Remodeling Woes

[lightman]

Before I retired, when my electrical business was up and running, I avoided remodels and rewires. You wore out you body and your tools and there was always a nasty surprise.

[Slugster]

I was once helping a friend try to track down a foul smell in his home. Found that it really smelled bad whenever it rained. Couldn't figure it out. We were sitting in his backyard discussing the problem while enjoying a few cold snacks. Looking at his roofline, it finally dawned on me to look for the plumbing vent. Wasn't on the roof on the back side of the house where you would expect to find it. Wasn't on the front either. We looked on both ends of the gables just in case the vent was there. Nope, and nope. Hmmm....
Finally found it inside his attic, and it was not vented to the outside. That was some class A plumbing.

[farmbif]

I know of the kind of problems with wiring in an old house, my house built by someone who did not know how to build very well was put up probably around the time of the civil war still has fuse panel put in when the TVA first brought power to the area. I'm still waiting on the only licensed electrician that would come out this far to get back here and put in a day's work.

[Tatanka]

I was a home inspector for a hot minute.

Here in Washington, it takes a general contractor's license or an engineer's license. (I was a general.)

There are two problems with being a home inspector. Number one, liability. For four hundred dollars, people think you will cover twenty-five thousand dollars worth of repairs, whether your report mentioned it or not.

And number two, in Washington, there's a direct conflict of interest built in. You get your business because when a realtor tells the buyers that they need a home inspection, the buyer's hands fly to their mouths and they gasp in horror "we don't know a home inspector! Can you recommend one?" And of course the realtor can. He has business cards. And flyers. We made sure he has lots of both, just to hand out at that moment.

But who do you suppose the realtor recommends?

If I do an airtight inspection, spend two or three hours for my measly four hundred, then another hour writing up a clear, no-nonsense report, and I report every last nail that's missing, every creak, every flaw, every window that won't open, and the sale blows up over my report, do you suppose I get a steady, heavy stream of business from that agent? (Actually, from either of the two agents involved.)

The Home Inspector's Association used to tell me it's about balance. Covering everything, but phrasing it in a way that allows the sale to go forward.

So I went back to good honest contracting. At least then, when folks started yelling, I knew what they were going to yell about.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I live in Washington and house inspection is a joke , better to look it over yourself as you will find what the inspector who is getting paid does not , had one say the bathroom floor needed replaced and he could even do it , Conflict of interest and a scam .

And whats that work out to almost $100 a hour , top wage for not breaking a sweat , this jack wagon liberal retard state has a fee for about anything and everything so they can support the homeless and lazy .

I feel sorry for those who are unable to remodel or repair , as the best work you will get done is work you do yourself , I have had to go repair work done by contractors and so called home repair experts , wonderful state this is but the codes and regulations are as nutty as the politics .

[Tatanka]

Building codes (and, to a lesser extent, regulations) have very little to do with building. They're a bare minimum. You don't want a house that just passes code, with a little thought and planning, I could probably get a large tent to pass code.

[Mal Paso]

How about a Pushmatic 200A main panel and 3 subpanels. The 240V subpanels were wired with 2 conductor war surplus armored ship cable and the armor braid jacket was used as a combination neutral and ground. Each of the subpanel feeds was lugged directly to the main buss without a circuit breaker. They saved a bunch of money there.

One place the outlets were nailed to the wall (no box). Romex just stapled to the wall and a single wrap of tape to cover the connection screws. Cost less than a dollar per outlet.

Not my job but a house I was looking to buy had the electric service in the pantry. 8 120V plug fuses served the whole house. The Meter and fuses were bolted directly to the wall above about 5 feet so children couldn't touch it as there were No Boxes covering any of the connections. All the wiring was in the open.

[john.k]

Best one I have seen was hippy homeowner decided to convert a conventional square box house into a hexagon/star shape (for the vibes man),and completely destroyed the structural integrity by cutting the second box into the first.........subsequent came the 70s real estate boom ,and he sold the house sort of 3/4 finished to a "renovator"....who thought he had a bargain.......My comment was "Demolition is the cheapest option".....Other classics would be some older large houses with brickwork founded on bare earth.....no footings at all.Yet they have stood for 150 years......back in the day ,a lot of houses were built by rank amateurs....even big houses.