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Jato posted:I have officially graduated from the home buying thread and I am here with my first struggle to share... 1. Yes, this gives GFCI protection to the downstream outlets and is pretty common 2. If you don't have one already, get a non-contact voltage tester. They're pretty cheap. 3. Go to your circuit breaker and cut the power to that circuit (e.g. the modem should be dead again), then use your non-contact voltage tester to find all of the outlets that are dead. Open each of the dead outlets, starting with the one in your shed, to make sure that the connections are secure. It sounds like this is some kind of DIY horror show so be sure to check outdoor outlets as well. Since it's the outlet in the shed that caused the issue, I'd guess that outlet needs to be replaced, but it could also just be a wiring issue anywhere on the circuit
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Jul 16, 2023 18:17
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Jato posted:I have officially graduated from the home buying thread and I am here with my first struggle to share... 1) Yes, that is a normal and good way to get GFCI protection along a circuit without having to use a GFCI breaker. 2) Find where the wire comes out of the ground and into your house. If your house is on a concrete slab foundation, it's along the exterior somewhere. If your house is on pier and beam or has a basement, then go down there and try and find it as well. Once you find the wire you can check if it has power on that end, and go from there. My guess is that you have an unprotected buried wire and the insulation has been compromised underground and when you put a high current draw on it, it caused a short with arcing which eventually tripped the GFCI, and also burned through the wire. So even after resetting the GFCI, the underground wire can't supply power past the damaged part of the wire. Also you might get more GFCI or breakers trips because if my theory is true, there are exposed wires underground that are vulnerable to rain water and additional shorting.
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Jul 16, 2023 18:18
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Oh the fun of figuring out what each circuit does in a new-to-you, but historically renovated house. "Wait, why are these in the same circuit, that makes zero sense" Ghost of Gary lives on
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Jul 16, 2023 18:21
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Verman posted:Oh the fun of figuring out what each circuit does in a new-to-you, but historically renovated house. Wait until they look at the breaker box labeling where nothing matches and is otherwise completely incomprehensible. Over the three different houses I've owned, Gary is surprisingly adept as his shittiness in this area.
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Jul 16, 2023 18:26
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Thanks for the quick responses. Having GFCI receptacles anywhere besides bathroom/kitchen are new to me. I actually just realized that there is one in my office and it cuts power to everything in the room - including the overhead lights. It seems they were placed in every room in the house except the primary bedroom - which oddly still has much older receptacles. Will start looking for where the wire reaches the house - might be time for my first proper venture into the crawlspace... Beef Of Ages posted:Wait until they look at the breaker box labeling where nothing matches and is otherwise completely incomprehensible. Over the three different houses I've owned, Gary is surprisingly adept as his shittiness in this area. This is extremely accurate - I've already got a notepad I've started writing down what they *actually* do and will relabel the box at some point.
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Jul 16, 2023 18:30
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We have a shed with electrical outlets, switches , overhead lighting etc but none of them work In the garage there's a (safely terminated) run of copper in the overhead Under the (many, 12+) solar lights in our front walkway is a bunch of copper someone lovingly ran through the middle of treated 4x4 None of this is documented in the breaker box. Would love to figure out the shed electricity but my guess is they cut the power physically and pulled the shed forward ~3 feet to block the view of a nearby intersection
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Jul 16, 2023 18:32
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The plot thickens: the washing machine will not turn on. The dryer is still fine as it has its own 30A breaker, but the other outlets in the laundry room don't appear to be on any breaker in the box, and they lost power along with the shed.
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Jul 16, 2023 19:04
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Jato posted:The plot thickens: the washing machine will not turn on. The dryer is still fine as it has its own 30A breaker, but the other outlets in the laundry room don't appear to be on any breaker in the box, and they lost power along with the shed. Last time this happened to me, something had shorted out an outlet up-circuit. When that outlet went bad the rest of the circuit didn’t have power until I replaced it. It wasn’t a GFCI before but it is now, and everything downstream is now protected, too.
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Jul 16, 2023 19:14
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Figured it out. I found another GFCI I didn't know about in the half bath which was tripped. Apparently that one is upstream of both the laundry room and the shed. Reset it and everything has power again...for now.
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Jul 16, 2023 19:24
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Jato posted:Figured it out. I found another GFCI I didn't know about in the half bath which was tripped. Nice, and I presume these circuits that are definitely connected aren't obviously labeled on the circuit box as being on the same circuit? Sick!!!
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Jul 16, 2023 19:31
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Motors are notorious for nuisance trips on GFCI. Having two GFCIs in series adds nothing. You could replace the downstream one.
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Jul 16, 2023 20:08
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Jato posted:Figured it out. I found another GFCI I didn't know about in the half bath which was tripped. Jesus christ. This is a lot of GFCI s and I'm interested in why. How old is the house? My gut tells me someone went wild on these because the house was wired without a ground. Edit also yes two in series is not a good setup, which it kinda sounds like what you have from the first description but not as much from the last. Either way, it would be a wise project for you to detail out and trace all of your circuits because I bet you'll have more issues in the future. StormDrain fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jul 16, 2023 |
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Jul 16, 2023 21:17
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If you want to get ocd, you can make a spreadsheet of your circuits and which outlets/lights are on it. Either laminate it or put it into a plastic sleeve and attach it to your panel, plus you can save it to the cloud as a Google doc.
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Jul 16, 2023 21:21
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QuarkJets posted:2. If you don't have one already, get a non-contact voltage tester. They're pretty cheap. You also probably want an outlet tester. There's no saying how many of your outlets are miswired.
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Jul 17, 2023 00:42
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devicenull posted:You also probably want an outlet tester. There's no saying how many of your outlets are miswired. Our inspector plugged one of these into a lot of outlets when he was here and didn't note anything unusual in the report.
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Jul 17, 2023 00:53
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Those are essential tools but if there’s circuit and GFCI weirdness you’re only going to be able to start figuring that out with more specialized signal generators/chasers or the tried and true “short the outlet and see what happens.” If the GFCIs aren’t in the right place in the circuit, and your individual circuits are all over the house in random places, you’re going to have a tough time fixing it.
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Jul 17, 2023 00:55
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In the process of adding a generator hookup to the house last year, I discovered there were several 4-wire runs with two hots (one of each phase), a shared neutral, and a ground. At least two of these cases were wired such that both hots were on the same phase with a shared neutral.
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Jul 17, 2023 00:58
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Jato posted:Our inspector plugged one of these into a lot of outlets when he was here and didn't note anything unusual in the report. If the neutral and ground are jumpered together the outlet tester will read correct even if there isn't a ground conductor to the box. The only tell that something is up is if the receptacle is on a GFCI and pressing the "test" button on the outlet tester doesn't do anything (the GFCI sees all the current coming back on the neutral so it won't trip). First house I tended in Austin had all the outlets wired like that, even the ones in the kitchen and bathrooms. It also had a Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok panel.
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Jul 17, 2023 01:23
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Is wallpaper supposed to go under the trim? I'm removing wallpaper and it all goes behind the trim. That doesn't seem right to me. Also, several of the walls have todo lists written on them (under the wallpaper) and mention how they need to fix the doors. I think wallpapering over their todo lists was probably a bad idea, it would have been nice if they did that.
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Jul 17, 2023 02:58
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Gary literally wallpapered over all the problems in the house 
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Jul 17, 2023 03:15
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GlyphGryph posted:Is wallpaper supposed to go under the trim? When you are doing wall finishes before the trim goes up.....yes. Let's put this another way: Is paint supposed to go under the trim?
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Jul 17, 2023 04:05
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Motronic posted:When you are doing wall finishes before the trim goes up.....yes. I feel like I'm badly misunderstanding something here. I would assume that no, paint is not supposed to go under the trim? But the way you're asking makes me think that's the wrong answer? Am I supposed to be removing the trim to actually replace the wallpaper with paint/new wallpaper? Or do I just cut and peel as close as I can and do my best to cover it up after?
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Jul 17, 2023 04:21
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GlyphGryph posted:I feel like I'm badly misunderstanding something here. I would assume that no, paint is not supposed to go under the trim? But the way you're asking makes me think that's the wrong answer? He's just saying that whichever task you did first (trim or paint/paper) is going to determine the answer to that. Let's say you haven't put up any trim, molding, etc etc yet. Your painter comes in and is going to paint the walls. Is he going to carefully stop at where the trim would go, or is he going to just paint the whole wall? He's probably just going to paint the whole wall b/c that's what you paid him for and why would he risk being off a little bit due to mis-measures or [insert nothing square or straight in a house ever]. Then, in comes your trim and you nail it into place. Congrats, paint behind your trim. If your trim was already in place, of course he wouldn't rip it all off to paint behind it. Now you have the opposite result. Neither one is a problem, at least until you decide you don't like that 1940s floral-print wallpaper. 
Sundae fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jul 17, 2023 |
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Jul 17, 2023 04:25
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brother I don’t even paint behind the washing machine
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Jul 17, 2023 04:26
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For a full remodel of the room you'd remove the trim and repaint/rewallpaper. Or in new construction, paint first, add trim later I just repainted a wall in my MIL's house as an "accent wall". I removed the blinds but didn't bother with the trim. That's future me's problem. Or the next Gary. Only time will tell
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Jul 17, 2023 04:26
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GlyphGryph posted:I feel like I'm badly misunderstanding something here. I would assume that no, paint is not supposed to go under the trim? But the way you're asking makes me think that's the wrong answer? Okay, got where you're coming from now. What you're looking at it is the best/nicest way to install wallpaper, but it makes it very difficult to remove. What you probably should be doing is cutting wallpaper at an angle into/under the trim with a sharp knife. But if that's not practical for how it's adhered then yes.....you need to pull trim. If I really wanted that paper gone that's what I'd be doing. .
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Jul 17, 2023 04:28
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Tiny Timbs posted:brother I don’t even paint behind the washing machine After seeing the moldy poo poo behind our dryer when we moved in (Gary wasn't even connecting the dryer to the vent), this line is giving me the shudders. E: Ah okay. I could believe it from some of these Garys we've got running around. VVVV
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Jul 17, 2023 04:30
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I’m just kidding I painted behind the washing machine this very night. I even pull the toilet tanks off when I do the bathrooms, unlike my own Gary.
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Jul 17, 2023 04:31
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I think that a sharp knife probably is the most practical answer here for the current situation. The trim in that room, unlike some of the others in the house, isn't exactly tight, so whatever, I'm probably gonna be repainting the walls every five years or something anyway (this is not an "this is how I think houses work" thing, this is a "I'm a weirdo thing", I'm pretty sure. I also eventually want to remove the siding on the outside and replace it with something I can/have to paint, because repainting the exterior is one of the BIG THINGS I've been forever looking forward to doing as a homeowner, and everyone has told me I'm a nutjob for that but whatever) I will probably remove the trim and do a full overhaul next time around, for now I just need to get that room painted ASAP and then clear enough wallpaper of one of the other walls that it's ready for the party at the end of the month.
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Jul 17, 2023 04:36
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Verman posted:If you want to get ocd, you can make a spreadsheet of your circuits and which outlets/lights are on it. Either laminate it or put it into a plastic sleeve and attach it to your panel, plus you can save it to the cloud as a Google doc.
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Jul 17, 2023 04:41
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Is wedging unapproved flammable materials inside your breaker panel a fire hazard y/n?
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Jul 17, 2023 04:47
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Post your breaker labeling itt
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Jul 17, 2023 04:49
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SpartanIvy posted:Post your breaker labeling itt Is that a threat???
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Jul 17, 2023 05:02
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SpartanIvy posted:Post your breaker labeling itt Kind of makes me want to make it real colloquial. #13 Kitchen outlet on the northwest corner, behind where a toaster would go #18 Northwest corner bedroom, the more private bedroom with the good lighting #8 front living room outlets and also for some reason a basement outlet and two of the lights. Not the ones you're thinking of, the ones on the far side.
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Jul 17, 2023 06:25
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My day in home ownership. I removed the glass doors in our shower the other day when I noticed water leaking beneath the track and onto my bathroom floor. There was ancient, crusty adhesive under there that required a lot of scraping. I pull it all apart, cleaned it up, and replaced it all with new caulk. Got to the last bead and get to the end. Impressed with my work, I stand up in the tub and hit my lower back on the lovely old soap dish and break it in half. Tomorrow the arborists come to start removing our 3 Lombardy poplars. This week should be fun.
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Jul 17, 2023 09:31
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Verman posted:My day in home ownership. I removed the glass doors in our shower the other day when I noticed water leaking beneath the track and onto my bathroom floor. There was ancient, crusty adhesive under there that required a lot of scraping. Very impressed by how literally you took "put your back into it" and how iron-tough your back is. Must be nice being young~
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Jul 17, 2023 10:56
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Zarin posted:Very impressed by how literally you took "put your back into it" and how iron-tough your back is. Funny thing, I'm 38 and I've got a terrible back from various sports injuries, just hit the porcelain protrusion the right way for it to snap in half.
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Jul 17, 2023 11:00
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Bobcats posted:I have that Vornado transom unit and it’s so-so. It really doesn’t move all that much air. I learned a lot about how fans blowing to the outside don’t really cool a person. I don't use window fans anymore, but growing up, the solution my parents used to cool was having one fan vent out a top floor window and another fan vent in from either the other side of the house or downstairs opposite.
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Jul 17, 2023 11:26
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Verman posted:Oh the fun of figuring out what each circuit does in a new-to-you, but historically renovated house. Or a new build with the cheapest day laborours doing the wiring. All of our stuff is mislabeled and we have things like one bedroom being on two different circuits.
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Jul 17, 2023 13:43
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trevorreznik posted:Had some bad grey water backup/spillage from laundry machine at the family cabin in the UP, cabin is 10 feet from lake but up on a hill at the end of a peninsula. My folks have a cabin on a lake in the UP and ran into the same issue a few years back. The cabin is on a hill, but the drainfield is in between the cabin and the lake. Depending on which county you are in will determine your options. Holding tanks are a nogo in most (all?) counties here, while in Northern Wisconsin it is almost the standard for lake homes. They were lucky enough that they could replace the drainfield without replacing the tank and didn't need to jump through all of the hoops. Had they needed to replace the entire system though it would have been considered a new install. I'd reach out to a local excavating company and they'll take care of you. If you are in the central UP I can recommend a few good ones.
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Jul 17, 2023 13:53
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