If you cap all the wires in that Jbox and turn breakers back on what happens?
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Ok, it turns out I did have enough pictures and I took down the light and unwired all of those connections and the remote jbox connections. I worked out the logic for the wire routing between all of them and verified it was correct. I now have a capped 12/3 traveler on both ends and plan to use a wireless switch in the remote jbox. Which I had planned to do the entire time.
Everything works except for one switched outlet. I KNOW I wired that back correctly because I marked those wires. So it has to be that when I replaced the outlet a couple days ago I screwed up the wiring. If that doesn’t fix it then I have no damn clue and I’m back to square one on that circuit.
Question: when you say what happens, do you mean what’s the voltage across the red and black?
If I cap all the wires and switch both on, nothing happens. So I’m obviously misunderstanding what you’re asking there
They’re on two fully independent breakers both on the even side. My VERY basic understanding of house panels is that this is the correct way to do a MWBC because the neutral is correctly wired then.
Now the rant:
I 100% agree they’re fine and legal per code. I just think it’s extraordinarily cheap and introduces risk (however remote) that just isn’t necessary.
Per 1994 code, you could use two separate breakers that do not share any function as I understand it. This changed a couple times since then. Now I believe the breaker need to be tied together such that if one trips so does the other. I think.
The problem is that because the builder didn’t want to spend $100-$200 (today’s dollars) there’s now a jbox that is fed by two circuits on a single 12/3 romex. That’s dangerous should someone not understand this is a MWBC and thinks power is cut and doesn’t test (you should always test and hence why I found it)
Part of this stems from my experience in old chemical plants where shit is either abandoned in place or no one wants to pay to do things the “most correct” way and you get “code acceptable, but not common practice” installs that bind you up for $10,000-$100,000 just to fix.
Anyways, let me know about the question part. Appreciate the help as always.
Everything works except for one switched outlet. I KNOW I wired that back correctly because I marked those wires. So it has to be that when I replaced the outlet a couple days ago I screwed up the wiring. If that doesn’t fix it then I have no damn clue and I’m back to square one on that circuit.
First a question then a mini rant
Question: when you say what happens, do you mean what’s the voltage across the red and black?
If I cap all the wires and switch both on, nothing happens. So I’m obviously misunderstanding what you’re asking there
They’re on two fully independent breakers both on the even side. My VERY basic understanding of house panels is that this is the correct way to do a MWBC because the neutral is correctly wired then.
Now the rant:
I 100% agree they’re fine and legal per code. I just think it’s extraordinarily cheap and introduces risk (however remote) that just isn’t necessary.
Per 1994 code, you could use two separate breakers that do not share any function as I understand it. This changed a couple times since then. Now I believe the breaker need to be tied together such that if one trips so does the other. I think.
The problem is that because the builder didn’t want to spend $100-$200 (today’s dollars) there’s now a jbox that is fed by two circuits on a single 12/3 romex. That’s dangerous should someone not understand this is a MWBC and thinks power is cut and doesn’t test (you should always test and hence why I found it)
Part of this stems from my experience in old chemical plants where shit is either abandoned in place or no one wants to pay to do things the “most correct” way and you get “code acceptable, but not common practice” installs that bind you up for $10,000-$100,000 just to fix.
Anyways, let me know about the question part. Appreciate the help as always.
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Oh, I also plan to make a note of this and amend/correct the labels in the breaker panel. They did not do a great job at labeling things.
"Entry/garage" controls entry/garage but also kitchen lights, dining lights, and deck lights, for example. Whereas "Kitchen" controls the outlets in the kitchen and dining EXCEPT for the disposal and dishwasher.
"Entry/garage" controls entry/garage but also kitchen lights, dining lights, and deck lights, for example. Whereas "Kitchen" controls the outlets in the kitchen and dining EXCEPT for the disposal and dishwasher.
FadeToBlack&Gold
Microlot Marxist
The dipshit I bought from didn't even label his, and we've come to conclude that he likely wired it himself after a major basement flood in 2014.
Who's the dipshit now?
Who's the dipshit now?
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Fuck me thats bad.The dipshit I bought from didn't even label his, and we've come to conclude that he likely wired it himself after a major basement flood in 2014.
Who's the dipshit now?