Shocking Electrical Wiring

As part of our renovations, we have made sure we are getting all the correct permits and inspections. As part of the process for getting the electrical permit, not only does Matt have to take a electrical test on the NEC code book, but we have to submit a whole house wiring diagram. To do that, we needed to know where our existing wiring went. So we started a week-long discovery of our electrical wiring, mainly by shutting off random breakers till something went off.

Well, we now have every socket, light, and appliance we can think of mapped out, and our house is a complete mess. Halfway through we stopped trying to describe the circuits by room and instead made a map of the house with every socket marked and just numbered them according to the position of the breaker they were on. We found out that the house violates code about 5 different times, circuits just go wherever, and we still can't identify three 240V breakers, two 120V breakers, and what runs our smoke alarms. We do know that most likely one of the 240Vs runs our air compressor for the AC system and one runs the water well, but we can't figure out which ones those are. Below, are our hastily sketched drawings with the circuits marked. Just try to follow the numbers around.

Basement

First Floor

Attic

Luckily, we were able to plan out a new wiring diagram that uses the same amount of circuits, fixes the code violations, reuses quite a bit of the old connections and still isolates the rooms better. Hopefully, it will be approved by the electrical board when Matt passes his test.

 

Update: After rigorous testing we have determined Matt is a dolt. The two 120V circuits that were unknown are marked quite clearly on the schematic above. Matt just forgot to mark it on the switchboard layout. Also, it turns out almost all of the smoke alarms in the house are not wired, but only battery operated. Finally, the unknown 240V connection is also running to the AC unit. Somehow the AC compressor takes 1 240V wire and the AC air handler takes 2 240V wires.

Minor Improvements

As we have been moving into the house, we've noticed a couple minor things that needed fixing. We've noticed many large things that need fixing also, but those will be the subject of other posts.

First thing we did when we moved in was move the fridge out of the pantry/old stair landing so we could get access to the pantry. Luckily the fridge water line was not connected and the electrical line was long enough. All in all, a very easy fix that opened up a lot more room for food storage. (FINALLY!!!!!!!)

The fridge next to its original home

It doesn't stick out that much..........

The next thing we noticed was a small leak in the hot supply pipe of the guest bathroom tub.

The leaky junction

The leak

The home inspector had already alerted us to the likely presence of a small leak so all that remained was finding the exact cause. After examining the leak for a short while, Matt was able to figure out that the water was coming from the top of the valve. Unfortunately, the previous owners had tried to "fix" the leak by wrapping it with string and spraying it with a foam like substance (no surprise there). After chipping away at the foam, Matt was able to fix the leak simply by tightening the seal cap on the top of the valve. We fear simple fixes made harder by "fixes" is going to be the theme of this house.

Currently in the basement is a decent laundry area. It's in the wrong spot and takes up space in what could be a much larger, nicer room, but it has shelves, a table, and a couple other things. However, the table had never been finished and was a bit splintery. We found some cheap contact paper on sale for a couple dollars a roll. Danielle had Matt put it on the table so now it is a dust and splinter free area for folding and storing washed clothes.

It was cheap and didn't stick the best, but it gets the job done

Finally, we were thrilled when we moved into the house that a lot of the lights in the house had dimmers. It's a great and easy way to adjust the lighting. Unfortunately, the previous owners had gone a little overboard with the dimmers and installed one on the only fan in the house. When Matt first turned on the fan he thought it was broken or damaged due to the noise it emitted and the slow speed it moved at no matter the dimmer setting. However, on further research, we found the dimmer itself was to blame.

Note the writing that says "For permanent installed incand. fixtures"

Most dimmers can only be put on incandescent bulbs, not fans, and this one was no different. Since we have gotten a new switch and installed it, the fan now works amazingly.

Managed to install the switch upside down the first time. Have to remember to read the instructions.

A Tale of Our Plumbing Part 1

Imagine our surprise when the first time we ran our dishwasher our sink backed up.

Lovely isn't it? Matt was trying to cook dinner at the time.

It eventually drained, but it kept happening whenever a large volume of water would run through our pipes. So off to the store we went to get some plumbing supplies. We got a snake and a sink plunger to see if it was just a minor clog. Well, the plunger didn't do anything, and the snaking.....the snaking still gives Matt the shivers. The upper part of the drain was clear of anything major. The lower part had a cleanout plug to make snaking simpler.

Very nice clean out plug in the basement

Unfortunately, as Matt found out, part of the issue was the basement lines weren't draining completely. So when that plug came out, instead of the small amount of water that he thought would be in there, a whole half gallon of water, sludge, and rancid "material" came gushing out and soaked him. Luckily, he had a big bucket so it didn't go all over, but, yeah, that was bad.

This is the solid part of the stuff that came out of the line, at least a pound or two.

 To top it all off, there was no blockage in the line.

However, all that water in the line got us thinking, and Matt measured the drop in the plumbing lines. There wasn't a low spot like we first thought, but the line only dropped a 1/2" over a 18' length. Plumbing lines are supposed to drop a 1/4" per foot, so the whole line should have dropped 4.5" over that length. Due to a massive floor joist that can be seen in the picture of the line above, the whole waste line had to be rerouted a whole foot and a half over so that the proper drop could be achieved.

It's always an interesting day when you have to drill five 2.5" holes through things

Hey look, Matt finally remembered to get a before picture!

And here is the after picture!

Finally, after days of trouble shooting and a good 6 hours of work on Sunday, the routing was finished and the problem was ..... still there. Not only did the rerouting of the pipes not fix the drainage issue, (though the pipe slope is amazingly perfect) it made things worse by breaking crud or glue seals on some existing pipes (you can see them buried in the wall in the previous picture, look for the old yellowed pipes). Now our sink backs up, and our pipes in the wall leak like a sieve.

At this point Matt threw in the towel and used the home warranty policy to call a plumber.

Moving in

Sorry for the lack of posts then the huge rush of posts this weekend. We have been preoccupied with moving into the house, and no one wants to see or hear about large piles of boxes being unloaded. Luckily, we are now pretty much done and have many new things to share. We shall try to refrain from mass posting in a weekend again.

The joys of a pre-renovated house

When we bought the house we knew that the whole living room was an addition on the original house. However, as we have been cleaning up, we are starting to realize just how much the house has been changed around from its original form.

While cleaning the basement, we were able to figure out why the "laundry room" area had such odd walls.

Now looking at it, it's obvious it's a stair support

After clearing the cobwebs in the ceiling, we saw an inconsistency in the ceiling joists.

That's not metal...

Turns out that there used to be a stairway down to the basement in the large room. This stairway was under the stairway to the upstairs. The first floor landing for the basement stairway is now the fridge alcove/pantry. The access to the basement has been moved to the new addition. This answers out big question on how the basement was accessed before the addition was put in.

Luckily the work seems done very well and while the subfloor on the first floor has a few small gaps, we are not going to worry about this change and enjoy our much larger basement room.

Just a small gap is all that remains of what used to be a landing

Since the stairs were once all more centrally located, there was also a door at the far end of the kitchen. It explains why the kitchen itself is so wide, the kitchen used to be a major through way in the house. All that remains of the doorway is some cut siding and a small window. The inspector thought it was good, so I am not currently worried about it.

Not only is the vinyl cut, but the stair mounting and the outside light are still up. Luckily this is the back of the house.

Another change we knew had been made to the house from its original specs is that a wall had been taken out between two of the bedrooms on the first floor. This turned two 11'x12' rooms into one long 11'x24' room.

The floor was sealed before the wall was removed

Unlike the basement stairway, this change will most likely be reversed. Danielle and Matt still have some disagreements on exactly how the wall should be added back, but the general consensus is adding back the wall with a large door/opening to allow passage between the two bedrooms.

Now for some changes that we didn't know were there...

What are these strange markings?

This is the closet at the end of the hall. When we looked up at the ceiling, we noticed these markings. This means that this closet was originally part of the small bedroom and it's closet was a couple feet bigger. This was verified by really examining the closet next door. The paneling in the closet is a bit slipshod and mismatched in a couple places. Luckily that is in places not normally seen and the room is going to probably end up as a music room so the closet appearance is not so important.

Finally, the most worrying alteration is this one.

A random wood scrap covered something important!

This is a large hole in the basement. We think it was either the old sump pump hole or a simple drain. Currently the only things in the hole is a drain from the current sump pump and a lower drain leading outside (we think). We would like to cap it or cover it somehow (at least something better than the small plywood piece currently on it), but we are not sure what can be done. Luckily it doesn't seem to be causing any problems and at the very least we can put the washer or dryer over it to prevent someone from falling in it.