Monday, January 26, 2009

Burnin' Down the House

Remember that song? Well, I am amazed that isn't what has happened to our place! Everytime we try to go in and improve or change something we are greeted with shoddy previous "handyman work".

Check this out. There is this weird glass light panel in our downstairs room. We always thought it was kind of bizarre so we wanted to take it down and put up some shelves. Here it is. It's just a hole cut in the wall with glass over it and a tiny light. I have no idea what the purpose is. "Decoration" I guess????


When we opened it up to see where the light was look what we found.

NICE!!!!! These are the lights.



Here is the fancy electrical work.


And LOOK what the lights were doing to the power strip!


It really scares me to think that the guy that lived here before us is a "handyman" for a living!!!

14 comments:

turtlegirl76 said...

Good Lord that makes no sense.

Anonymous said...

Wow. That almost makes ya want to survey the whole house to make sure nothing else is put together like that.

Anonymous said...

Good grief! That is a little more than scary.

Unknown said...

There just are no words. At least wool is flame retardant.

Unknown said...

Eeep! I just love finding the do-it-yourself projects the previous owners inflicted on the house. In our case it was a very nice wood burning stove that hadn't been properly vented and a chimney that was never cleaned in five years of stove use. This is why people from Florida should have professionals deal with heating issues.

Anonymous said...

That just ain't right.

Turtle said...

hubby just comletely cringed when i showed him that, he is an elec tech. So lucky you decided to make a change and found it early! Our home was renovated just before we purchased it...we keep finding very strange stuff....no caulking on the kitchen sink, the sprayer never hooked up, the fan above the stove just blows stuff higher toward the ceiling..to name a few! We even have a light switch that no one can find what it goes to...i even asked the man who renovated the house (and his in laws were the original owners of this house and for 30 years) and it remains a mystery! (like that old commercial where the neighbors garage door keeps opening and closing)

Sarah said...

Nothing right about that

Anonymous said...

Holy Cow!!! methinks the previous owner handyman dude liked tape.

Jane said...

Good grief! Thank goodness you caught it before anything bad happened. (Not that what had already happened wasn't bad enough, but....)

Ammerins said...

Good heavens... We are still finding things like that in our house too... Electrical wiring being extended into the attic from the immersion heater, leaky gaps filled up with purr foam... Sigh...
I hope this is one of the last 'surprises'!

TURBOchic said...

Yikes!

Roadchick said...

Good Lord that reminds me of the house I had in Florida. The entire thing was wired with extension cords. I have NO idea how it passed inspection.

BTW, you've been nominated for some awardy-goodness at the Roadtrip.

Esther said...

That is scary. But at least you found it before (not after) disaster struck.

Our house is new and the 'clever' electrician put the single electricity socket in the utility/laundry room just about washing machine height on the back wall. This means it is right next to the water inlet (perfect to get sprayed when the tap leaks) and behind the dryer so it gets nice and hot and is impossible to reach. I got my friendly local electrician to rewire and relocate the whole thing.

I was brought up in a house previously owned by an electrician. We had half a dozen top quality double sockets with on /off switches in every room. So I am used to the best anything else makes me nervous.