🧑‍🤝‍🧑 / 🏡 I hate messing with electrical issues

[Bamabww]

but some larger things thrown in,

This happened to us just this past week. Something totally unexpected and undetected. Patsy was vacuuming the bathroom in our bedroom and afterward told me a piece of grout pulled up from the tile floor. I went to look and it might have been a quarter inch piece of grout, not enough to be noticeable to any man but enough to worry the hell out of a woman. I suspected moisture but neither one of us had ever seen any water on the tile around the commode. Just to satisfy her curiosity, I removed the crawlspace door and looked underneath the house. The entrance luckily was just a couple of feet away from the commode. Here's what I found.

The commode has been leaking for some time! Mold and mildew had already covered the bottom of the subfloor.

To make a long story short, this past Friday, Servpro, a water mitigation company removed the ceramic tile, the durock under the tile, and sprayed the mold/ mildew under the house and then will scrape / scrub off the remainder this week. They left several fan / heater type machines in the bathroom and under the floor to attempt to dry the plywood subfloor out. I asked why not just tear it out and replace it with new plywood. Their reply, "the insurance requires us to try to save it first."
But here are some pictures of our mess.
Before:


Our bedroom used as storage space:


The wet subfloor with a "flood cut" on the beadboard paneling:


The attempt to dry. This shows progress in drying the subfloor.


The durock concrete type material used under the ceramic tile:


I'm not sure how to prevent this from happening. After our daughter's stroke in April 2019, she had to move back in with us and we had all the commodes changed to the larger handicap style. So this commode was put in place with a new wax ring in early November 2019. There was never a sign of a leak above the tile, foul odor, wobbly commode, soft spot in the floor, nothing to cue us we had this going on. The only wet area was under the durock and on top of the plywood subfloor. The top of the durock was dry.

I found some water detectors on Amazon I'm going to try just for future peace of mind. The Servpro crew said they recommended checking the wax seal once a year. Who does that?

Probably me from now on.

 

[TerryP]

Ok, @Bamabww you know I'm a bit anal about these things when I see them.

I LOVE the brushed nickel! Why the difference in the towel rods and the toilet paper holder? Is that to match the cabinets...just haven't replaced the yet?



Man, that is just phucked up! I've seen that kind of damage twice in the last decade...in two houses, both owned by the same guy. The first one I thought, "it was here when they moved in." The second house? It's either really bad luck or ... something.

Some may disagree. I don't know. A few years ago I switched from the wax ring to the Korky rubber gaskets ... haven't had any problems what so ever. I want to say they were around $15 a piece.

 

[TerryP]

Whew house maintenance sucks!!! I’ve built all my houses I’ve lived in, other than rentals during the builds. When maintenance issues have popped up, house goes on the market. The house I’m in now (been here a year and a half), may be lived in for the long haul. At least that’s my thought process now.

Ya know, I've found it cathartic. Growing up in a single parent home...my mom didn't know shit about home repairs. Now with decades of experience in home maintenance "under my belt," I still find it relaxing.

Caveat: I'm definitely in the OCD/AC/DC/ADHD realm. There is always something to do...only on a few occasions per year do I sit back and think, what to do next? I've got some things I want to do outside right now but I don't think my neighbors would appreciate all the lights on and tools running at this time of the morning.

 

[sean]

This happened to us just this past week. Something totally unexpected and undetected. Patsy was vacuuming the bathroom in our bedroom and afterward told me a piece of grout pulled up from the tile floor. I went to look and it might have been a quarter inch piece of grout, not enough to be noticeable to any man but enough to worry the hell out of a woman. I suspected moisture but neither one of us had ever seen any water on the tile around the commode. Just to satisfy her curiosity, I removed the crawlspace door and looked underneath the house. The entrance luckily was just a couple of feet away from the commode. Here's what I found.
View attachment 30869
The commode has been leaking for some time! Mold and mildew had already covered the bottom of the subfloor.

To make a long story short, this past Friday, Servpro, a water mitigation company removed the ceramic tile, the durock under the tile, and sprayed the mold/ mildew under the house and then will scrape / scrub off the remainder this week. They left several fan / heater type machines in the bathroom and under the floor to attempt to dry the plywood subfloor out. I asked why not just tear it out and replace it with new plywood. Their reply, "the insurance requires us to try to save it first."
But here are some pictures of our mess.
Before:
View attachment 30870

Our bedroom used as storage space:
View attachment 30871

The wet subfloor with a "flood cut" on the beadboard paneling:
View attachment 30872

The attempt to dry. This shows progress in drying the subfloor.
View attachment 30873

The durock concrete type material used under the ceramic tile:
View attachment 30874

I'm not sure how to prevent this from happening. After our daughter's stroke in April 2019, she had to move back in with us and we had all the commodes changed to the larger handicap style. So this commode was put in place with a new wax ring in early November 2019. There was never a sign of a leak above the tile, foul odor, wobbly commode, soft spot in the floor, nothing to cue us we had this going on. The only wet area was under the durock and on top of the plywood subfloor. The top of the durock was dry.

I found some water detectors on Amazon I'm going to try just for future peace of mind. The Servpro crew said they recommended checking the wax seal once a year. Who does that?

Probably me from now on.

Damn, man! Yeah that would've pissed me off. Thankfully, I don't have to go into a crawl space to see if mine are leaking. One is directly over the utility room (washer/dryer) and the other is directly over the den. So if they started leaking, I'd know it rather early. Which is what happened with the shower. But thankfully that fix involved only cutting an access hole in the wall on the opposite side (in the bedroom) to get to the supply line.

 

[Bamabww]

Why the difference in the towel rods and the toilet paper holder?

Ha! Yes, I thought of you when I posted that picture! Tending to Bethany and her daily needs have put a lot of things on the back burner. Patsy will eventually get around to it.

 

[TerryP]

Ha! Yes, I thought of you when I posted that picture! Tending to Bethany and her daily needs have put a lot of things on the back burner. Patsy will eventually get around to it.

I put this style of knobs in my kitchen for the doors on the bottom. What I didn't consider...it's the same height as pockets. A few times as week I'll get stopped in my tracks with one of my pockets snaring the knob.

Looks great, though!

 

[Justneedme81]

Last summer, we had to replace the whole outlet switch and plugs in the kitchen to make sure everything matched. We thought each room had dedicated like... Nope. One switch would turn the light on in the other room, one would turn light outside. It was a mess. We later found out everything in living room and kitchen and outside ran off one line or whatever you wanna call it. The house was over 30 years old. I tried to fix it but it kept getting worse. I paid 1,500 for them to rip a hole in wall and repaired the electrical system to ensure everything was set right.

Two weeks later the A/c blew a breaker bar and it burned. Instead of replacing the panel, I just took the bad one out and moved to different empty slot and closed it.
I sold the house a month after I fixed it and I said to my realtor... They're gonna have lot to replace the whole panel eventually.

 

[TerryP]

We thought each room had dedicated like... Nope.

I don't understand how this happens. I've mentioned my front door bell being wired directly to the light switch in my mud room: in the back of the house. How? Why?

I put in a Ring doorbell for my next door neighbor a few years ago. Her old doorbell was wired with telephone wire. (Original owner built the house...first one in neighborhood.)

I have four outdoor outlets on the porches, deck, and patio. They aren't on the same breaker. I guess you wouldn't want them to be on the same breaker considering the load an outdoor outlet may be asked to carry.

 

[Krimson]

I don't understand how this happens. I've mentioned my front door bell being wired directly to the light switch in my mud room: in the back of the house. How? Why?

I put in a Ring doorbell for my next door neighbor a few years ago. Her old doorbell was wired with telephone wire. (Original owner built the house...first one in neighborhood.)

I have four outdoor outlets on the porches, deck, and patio. They aren't on the same breaker. I guess you wouldn't want them to be on the same breaker considering the load an outdoor outlet may be asked to carry.

Usually several outlets are daisy chained based on proximity, to save wire. unless it's a dedicated outlet like for a microwave. Outlets in two rooms could be 4 inches apart, opposite sides of the wall, where keeping same room on same breaker would've taken 12 feet of wire.

 

[TerryP]

Usually several outlets are daisy chained based on proximity, to save wire. unless it's a dedicated outlet like for a microwave. Outlets in two rooms could be 4 inches apart, opposite sides of the wall, where keeping same room on same breaker would've taken 12 feet of wire.

Ideally. It's not that way in my house. The only thing I've been able to figure out is they tried to keep everything on one wall on one breaker: in most cases, that is.

Several years ago a friend's son gave him one of those outlet testers/circuit breaker finders that Klein Tools puts out...about fifty or so. I know where EVERYTHING is wired now. The inside door of my breaker box looks like the syllabus for a course; bullet points and all.

 

[Rsedge72]

Usually several outlets are daisy chained based on proximity, to save wire. unless it's a dedicated outlet like for a microwave. Outlets in two rooms could be 4 inches apart, opposite sides of the wall, where keeping same room on same breaker would've taken 12 feet of wire.

My son bought a house built in the 80’s. Still remodeling. His outlets and switches are on random circuits/breakers. It’s nuts. One outlet in one room two switches in another and an outside light may be on the same breaker. Then 2 side by side are on different breakers. In one room an outlet is on breaker 4, and another is on 9. Hell the breakers aren’t even next to each other. So every time he does something, he has to double and triple check which breaker it’s on. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s got a switch that controls all the outlets in another room.

 

[Justneedme81]

My son bought a house built in the 80’s. Still remodeling. His outlets and switches are on random circuits/breakers. It’s nuts. One outlet in one room two switches in another and an outside light may be on the same breaker. Then 2 side by side are on different breakers. In one room an outlet is on breaker 4, and another is on 9. Hell the breakers aren’t even next to each other. So every time he does something, he has to double and triple check which breaker it’s on. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s got a switch that controls all the outlets in another room.

That's crazy!

 

[TerryP]

Yeah I saw that… If I can find it again I’ll post as well..

 

[Krimson]

My son bought a house built in the 80’s. Still remodeling. His outlets and switches are on random circuits/breakers. It’s nuts. One outlet in one room two switches in another and an outside light may be on the same breaker. Then 2 side by side are on different breakers. In one room an outlet is on breaker 4, and another is on 9. Hell the breakers aren’t even next to each other. So every time he does something, he has to double and triple check which breaker it’s on. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s got a switch that controls all the outlets in another room.

Yep I've seen all kinds of wiring jobs, a lot that makes you wonder what in the world they were thinking. Wiring my stuff i don't worry about saving wire so much as I worry about logical breakers. When I've wired places for money though I tried to save wire and still have it make sense, all outlets on a wall went to a breaker, always tried to not have anything too crazy.

 

[OldPlayer]

This happened to us just this past week. Something totally unexpected and undetected. Patsy was vacuuming the bathroom in our bedroom and afterward told me a piece of grout pulled up from the tile floor. I went to look and it might have been a quarter inch piece of grout, not enough to be noticeable to any man but enough to worry the hell out of a woman. I suspected moisture but neither one of us had ever seen any water on the tile around the commode. Just to satisfy her curiosity, I removed the crawlspace door and looked underneath the house. The entrance luckily was just a couple of feet away from the commode. Here's what I found.
View attachment 30869
The commode has been leaking for some time! Mold and mildew had already covered the bottom of the subfloor.

To make a long story short, this past Friday, Servpro, a water mitigation company removed the ceramic tile, the durock under the tile, and sprayed the mold/ mildew under the house and then will scrape / scrub off the remainder this week. They left several fan / heater type machines in the bathroom and under the floor to attempt to dry the plywood subfloor out. I asked why not just tear it out and replace it with new plywood. Their reply, "the insurance requires us to try to save it first."
But here are some pictures of our mess.
Before:
View attachment 30870

I’m familiar with assistance rails but I didn’t know about a “booster seat.” My mom could have used this.

 

[Bamabww]

I’m familiar with assistance rails but I didn’t know about a “booster seat.” My mom could have used this.

The handicap commode was still too low for our daughter to get on and off of comfortably. Patsy found these on Amazon I believe.
To tell the truth, it has helped an old man with bad knees as well.

 

[TerryP]

@footballer @Rsedge72 Okay, since you guys are bigoted towards "smart devices," what about this?

KastKing iReel One IFC Smart Fishing Reel

KastKing iReel One Smart Fishing Casting Reel, Bluetooth Connectivity to Smart Devices and KastKing App, Smoother & Longer Casts with Axis Eye Line Guide and Digital IFC Braking System.

kastking.com

 

[Krimson]

@footballer @Rsedge72 Okay, since you guys are bigoted towards "smart devices," what about this?

KastKing iReel One IFC Smart Fishing Reel

KastKing iReel One Smart Fishing Casting Reel, Bluetooth Connectivity to Smart Devices and KastKing App, Smoother & Longer Casts with Axis Eye Line Guide and Digital IFC Braking System.

kastking.com

Who looks at Kastking reels is the real question...
Can't believe the crap people will buy.

 

[TerryP]

Who looks at Kastking reels is the real question...

The same people who will buy this.

Castable Sonar Fish Finder

 

[Krimson]

The same people who will buy this.

Castable Sonar Fish Finder

View attachment 30885

Facts. That's pretty sad.