IDK Why this video was recommended to me by youtube, but, that was incredibly generous of you to teach those men how to properly do the job, incredibly respectable.
I have no electrical background, but I do know that this is beyond insane. I hope you continue to have good work on your horizon. I watch alot of random videos on youtube and this has perhaps been the most informative video without directly meaning too. You seem very educated, skilled, and serious about your work/passion.
I am a retired electrician with over 50 years in the trade, and I have never seen so much NEC violation in one home as you've shown! And that general needs to have his license revoked or at the least suspended. His job is to check and make sure all subs are licensed. When it comes to electricity, you don't take dangerous short cuts, use untrained help without having a journey man to check the work. That is a scary house to live in. And the local code enforcement needs to be reprimanded for their passing of such dangerous work! Appreciate you uploading and sharing this with the general public to see.
The "buddy system" was in effect in this picture. The general contractor and inspector were buddies... The inspector asked the general if an electrician had done the work, and the general said "sure" so, without looking at anything, the inspector signed off. It is obvious from these pictures that no licensed electrician did the work, and no actual inspection ever took place.
Teaching them how to do it: million and one points for you, that was awesome way to handle that problem. Many would've just mocked them when it is the employer who needs to make sure their workers know their stuff.
I was an Electrical Inspector in Oregon after working many years as a General Journeyman, and have been retired since 2004. Generally, in Oregon we tried to feed the power to a lighting circuit in at the switch and run the legs up to the various fixtures. We tried to start outlet circuits near the panel and run through the wall, around the house. I avoided putting hot wires in the attic if I could, knowing that if anything went wrong, I might have to get up there to fix it. Generally speaking, lots of California trained Electricians fed the power to the fixture and the switch leg went down to the box containing the switch. I didn't last long as an Inspector because of what I saw going on.
It is now the code that the circuit comes into the switch box because neutrals are required in the switch boxes. I have always come into the switch and ran switch legs to the lights. I hate trouble shooting when I have to remove light fixtures. I would much rather stand up at the switch box and check the wiring. Who wants to be on a ladder, maybe over someone's bed and troubleshoot? I have found in many apartment building all of the circuits run through the light boxes. The wiring is usually 75° C wiring and the insulation is damaged because of too high a wattage of light bulbs, (too high ambient heat) and then you end up having to fix the wires with loom and tape or worse from the attic or open the ceiling. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
We started making repairs, which are seen in this video, and the general contractor paid me for that first day, and then . . . then . . . then . . . he convinced the husband homeowner that I was charging him too much money. He convinced the husband to let him finish the corrections. A subsequent re-inspection, and it was passed again. BUT I have been back to the house for subsequent electrical problems and at a "glance" I saw much that he did not correct. The wife believes in me and I worked for her on two corrections. How the inspector passed it a second time since I gave the inspector photos, I don't know. I'm sure he did not correct most of his work, for the violations that I saw at a glance after the second final sign off are still there and easy to have corrected. I'd bet any amount of money, if a good electrician went back to this house and final results in a law suit would be to take it down to the studs and redo the work.
I have been an electrical contractor for over 40 years and I have seen some bad work(usually DIYers) but never anything this widespread. That was an accident waiting to happen.
Agreed. I do not understand why all the parts are wrong. Doesn't someone stock their truck with at least the most basic electrical parts / screws / etc? Insane and horrifying!
As a cable tech I have run into similar situations, though not as wide spread. I was crawling in an attic one time and came across three 12/2 lines that were spliced together (1 feed + 2 lines) and both the hot and neutral were missing the wire nuts (forget about a j-box). It was a good thing I saw it before as it was right where I was about to place my hand. Another was a duplex I was renting where the builders spliced behind the bathroom outlet to run to the living room and 3rd bedroom. We found this out because one day my wife called and said half the house had no power. I got home and noticed the GFI outlet in the bathroom was blackened. It never tripped, nor did the 20 amp breaker (GFI was rated at 15 amps). In the living room I had a plasma tv, dvr, xbox, and computer. The 3rd bedroom had three computers, two 19" crt monitors, all my chargers for work, a crt tv and another dvr. I calculated over 42 amps was being pulled when everything was running and was like this for almost a year and half. I would have corrected it myself but the house was wired with aluminum wiring and I wasn't going to mess with it. Would have been easy to fix too as the breaker box was on an inside wall in the master closet right next to the bathroom. Yep, 15 years as a cable tech and I have seen quite a bit.
Think ? It is clear that this installation is prone to a deadly fire. I'd install at least 4 to 5 fire detector in each room after seeing this, and send the bill to the contractor.
Sir I really like the fact the you helped the guys showing them the correct way, as a former inspector I would find many unsafe projects and would do the same as you did. They won't ever forget that.....
Absolutely unbelievable! I’m a retired electrician after 40 years and I have seen some real nightmares, but never have I seen anything like this. This is downright criminal in my opinion.
You can't ground from wood? Don't be ridiculous. Almost all wood comes from trees and trees mostly grow out of the ground. It's only common sense that you can use wood as a ground. Though I will admit there are better alternatives. Like a small pile of dirt packed into the junction boxes then just make sure your ground wire is in contact with the dirt. Also a tip for better grounding mix some water in to make it mud. It packs better and as long as you water your receptacles every now and then your good to go.
Food for thought . . . and clever. Did you know that we don't use wooden ladders, but instead use fiberglass ladders because wood can be conductive? Its resistance is too high to trip the circuit breaker or below the fuse though. The idea we strive for is 25 ohms or less for good grounding/bonding. Thanks, for your input for your wording was clever . . .
are you being serious? you honestly think grounding means the grounding wire just has to touch dirt and dumping wet mud into a junction box is a good idea? did you even go to school?
everything in this video reminds me of my house when i bought it. except my house was built in 1880 and the wires were all paper back with cracking rubber. after a few months and 750ft of new wire i finally got it modernized
As a 16 year old going for a career in the medical field with no interest in any of the work this video involves, nor knowledge of said work, this video makes me cringe. I don't know how you could possibly go through with such a job like this and not see your own errors! The guys doing this MUST have known what they are doing! I really hope that these people that did the electrical never go near so much as a wire again.
il IL. In my opinion the General Contractor was unethical. It was all about the money. He used people who were not trained to make more money. On yelp, he has stellar reviews, because he is a con man. He tried double talking me, but it fell on deaf ears. Believe me it was not the fault of the workers.
@@BayAreaElectric I can agree with you, but I have one problem: if he is a con man, the workers must know this, no? If they have no idea what they're doing, then they're only in it for the money. If they do have an idea what they're doing but they're doing work this poor of quality, then they're also just in it for the money. See where I'm going with this?
@@poggairl3782 Of course, I understand your position. I met his workers, and they were eager to learn. I doubt that financially these individuals could afford to be fired. This world is filled with moral dilemmas and decisions that reach for our higher selves. The General Contractor is very well off, and continued his greed. His laborers wanted to pay their rent, and buy food. I worked as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer for 4 years and 3 months in the third world, and had to make many decisions that challenged my ideals. If I were to have the power, I would prosecute the General Contractor and train his laborers. His laborers did carpentry, plumbing, sheet metal, insulation, drywall, electrical etc. etc. And I do understand your position, which we could write volumes.
Not sure if the inspectors are overworked, under educated, lazy, or paid off, but lots of things get overlooked these days (hopefully not to this extent). My house had issues that had to be fixed like 2x4 studs further than 30" apart for load bearing walls (in the unfinished basement so it was right out in the open, kinda hard to miss stuff), etc. The house was only 4 years old when I bought it and we had GFCI outlets that the test and reset buttons ejected out of the outlet when tested. The attached deck had to be replaced, and when we disassembled it the number of code violations we found was scary. I'm only glad the home inspector I hired to evaluate the house was really good and pointed out the things that needed to be fixed before we moved in. Given what happened (lawsuits and such) after Hurricane Andrew tore through Florida, you'd have thought that building inspectors and contractors would have been a little more attentive...
Seen a lot of work like this done by people who "install electrical work everyday" many times, and the cringe factor is off the scale. As a former inspector who worked in the field for 25 yrs. after going through a apprenticeship that was known to be the toughest in the area (had to pass even 2nd and 3rd stages by a min. of 3 master electricians) none of that would even be allowed by a first yr. apprentice! We had a saying for those homeowners who lived in those homes wired anything like that "oil the hinges" meaning for the doors so they could escape fast when it started on fire. The other day a neighbor asked me if I would look at their outside light, which stopped working on their older home with metal siding, pulled open the fixture, and found the hot wired in, and the neutral smashed into a crease on the siding! They just cut off the ground so they weren't bothered with it, and the box wasn't attacked to a nearby stud, and this was done by a guy "who wires houses" just 3 yrs. earlier! Wish this kind of stuff was the exception, but you eventually realize it's more common than you think. And people wonder why there is so many fires!
niceguy217 - You are correct about many bad installations. I have a thousand photos of poor electrical installations on my website. Most of them were done without inspection. Thanks for your comments.
This makes me glad we have 3 1/2 years apprenticeship with schooling in germany before you're allowed to do electrical work alone. Hoping the Home Owner stays safe
I wish we had rules that a general contractor had to have some training, but here in California a general building contractor can do ALL of the electrical work with NO - I repeat NO training. That is the law in California.
DoomGhoul - I did this in one take . . . and now regret it because there is so much good stuff I left out, and I mispronounced several words. Honestly, I was so moved to do this, I let it all out without censure. Thanks for your comment.
Short story told to me by an electrician while he was checking the new wiring I did to my house: He installed all the wiring in a new house. Everything. By the book. The only thing he did not do was to put the lids on the junction boxes in the walls. (here there is usually a small junction box in every room). This was because he was going to do a final checkup after the walls(brick) were plastered with a cement/lime/sand mix. After a while the owner calls him to complain that the house is "energised". Touching the walls would give you a small electric shock and the power meter was spinning wildly. When he went to check the wiring he found NO junction boxes. The idiots had filled them with plaster. Man, the plaster guys almost got their asses kicked. The whole cost of plastering was refunded and they also had to pay for drilling out the junction boxes.
Thanks for sharing your story from that electrician. I'm not sure why the walls had current unless some of the wiring in the junction boxes was exposed.
The workers were ignorant (we all come into the world knowing nothing), but the general building contractor was greedy, so he hired people who would cost him less.
The plaster is a wet mix. Imagine pouring a watery cement mix in the junction box... From there the electricity traveled through the still wet wall, etc. You are right. The big contractors hire the cheapest workforce available failing to realize that it costs them more to fix after those unskilled workers than to pay for skilled workers from the beginning.
Oh most are aware, that is why they do their damnist to not fix their sub par work. They will send out the most useless guy on the crew to poke and prod for a few hours, then when nothing is fixed, complain that it's not costing him money to do anything more so he won't be coming back out.
Reminds me of when I opened up my house like a tin of beans when I first moved in. True story: The electrical socket that powered the cooker hood fan was actually inside the cooker hood, where the steam from the stove runs right in front of it before going back out of the air holes. It was covered in fat from cooking. I still have some issues yet to be resolved, such as when I have my electric blanket on, I feel a tingle when I touch the wall as if I'm making an earth.
STOP! Have an electrician figure out the problem. The fact that you have not been hurt is because your resistance is high. For example, if you were in your bedroom and stepped out on the heat grill, which is probably grounded then your resistance might lower. Remember a bird can land on a live wire, it is when it becomes a resistor in the circuit that there is a problem. Don't help complete the circle back to ground. Thanks for sharing your story about the cooker hood fan.
I never thought, that I am going to watch such video, but it was quite interesting, thought I am very bad in a electrics. Your voice is perfect for such videos, great job.
This video keeps showing up in my recommendations for whatever reason, and every time I remember your plight. Keep doing the good work you do by not taking the cheep and/or easy way out.
This was horrifying to watch... that "contractor" needs to not only have his license permanently revoked but forced to refund and pay for all corrected work.
I'd personally call the guys over and punch them in the face.. personally. This can burn a house down and kill a family potentially. There is a reason there are regulations and a reason why ALL electrical work done has to be inspected before it is deemed a livable area.
Eric Benton your anger should be directed at the general building contractor not his men for they did not know any better. Believe me I understand your emotions, thanks for expressing them!
Your surprised it passed? Not me. I recently did a flood damage remodel in San Pedro, Ca. I added new lights, and outlets. When the city inspector came, he was more interested in my dog i had with me rather than inspecting anything. He was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I was actually shocked, he didnt look closely at one outlet and they were all exposed (no drywall) for the inspection. Luckily for the homeowner i take pride in doing my job ... correctly!
The homeowner is protected by people like you who have pride and character, not the inspector. I love dogs too, and would have bonded with the dog before and after doing a complete inspection.
Where I live, you are not allowed to install electrical wires as is in walls. You are required to use either a flexible (or rigid) plastic tube, or a steel tube, and then pull the wires through.
Conduit use to be the code in a couple of the surrounding cities over ten years ago, but no longer. Since romex is so, so easy to install many untrained people are doing it. Building inspectors are the last line of defense for many homeowners, and when they fail to do their job . . . well you can see the result.
Hey, man! full credit for doing a good job on documenting the issues. just to "criticize" without the photos could be hard to substantiate. Also, your willingness (heck, eagerness) to teach the GC's guys is a credit to you...as is your assessment of the guys (hardworking, respectful, etc). Please visit the nearest cloning station...we need a lot more people like you.... Cheers!
This is the exact reason I don’t have electricians do work in my house, Louisiana has a problem with get-er-dun quote skilled workers. I had the meter relocated from the back to the side of my home where the generac auto transfer switch was also installed and that’s where the electricians work STOPPED!!! Everything else is being done by myself using the NEC 2020 code book as reference a has thus far been inspected by both city & parish “county” as well as 2 master electricians that I know and have seen their spectacular work methods. As far as I can research, Louisiana is still using the 2014 NEC Code. YES, I’m installing new ground bonded junction boxes in my attic above each room due to my home being built in 1946 “76yrs old”! All the old BX 2-wire armored cable is being removed, all the 2-wire non-ground old school Romex cables are being removed and all light fixtures, and/or old insufficient junction boxes are being replaced. Dedicated circuits are being run as per 2020 NEC code, GFCI circuits are being run and each room has its own home run. Although, unnecessary or redundant it’s safer and easier to troubleshoot a problem that may happen over the years . The extra wire is costing me but each receptacle unless access is achievable without damaging the walls are being run individually up into the attic to a junction box(s). If more wires are needed and that junction box has come to its box fill limit another junction box will be installed, however I’m attempting to only have one junction box above each room. All junction boxes are bonded using pre-made green 12 awg pigtails with green ground screws, this is also how all fixtures are being grounded and metal light switch/receptacle boxes as well. I’m trying not to use plastic boxes or plastic fixture boxes so a box/fixture grounding method can be achieved. Plastic is the way much is done nowadays and I hate that fact metal boxes are better but, I do have 3 plastic junction boxes used simply for joining my security lights so one switch can be used. Metal boxes cost more and can save your life if a ground is installed & bonded which is how each junction box is being done above each room. That way if a short happens by mistake or future failure it will cause the breaker for that circuit to trip and save the people in that room, loved ones, the home and property from harm or worse. Using one home run per room and a junction box per room may be excessive but, it in fact will make troubleshooting a failure or mistake later easier if they should happen! More people should get educated and do their own work and of course do their due diligence when finding a pro or inspector to check their work!!!
That's interesting you say that. For instance, I live in Toronto in Canada and many friends of mine are also electricians that get called to do work in Louisiana. Wasn't really sure why, guess it makes sense now. Not surprised they're clearly Outsourcing all the way from Canada for work to be done
Yes, I am surprised that it is getting so many view recently because it is not the most exciting video, but I believe important for anyone having work done on their house or property. Don't rely solely on the inspector to protect you is the bottom line.
This is absolutely terrifying. I would be scared to death to sleep in that house. You could easily wake up with a random electrical fire coming from any room!
SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY, i have no idea why this appeared in my recommendations but sweet FUCK. On a more serious not can't they take them to court or something?, i'm all about second chances, but this... i mean it's one thing to fuck up and put lives at risk, it's an other thing be ignorant/careless and put lives at risk , but all this is just gross negligence on an unfathomable degree, and not only that despite been given several chances to correct mistakes the contracted party has not only failed but also showed clear disregard of their failures.
I recently did some remodeling in our kitchen and found an outlet mounted directly to knotty pine paneling that was cut out to fit the outlet with no junction box. Even as an electrical novice I was in shock to say the least. After living in the house 15 years it makes me wonder what else is hiding that we never saw.
I've always done my own electrical work but I also respect electricity. When I bought my first home I bought a book and read it. Every improvement I made was checked and double-checked against that book. The work in this video is unbelievable.
I'm actually glad I have 2 uncles who are qualified at most things. Roofing, Plumping, Electricity, and even Gas. One is a maintenance foreman, while the other does air conditioning for major corporate and industrial facilities, ie the big stuff, one of which is now retired. I've helped them a lot over the years with their instruction of course. Even when I was a teenager I could do better wiring than what I saw on this video. They're both home improvement do it your self gurus, and actually get angry when they notice stuff like this. I remember when we help redo my brother's home, roofing, wiring, plumping, even did the gas piping, the roof work. It was pretty bad, but the house was pretty old. One of my uncles was quite mad though that the roof used very thin plywood you couldn't even walk on it, we literally had to replace it all. I can do plumping and wiring, and confidently to boot, but you will not get me to touch gas, nope.... scares me to death. Too many bad Hollywood movies. What really bugs me about this video is, why the general contractor didn't at least provide proper educational materials for his new employees see one of them looked almost right out of school. They sell books on how to do proper wiring, it isn't rocket science.
Kameraden - Thanks for sharing some of your family history. Construction is fun and enjoyable for many of us. We continue to learn our whole lives and share our skills with family and friends. When I see my neighbors doing their own home projects, it is my pleasure to share tools and give them my thoughts. It is difficult for me to see a General Contractor like this one caring only about $$$$$. He doesn't care about his clients nor the men working for him. In fact, his work could seriously injury or kill those who are paying him, or maybe the next owners of the property. Thanks again.
Ya, wiring is serious. Improper installation can lead to a house fire, or accidental electrocution. Neither is a good thing, and that is just the serious problems. Let alone minor problems that will drive a home owner mad, when appliances or lights do not work properly. It's the one thing about buying a renovated home that would scare me. Even if it looks fine on the outside, who knows what it's likely behind the dry wall. Incidents like this do not reinforce people's confidence in the system.
I've always thought if the general contractor did the work and THEN have an electrician check the work to verify the work was done correctly THEN have a building inspector check it - that should be good enough
Great job. You're saving lives. What a shame that the city is so corrupt that they would sacrifice lives for money. Someone needs to go to prison for this.
If you are not already familiar I suggest you look up the Badger house fire in Stamford Connecticut that occurred on Christmas morning 2012 where three young daughters and the two elderly Grandparents were consumed in a house fire while the mother and the contractor boyfriend were sleeping downstairs A 1920 two-and-a-half story frame house at the end of a cul-de-sac was undergoing complete renovation for quite some time and and with the construction being incomplete they were granted a a temporary Certificate of Occupancy when in the aftermath it was clear to the most untrained eye the house was not in any condition to be occupied with scaffolding still surrounding the house siding unfinished and who knows what else to say the very least Firefighters on the scene battling the flames attested that the fire was out of control as the balloon frame structure with the wall framing extending from the foundation to the roof line contained no fire stops and none were installed during the recent improvements before the framing were covered that they could see as they open the walls to fight the fire I only bring this up because the next morning news reporters from local papers were on the scene taking pictures and one happened to catch a photograph of the back of the rear entryway vestibule, which they later call the mud room and clearly it was a photograph of a sub panel which appeared to have arcing burn marks emanating from it onto the wood siding. The mother and the contractor told the authorities they had enjoyed a Christmas Eve in front of the fireplace and when the fire was out the contractor boyfriend had swept up the ashes so Santa wouldn't get burned, they told the young girls and putting them in a paper bag he placed them them in a covered metal receptacle in the mudroom claiming that this is where the fire must have started. Though in later depositions the contractor claimed the mother had put the ashes in the mudroom and he had taken the blame originally to protect her The contractor disappeared himself for a while, then resurfaced though his records were difficult to attain, The mother, Madonna Badger was found to have deleted all records and photographs of the construction project from her ex husband's computer, though he attested she had permission to access his apartment and his computer The contractor's insurers agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying seven million dollars to the estate of the three little girls. The father of the three girls who lived in Manhattan said publicly to Katie Couric he could not go on living without his three daughters and was determined to bring Justice to those who caused their death and filed suit against the City of Stamford claiming they were responsible [ From The Hartford Courant - Matthew Badger (the father) argued that the city was reckless by giving (the contractor) Borcina , who had no contractor's license, a building permit. He also argued that the city approved plans that didn't include smoke detectors in the girls' third-floor bedrooms, which he said was a statutory requirement. A key issue was the city's decision to demolish the house two days after the fire without telling Madonna Badger. The lawsuit named the city Director of Operations Ernie Orgera and Chief Building Official Robert DeMarco as defendants and alleged that they conspired to illegally demolish the house to spare the city from legal liability. Within a few days the entire house was carted away and destroyed, prohibiting any private investigators or insurance investigators from looking into the cause of the fire. In depositions, the city's two fire marshals acknowledged that the swift demolition of the house and destruction of debris made further investigation impossible ] City officials testified however they all circled the wagons, even one refusing to testify. With neither physical evidence nor testimony to prove liability the court had no choice but to find for the motion to dismiss the case though in it's finding it admonish the city and its employees for its actions. The city did agree to settle the lawsuit for undisclosed amounts to the Estates of the children and the grandparents though public records show that six million dollars was paid to the children's estate with the grandparents estate settlement unknown And sadly true to his word Mr Badger one month after his case was disposed passed away from an unknown cause except stated as natural causes. Heartbreaking. And this past October Michael Borcina, passed away from cancer, his years after the fire were spent working for Habitat for Humanity. I'll leave it up to you as to what the total number of victims were as result of this circumstance. As a footnote then-mayor Dannel Malloy is now the governor of the state of Connecticut So five lives perished in the fire, two more in the years shortly thereafter when malfeasance, negligence and conspiracy surely seem to be at the root of it all and nobody personally went to jail or lost their job or had to pay out of pocket or had wages garnished. They get to continue on with their lives doing their job as city employees the same way with no accountability, to collect their paychecks and later their pensions with one making it all the way to the State House and as all governors do with hopes and aspirations one day moving to higher office. The only consequence we can hope for is that these people have some kind of conscious and for the rest of their days their sleep will be disturbed by the images of three small girls and two elderly trying to escape the flames of a burning building that they could have prevented and the heartbreak of their loved ones. If not then truly these people truly are sociopaths with no empathy and feeling for the pain of others. So sad there are re these that not only walk among us but are in positions of authority vested with Public Safety I'm sorry for blowing up your comment box, but your video was diligent thoughtful sincere accurate responsible and spot-on and it triggered this in me, something I've watched from day one and followed every development and in the end has left me disturbed and unsettled over how this could continue in our society today Seeing what you saw on your video brought back the possibility of this happening over and again to innocent people by negligent people. Thank you and keep on fighting the good fight
Sadness and anger from your accounting strikes me. I loathe incompetency and dereliction of duty. I left two hours ago a city meeting with Jerry Hill our local Senator. I have been trying for almost a year to have a law passed in California, which would make it mandatory for any electrical work to be done by a licensed electrical contractor or a State Certified electrician. In California our State Contractor's License Board allows general contractors to do all of the electrical work without an electrical license or certification, if the general contractor performs two or more unrelated trades to carpentry . . . STUPID! As an electrical contractor (C10) I must used State Certified Electricians, but a general contractor who know far less than myself about electricity can use his laborers or anyone else in his employment . . . STUPID California law. Thanks for your comments. You and I have been cut from the same cloth.
This is outrageous. I dare say in all probability since it has happened this once, it has probably happened other times. They should find out who inspected and approved this work then audit their history of approvals.
You would think so! I turned in my photos and comments to the building department, and have subsequently been to the home for other issues. Without permission to investigate, I see some of the same code violations I documented. If I were to told to sleuth, I'm sure that many issues still exist.
I've been an AV installation contractor and data cabler for 10+ years, done a lot of residential work so I've been in a lot of roof spaces, and a fair bit on the commercial side too. Seen my fair share of dodgy work (and come close to accidents due to it, more than once) but I've never seen any electrical job done as poorly as this. I feel sorry (and a fair bit worried) for the homeowners. Great video, keep up the good work upholding codes/standards and pro installation practices.
I just learned how to rewire my entire kitchen (to the studs) I went slow, read the code, asked when I didn't know and used channels like this to help me understand. By no means could I go solve weird problems, but damn, take pride in your work!
Fun story from when my dad had some electrical problems... He noticed that the main fuses in his house started blowing out one after anther. So he starts disconnecting different parts of the house only to find that if he disconnected the electricity to his barn, the main fuses would hold. He then starts going over the electrical systems in the barn and couldn't find anything wrong with them, so he concludes that the problem has to be in the line between the house and the barn. He hires a digger to come and dig the cable outta the ground, and lo and behold! The asshat that owned the property before him had run short on cable when he first put the line down, so he spliced it together with another cable midway through, only he "insulated" it by wrapping the wires in fist-sized balls of electrical tape instead of using proper insulation. He then buried the cable straight down in the dirt, no protective tubing or anything. Fucking genius. It kinda makes me surprised that not more houses burn down due to electrical fires with all these clowns running around doing electrical work.
Karl The Fragr - I ran into a case about 5 years ago where a guy was growing a lot marijuana in his house, but the electrical bill was small. Often times people were caught because the electrical bill was very, very high. He had dug down to the utility company's cable before it got to the house (in front of the meter) and double tapped in. So there was no metering of the electrical . . . I think his penalty was greater for stealing electricity than for growing pot.
Inside wireman apprentice here, sent this to my instructor at my JATC, expecting to elicit a good chuckle... but he wept. Thanks for posting this though, I'd call it job security for myself if it wasn't somebody's home that could unexpectedly burn down.
I don't know if you are serious, but the salary for a journey electrician in my area is about $70/hour. There is certainly a shortage of good electrician in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
No I understand what OSHA was, I just found it very funny in a sad way how nothing was up to any standards. It's so bad it seems like they were trying to collect insurance on the house
I don't believe this to be true, i.e. to collect insurance money. The general building contractor is a slick talker. I spoke with him on the phone once, and twice in person. When I confronted him with the poor workmanship he did not become defensive, which I was prepared for, but immediately turned to his men who were standing by and blamed them. He showed no loyalty towards his men, nor did he accept the blame. He simply kissed my ass thinking he could sweet talk me. I treated him courteously, but was direct about explaining that done of his work was code complying. He never flenched, but simply repeated his disappointment in his men.
To be fair, electricity "could" be grounded to wood. You'd just have to keep that wood fully saturated with water and somewhere have a connection to earth ground. Easy-peasy, house on fire-y!
I've done electrical design work for a company out in California before, they wanted us to violate NFPA 30A, 52, and 70E (designs were for fuel dispensing locations) all over to save costs. Also, if I saw this in my house I would be calling a lawyer before calling the third party electrician because that wiring screams future lawsuit. The only way I would feel comfortable with any correction is if it involved tear down the walls and allowing a third party to inspect the work. I don't know a lot about NEC, most of my work is exempt from NEC, but I've read enough to be horrified by that install.
holy hell. This makes me feel way more confident in my DIY jobs. I actually follow the rules and think everything through logically. This video makes me sad for those homeowners and the workers too.
When I go for my electrical apprenticeship I'll keep this channel subscribed; codes may vary from country to country, but skill, talent and doing the job right is pretty universal.
shalol When building a house, you have to get it inspected. which makes sure it's safe and up to the current electrical code. Most of this is terribly unsafe and some of it is just ugly.
WOW!!!!! I have never.... As a 15 year IBEW journeyman electrician this gives me the shivers. I have seen a lot of bad work, I have even seen someone wire a bathroom fan/light like the can light except even worse because the sheath was stripped back about a foot, but I have never seen that many insane violation and absolutely straight up fire hazards. I guess I'm glad I've been so sheltered.
Oh brother this brings back memories. in the 80's the city in which I lived had a Mayor and city council which were heavily in favor of development. Developers started building at a higher rate then had ever been seen previously. In this city were many older homes that had been built on spacious lots. Soon multi unit condos projects with 80-120 units stood where previously 1 or 2 single family homes ad been. The building inspectors, as was discovered after the fact, were doing "drive by inspections". Hundreds of these buildings were constructed with a dangerously few good inspections. I came into this after the court settlement was reached. The list of serious decencies was staggering. Shear walls nailing not to code, hold downs, weak concrete footings, insufficient rebar in the rook of underground parking lots the lists went on and on. Total disaster.
I was in the same situation in my house. It was inspected and then a few months after buying it I started some basic remodeling. The electrical was a mess. Junction boxes everywhere, including behind walls and in the cold air return of the heating system! My favorite was the switch for the porch light that also operated all of the recessed lights in the living room. There were two switches in a 2-gang box, but only one worked and operated all of the lights just mentioned. When I pulled it apart, there was a mess of wires that made so little sense that I cut the whole thing out and traced the mess back to the panel to start from scratch. They also simply cut out ground wires in many places!
I'm confused by this video. I live in FL and our laws do not allow unlicensed electricians to work on new construction. It's supposed to be done correctly the first time. I'd be suing the GC and the county. The county is responsible for their inspection. Period. If they pass work like this, they should be held accountable. This GC should not be allowed to build a bird house until he has had every single job reinspected and brought back up to current code with zero safety violations present. ZERO!!! In Alachua county, this GC would be in Jail. This is criminal negligence.
Thanks for watching, though you didn't know the reason. Take photos if a contractor works in you house or your friend's house. It may benefit you . . .
No idea why youtube recommended this video to me, but it was interesting. Sadly this happens a lot in southamerican countries, not as awful, but it's almost there. I've been saying to my family to call specialized people to renew all that awful electric connection on the house, but they refuse, saying it's "expensive" and how some members of the family can do the job.
I flipped out when I saw the grounding put into the wood. I'm 15 years old but damn they really weren't schooled enough for this. This is why I'm careful about contractors and their workers. I'm glad that my dad taught me about construction and electricity at a very young age so now I already have a head start for saving money and for my career job of working in the military as an engineer. Nice video as well, I enjoy watching videos like these because you always learn something from them and how not to end up like that grounding wire.
You sound like a smart kid with standards. I went through cryptography training in the Army, it was excellent training with electronics. No matter your age, the exciting thing about life is there is always more to learn. Your parents should be proud of you.
It reminds me on an "electrician" who did some wiring in my sister apartment: Using PE wire for two pole switches or leaving PE wire floating in a junction box. Quite a combination: When "real" PE and one of the two pole switches were all connected together (he must have forgotten that he used two of the green-yellow wires for lightning circuit) switching on one of the lights switched "live" all electrical appliances in the kitchen :)
My experience with electrical wiring/routing stops at 36v DC, however even I could tell the way that those fixtures and boxes were wired is ASKING for short circuits, arcing, and, consequently, fires. I'm glad someone was there to fix the problem before it became worse - those electricians were just hacking together 120v AC lines!
City inspectors aren't electricians...I would had insisted that a licensed journeyman or master electrician had looked over everything before the city even came in. I would be surprised if they even bothered to look up into the ceiling.
An electrician should have done the work. California has a loophole in the law that allows a general contractor to do the work without any training or certification.
I know just enough to get myself in trouble; I've installed light fixtures and run lines for outlets and such a few times over the past couple of decades. That said, how on Earth anyone thought much of this was acceptable is beyond me. Heck, 10 minutes spent googling how to install a light or outlet would have covered most of it. Scary stuff.
IDK Why this video was recommended to me by youtube, but, that was incredibly generous of you to teach those men how to properly do the job, incredibly respectable.
Thanks . . . I find teaching fun.
Minecraft Video -> Computerfile -> AntsCanada -> This video
Weird youtube recommendations, but this video is cool.
The video is only cool because you are cool.
I have no electrical background, but I do know that this is beyond insane. I hope you continue to have good work on your horizon.
I watch alot of random videos on youtube and this has perhaps been the most informative video without directly meaning too.
You seem very educated, skilled, and serious about your work/passion.
Thanks . . . I do care about good workmanship and moral character in all fields. Thanks again.
I am a retired electrician with over 50 years in the trade, and I have never seen so much NEC violation in one home as you've shown! And that general needs to have his license revoked or at the least suspended. His job is to check and make sure all subs are licensed.
When it comes to electricity, you don't take dangerous short cuts, use untrained help without having a journey man to check the work.
That is a scary house to live in. And the local code enforcement needs to be reprimanded for their passing of such dangerous work!
Appreciate you uploading and sharing this with the general public to see.
Yes, it is among the worse I've seen. thanks for commenting.
My brother died in a house fire because of this very same thing. Exposed wire junction in the attic that passed city inspection.
terenfro1975 - Sorry to hear about your brother.
You have way more patience than I do. And shame on that GC for putting unskilled people in that awkward position. Great video.
The "buddy system" was in effect in this picture. The general contractor and inspector were buddies...
The inspector asked the general if an electrician had done the work, and the general said "sure" so, without looking at anything, the inspector signed off.
It is obvious from these pictures that no licensed electrician did the work, and no actual inspection ever took place.
Samuel T. I think you are on to something . . . or too lazy to look.
Teaching them how to do it: million and one points for you, that was awesome way to handle that problem. Many would've just mocked them when it is the employer who needs to make sure their workers know their stuff.
Thanks
I have no idea why this is in my recommendations.
Because you are cool . . . and possible love construction . . . or dislike it when people don't do their job correctly.
I was an Electrical Inspector in Oregon after working many years as a General Journeyman, and have been retired since 2004. Generally, in Oregon we tried to feed the power to a lighting circuit in at the switch and run the legs up to the various fixtures. We tried to start outlet circuits near the panel and run through the wall, around the house. I avoided putting hot wires in the attic if I could, knowing that if anything went wrong, I might have to get up there to fix it.
Generally speaking, lots of California trained Electricians fed the power to the fixture and the switch leg went down to the box containing the switch.
I didn't last long as an Inspector because of what I saw going on.
It is now the code that the circuit comes into the switch box because neutrals are required in the switch boxes. I have always come into the switch and ran switch legs to the lights. I hate trouble shooting when I have to remove light fixtures. I would much rather stand up at the switch box and check the wiring. Who wants to be on a ladder, maybe over someone's bed and troubleshoot? I have found in many apartment building all of the circuits run through the light boxes. The wiring is usually 75° C wiring and the insulation is damaged because of too high a wattage of light bulbs, (too high ambient heat) and then you end up having to fix the wires with loom and tape or worse from the attic or open the ceiling. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
this video should go viral just to show people they need to be careful with who they hire.
I agree. Thanks for commenting.
Teaching the men instead of blaming them is a very good ending to this story on you part. Well done!
Thanks. It was not their fault. It was the general contractor who seems to care only are $$$$$. We all need to be taught in some way.
I hope the home owners made the contracter foot all the bills?
We started making repairs, which are seen in this video, and the general contractor paid me for that first day, and then . . . then . . . then . . . he convinced the husband homeowner that I was charging him too much money. He convinced the husband to let him finish the corrections. A subsequent re-inspection, and it was passed again. BUT I have been back to the house for subsequent electrical problems and at a "glance" I saw much that he did not correct. The wife believes in me and I worked for her on two corrections. How the inspector passed it a second time since I gave the inspector photos, I don't know. I'm sure he did not correct most of his work, for the violations that I saw at a glance after the second final sign off are still there and easy to have corrected. I'd bet any amount of money, if a good electrician went back to this house and final results in a law suit would be to take it down to the studs and redo the work.
I totally agree with you and the links you provided are excellent.
I wish that were true, but it is not . . .
I have been an electrical contractor for over 40 years and I have seen some bad work(usually DIYers) but never anything this widespread.
That was an accident waiting to happen.
yes, this was one of the worst, and I too have seen many.
Did your house burn down due to sad electrical work?
Agreed. I do not understand why all the parts are wrong. Doesn't someone stock their truck with at least the most basic electrical parts / screws / etc? Insane and horrifying!
As a cable tech I have run into similar situations, though not as wide spread. I was crawling in an attic one time and came across three 12/2 lines that were spliced together (1 feed + 2 lines) and both the hot and neutral were missing the wire nuts (forget about a j-box). It was a good thing I saw it before as it was right where I was about to place my hand. Another was a duplex I was renting where the builders spliced behind the bathroom outlet to run to the living room and 3rd bedroom. We found this out because one day my wife called and said half the house had no power. I got home and noticed the GFI outlet in the bathroom was blackened. It never tripped, nor did the 20 amp breaker (GFI was rated at 15 amps). In the living room I had a plasma tv, dvr, xbox, and computer. The 3rd bedroom had three computers, two 19" crt monitors, all my chargers for work, a crt tv and another dvr. I calculated over 42 amps was being pulled when everything was running and was like this for almost a year and half. I would have corrected it myself but the house was wired with aluminum wiring and I wasn't going to mess with it. Would have been easy to fix too as the breaker box was on an inside wall in the master closet right next to the bathroom.
Yep, 15 years as a cable tech and I have seen quite a bit.
I'd call it a disaster waiting to happen.
I wouldn't even pass my first year at college with these kind of shoddy installations holy shit
JijiWP - Thanks for sharing.
I am no electrician, but just looking at those pictures made me think that this shouldn't be done like that.
Think ? It is clear that this installation is prone to a deadly fire. I'd install at least 4 to 5 fire detector in each room after seeing this, and send the bill to the contractor.
Yes, Norfigrim this is about as bad as it get when there is an inspection. I've seen worse, but not when it was inspected and PASSED!
. . . possible fire and more . . . Thanks for commenting.
Sir I really like the fact the you helped the guys showing them the correct way, as a former inspector I would find many unsafe projects and would do the same as you did. They won't ever forget that.....
Thanks for you comments.
Absolutely unbelievable! I’m a retired electrician after 40 years and I have seen some real nightmares, but never have I seen anything like this. This is downright criminal in my opinion.
I agree that it is criminal because it is stealing. The homeowners paid for something and got something else, which is criminal.
This video is further proof that I'll literally watch anything on UA-cam
You just made me laugh . . .your comment is quite humorous.
Ha ha . . . and I shall answer all comments . . .
Sometimes it really is worth it to click those recommended videos on topics you've never looked into before. Get hidden gems like this!
Thanks . . .
You can't ground from wood? Don't be ridiculous.
Almost all wood comes from trees and trees mostly grow out of the ground. It's only common sense that you can use wood as a ground. Though I will admit there are better alternatives. Like a small pile of dirt packed into the junction boxes then just make sure your ground wire is in contact with the dirt. Also a tip for better grounding mix some water in to make it mud. It packs better and as long as you water your receptacles every now and then your good to go.
Food for thought . . . and clever. Did you know that we don't use wooden ladders, but instead use fiberglass ladders because wood can be conductive? Its resistance is too high to trip the circuit breaker or below the fuse though. The idea we strive for is 25 ohms or less for good grounding/bonding. Thanks, for your input for your wording was clever . . .
are you being serious? you honestly think grounding means the grounding wire just has to touch dirt and dumping wet mud into a junction box is a good idea? did you even go to school?
+nick robertson are you being serious? you honestly think that the comment wasn't a joke? did you ever even go into society?
everything in this video reminds me of my house when i bought it. except my house was built in 1880 and the wires were all paper back with cracking rubber. after a few months and 750ft of new wire i finally got it modernized
. . . thanks for commenting . . . it seems we've made little progress in one hundred and thirty-five years.
WTF this is insane. How can someone seriously cut a rafter like that and not think twice.
Thanks for noticing the rafter. I should have emphasized it more in the video.
Thanks for taking the time to teach the two workers how to do the job properly. You likely saved homes and lives.
Thanks for your comment. I love showing others what I know, and learning from others what I don't know.
As a 16 year old going for a career in the medical field with no interest in any of the work this video involves, nor knowledge of said work, this video makes me cringe. I don't know how you could possibly go through with such a job like this and not see your own errors! The guys doing this MUST have known what they are doing! I really hope that these people that did the electrical never go near so much as a wire again.
il IL. In my opinion the General Contractor was unethical. It was all about the money. He used people who were not trained to make more money. On yelp, he has stellar reviews, because he is a con man. He tried double talking me, but it fell on deaf ears. Believe me it was not the fault of the workers.
@@BayAreaElectric I can agree with you, but I have one problem: if he is a con man, the workers must know this, no? If they have no idea what they're doing, then they're only in it for the money. If they do have an idea what they're doing but they're doing work this poor of quality, then they're also just in it for the money. See where I'm going with this?
@@poggairl3782 Of course, I understand your position. I met his workers, and they were eager to learn. I doubt that financially these individuals could afford to be fired. This world is filled with moral dilemmas and decisions that reach for our higher selves. The General Contractor is very well off, and continued his greed. His laborers wanted to pay their rent, and buy food. I worked as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer for 4 years and 3 months in the third world, and had to make many decisions that challenged my ideals. If I were to have the power, I would prosecute the General Contractor and train his laborers. His laborers did carpentry, plumbing, sheet metal, insulation, drywall, electrical etc. etc. And I do understand your position, which we could write volumes.
not sure why you're revealing your age on the internet like we're your pals but ok
Not sure if the inspectors are overworked, under educated, lazy, or paid off, but lots of things get overlooked these days (hopefully not to this extent). My house had issues that had to be fixed like 2x4 studs further than 30" apart for load bearing walls (in the unfinished basement so it was right out in the open, kinda hard to miss stuff), etc. The house was only 4 years old when I bought it and we had GFCI outlets that the test and reset buttons ejected out of the outlet when tested. The attached deck had to be replaced, and when we disassembled it the number of code violations we found was scary. I'm only glad the home inspector I hired to evaluate the house was really good and pointed out the things that needed to be fixed before we moved in. Given what happened (lawsuits and such) after Hurricane Andrew tore through Florida, you'd have thought that building inspectors and contractors would have been a little more attentive...
Glad to hear your situation worked out for you.
Seen a lot of work like this done by people who "install electrical work everyday" many times, and the cringe factor is off the scale. As a former inspector who worked in the field for 25 yrs. after going through a apprenticeship that was known to be the toughest in the area (had to pass even 2nd and 3rd stages by a min. of 3 master electricians) none of that would even be allowed by a first yr. apprentice! We had a saying for those homeowners who lived in those homes wired anything like that "oil the hinges" meaning for the doors so they could escape fast when it started on fire.
The other day a neighbor asked me if I would look at their outside light, which stopped working on their older home with metal siding, pulled open the fixture, and found the hot wired in, and the neutral smashed into a crease on the siding! They just cut off the ground so they weren't bothered with it, and the box wasn't attacked to a nearby stud, and this was done by a guy "who wires houses" just 3 yrs. earlier!
Wish this kind of stuff was the exception, but you eventually realize it's more common than you think. And people wonder why there is so many fires!
niceguy217 - You are correct about many bad installations. I have a thousand photos of poor electrical installations on my website. Most of them were done without inspection. Thanks for your comments.
I am surprised you could narrate this video with such a calm voice. I would have screamed all the way.
Inside my voice was . . . thanks!
This makes me glad we have 3 1/2 years apprenticeship with schooling in germany before you're allowed to do electrical work alone.
Hoping the Home Owner stays safe
ja da stimme ich dir zu
I wish we had rules that a general contractor had to have some training, but here in California a general building contractor can do ALL of the electrical work with NO - I repeat NO training. That is the law in California.
I don't know what you said, but if you recognized how bad this job was you are correct.
he said "yes, I agree"
Thanks for the translate.
I love the calm tone you used to narrate this! You've earned a new sub!
I can just imagine how many takes of him are just of him flipping out ;)
Thanks . . .
DoomGhoul - I did this in one take . . . and now regret it because there is so much good stuff I left out, and I mispronounced several words. Honestly, I was so moved to do this, I let it all out without censure. Thanks for your comment.
Hey loved the video though. It taught me how little some companies could care less even when human lives could be at risk.
Short story told to me by an electrician while he was checking the new wiring I did to my house: He installed all the wiring in a new house. Everything. By the book. The only thing he did not do was to put the lids on the junction boxes in the walls. (here there is usually a small junction box in every room). This was because he was going to do a final checkup after the walls(brick) were plastered with a cement/lime/sand mix.
After a while the owner calls him to complain that the house is "energised". Touching the walls would give you a small electric shock and the power meter was spinning wildly. When he went to check the wiring he found NO junction boxes. The idiots had filled them with plaster. Man, the plaster guys almost got their asses kicked. The whole cost of plastering was refunded and they also had to pay for drilling out the junction boxes.
sobolanul96 oh wow, that is rediculous, how could they not know not to do that
Thanks for sharing your story from that electrician. I'm not sure why the walls had current unless some of the wiring in the junction boxes was exposed.
The workers were ignorant (we all come into the world knowing nothing), but the general building contractor was greedy, so he hired people who would cost him less.
The plaster is a wet mix. Imagine pouring a watery cement mix in the junction box... From there the electricity traveled through the still wet wall, etc. You are right. The big contractors hire the cheapest workforce available failing to realize that it costs them more to fix after those unskilled workers than to pay for skilled workers from the beginning.
Oh most are aware, that is why they do their damnist to not fix their sub par work. They will send out the most useless guy on the crew to poke and prod for a few hours, then when nothing is fixed, complain that it's not costing him money to do anything more so he won't be coming back out.
Thank you for taking time to teach how it's done right! TRUE journeyman!
Thanks . . .
Reminds me of when I opened up my house like a tin of beans when I first moved in. True story: The electrical socket that powered the cooker hood fan was actually inside the cooker hood, where the steam from the stove runs right in front of it before going back out of the air holes. It was covered in fat from cooking. I still have some issues yet to be resolved, such as when I have my electric blanket on, I feel a tingle when I touch the wall as if I'm making an earth.
STOP! Have an electrician figure out the problem. The fact that you have not been hurt is because your resistance is high. For example, if you were in your bedroom and stepped out on the heat grill, which is probably grounded then your resistance might lower. Remember a bird can land on a live wire, it is when it becomes a resistor in the circuit that there is a problem. Don't help complete the circle back to ground. Thanks for sharing your story about the cooker hood fan.
dont know why this was in my recommended but it was interesting and i liked it.
I love it when non construction people get something from the video. Take photos if you ever have work done because you might need them.
I never thought, that I am going to watch such video, but it was quite interesting, thought I am very bad in a electrics. Your voice is perfect for such videos, great job.
Thanks for the compliment. I hope you learned how important it might be to take photos. You may need them in the future.
This video keeps showing up in my recommendations for whatever reason, and every time I remember your plight. Keep doing the good work you do by not taking the cheep and/or easy way out.
Thanks.
This was horrifying to watch... that "contractor" needs to not only have his license permanently revoked but forced to refund and pay for all corrected work.
I'd personally call the guys over and punch them in the face.. personally. This can burn a house down and kill a family potentially. There is a reason there are regulations and a reason why ALL electrical work done has to be inspected before it is deemed a livable area.
You are 100% correct Arcamean. I would also demand to see his other jobs if I had the power.
Eric Benton your anger should be directed at the general building contractor not his men for they did not know any better. Believe me I understand your emotions, thanks for expressing them!
Your surprised it passed? Not me. I recently did a flood damage remodel in San Pedro, Ca. I added new lights, and outlets. When the city inspector came, he was more interested in my dog i had with me rather than inspecting anything. He was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I was actually shocked, he didnt look closely at one outlet and they were all exposed (no drywall) for the inspection. Luckily for the homeowner i take pride in doing my job ... correctly!
because he would have to do his job. such a terrible thing.
You know, he already drove ALL THE WAY over to the house. I didn't want to bother him by asking him to do his job. ha
The homeowner is protected by people like you who have pride and character, not the inspector. I love dogs too, and would have bonded with the dog before and after doing a complete inspection.
I like your humor, and the way you phrased it.
Absolutely disgusting that people would pay for this, they basiclly pay for making their home a fire hazard.
That is right, they paid to have their house degraded.
Holy shit, if I had done work like this and had it inspected I would have gotten fired so fast my head would spin.
I would have fired you so fast it might have spun off . . . haha. Maybe not, But I would have retrained you . . . and not let you work alone.
addressed properly and professionally, much respect for you sir.
Thanks.
Where I live, you are not allowed to install electrical wires as is in walls. You are required to use either a flexible (or rigid) plastic tube, or a steel tube, and then pull the wires through.
Conduit use to be the code in a couple of the surrounding cities over ten years ago, but no longer. Since romex is so, so easy to install many untrained people are doing it. Building inspectors are the last line of defense for many homeowners, and when they fail to do their job . . . well you can see the result.
Yeah, conduit reduces the risk of rodent damage as well. Would NOT want to live in a house with exposed wires.
Hey, man! full credit for doing a good job on documenting the issues. just to "criticize" without the photos could be hard to substantiate. Also, your willingness (heck, eagerness) to teach the GC's guys is a credit to you...as is your assessment of the guys (hardworking, respectful, etc). Please visit the nearest cloning station...we need a lot more people like you.... Cheers!
Thanks . . . I called it as I saw it. I think I'm like many others who don't like those who cheats others.
I would sue the gentleman who did that horrific job for endangering people.
I wish it would have been your house and I could testify for you in court.
This is the exact reason I don’t have electricians do work in my house, Louisiana has a problem with get-er-dun quote skilled workers. I had the meter relocated from the back to the side of my home where the generac auto transfer switch was also installed and that’s where the electricians work STOPPED!!! Everything else is being done by myself using the NEC 2020 code book as reference a has thus far been inspected by both city & parish “county” as well as 2 master electricians that I know and have seen their spectacular work methods. As far as I can research, Louisiana is still using the 2014 NEC Code.
YES, I’m installing new ground bonded junction boxes in my attic above each room due to my home being built in 1946 “76yrs old”! All the old BX 2-wire armored cable is being removed, all the 2-wire non-ground old school Romex cables are being removed and all light fixtures, and/or old insufficient junction boxes are being replaced. Dedicated circuits are being run as per 2020 NEC code, GFCI circuits are being run and each room has its own home run. Although, unnecessary or redundant it’s safer and easier to troubleshoot a problem that may happen over the years .
The extra wire is costing me but each receptacle unless access is achievable without damaging the walls are being run individually up into the attic to a junction box(s). If more wires are needed and that junction box has come to its box fill limit another junction box will be installed, however I’m attempting to only have one junction box above each room. All junction boxes are bonded using pre-made green 12 awg pigtails with green ground screws, this is also how all fixtures are being grounded and metal light switch/receptacle boxes as well. I’m trying not to use plastic boxes or plastic fixture boxes so a box/fixture grounding method can be achieved.
Plastic is the way much is done nowadays and I hate that fact metal boxes are better but, I do have 3 plastic junction boxes used simply for joining my security lights so one switch can be used. Metal boxes cost more and can save your life if a ground is installed & bonded which is how each junction box is being done above each room. That way if a short happens by mistake or future failure it will cause the breaker for that circuit to trip and save the people in that room, loved ones, the home and property from harm or worse. Using one home run per room and a junction box per room may be excessive but, it in fact will make troubleshooting a failure or mistake later easier if they should happen!
More people should get educated and do their own work and of course do their due diligence when finding a pro or inspector to check their work!!!
Years ago we wired ALL houses in flexible steel metal conduit. It takes about 1 1/2 times longer, but the future is accessible.
That's interesting you say that. For instance, I live in Toronto in Canada and many friends of mine are also electricians that get called to do work in Louisiana. Wasn't really sure why, guess it makes sense now. Not surprised they're clearly Outsourcing all the way from Canada for work to be done
The same city inspectors that pass those electricians work you say is terrible?
UA-cam's algorithms are fun, bringing such an old (but really interesting!) video to the surface...I kind of like it.
Yes, I am surprised that it is getting so many view recently because it is not the most exciting video, but I believe important for anyone having work done on their house or property. Don't rely solely on the inspector to protect you is the bottom line.
education is often the best medicine-thanks for shining a light on this
I am like you - I love education.
it was nice that he showed them how to do it properly
Since they will continue to do work, I figured they should begin to learn proper installation techniques.
This is absolutely terrifying. I would be scared to death to sleep in that house. You could easily wake up with a random electrical fire coming from any room!
This is true . . . thanks for your observation.
This is a very scary situation.
The home owner should be taking the contractor to court!
Agreed!
SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY, i have no idea why this appeared in my recommendations but sweet FUCK.
On a more serious not can't they take them to court or something?, i'm all about second chances, but this... i mean it's one thing to fuck up and put lives at risk, it's an other thing be ignorant/careless and put lives at risk , but all this is just gross negligence on an unfathomable degree, and not only that despite been given several chances to correct mistakes the contracted party has not only failed but also showed clear disregard of their failures.
HeavyStorm4 - You are so right on there is nothing more to say. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, which are much appreciated.
I recently did some remodeling in our kitchen and found an outlet mounted directly to knotty pine paneling that was cut out to fit the outlet with no junction box. Even as an electrical novice I was in shock to say the least. After living in the house 15 years it makes me wonder what else is hiding that we never saw.
I know exactly what you are talking about . . . In fact you can see a similar installation in the cabinet of this video. Thanks for commenting.
wow. in a 1.9 million dollar home? that kinda hurts
If only the homeowners knew how badly the job was done. But it was re-inspected and so they are comfortable.
you can find the city inspector at the neighborhood coffee shop counting the money
Ha ha. I hope he was not bribed because I have known that inspector for years and he doesn't seem the type.
The fact that they didn't knock out the slugs on the junction boxes is hilarious. 🤣😂 I mean scary. 🙄
I've always done my own electrical work but I also respect electricity. When I bought my first home I bought a book and read it. Every improvement I made was checked and double-checked against that book. The work in this video is unbelievable.
There is no doubt that you did a superior job.
I especially loved the conductors passing through the screwdriver slots in the knockouts for the box. Good stuff!
Wasn't that one of the most ignorance ways of entering a recess light fixture? I thought I had seen everything there was to see until I saw that . . .
It's really amazing there aren't more house fires. I have seen this kind of work many times.
I'm actually glad I have 2 uncles who are qualified at most things. Roofing, Plumping, Electricity, and even Gas. One is a maintenance foreman, while the other does air conditioning for major corporate and industrial facilities, ie the big stuff, one of which is now retired. I've helped them a lot over the years with their instruction of course. Even when I was a teenager I could do better wiring than what I saw on this video. They're both home improvement do it your self gurus, and actually get angry when they notice stuff like this. I remember when we help redo my brother's home, roofing, wiring, plumping, even did the gas piping, the roof work. It was pretty bad, but the house was pretty old. One of my uncles was quite mad though that the roof used very thin plywood you couldn't even walk on it, we literally had to replace it all.
I can do plumping and wiring, and confidently to boot, but you will not get me to touch gas, nope.... scares me to death. Too many bad Hollywood movies.
What really bugs me about this video is, why the general contractor didn't at least provide proper educational materials for his new employees see one of them looked almost right out of school. They sell books on how to do proper wiring, it isn't rocket science.
Kameraden - Thanks for sharing some of your family history. Construction is fun and enjoyable for many of us. We continue to learn our whole lives and share our skills with family and friends. When I see my neighbors doing their own home projects, it is my pleasure to share tools and give them my thoughts. It is difficult for me to see a General Contractor like this one caring only about $$$$$. He doesn't care about his clients nor the men working for him. In fact, his work could seriously injury or kill those who are paying him, or maybe the next owners of the property. Thanks again.
Ya, wiring is serious. Improper installation can lead to a house fire, or accidental electrocution. Neither is a good thing, and that is just the serious problems. Let alone minor problems that will drive a home owner mad, when appliances or lights do not work properly.
It's the one thing about buying a renovated home that would scare me. Even if it looks fine on the outside, who knows what it's likely behind the dry wall. Incidents like this do not reinforce people's confidence in the system.
Kameraden - An experienced electrician can tell much about the electrical system without opening walls. If in doubt, hire one.
jaw dropped -just stunned at the shoddy work
So did mine . . . and I'm trying to have Jerry Hill, my local Senator change the law, which allows general contractors to do electrical work.
I've always thought if the general contractor did the work and THEN have an electrician check the work to verify the work was done correctly THEN have a building inspector check it - that should be good enough
It's good to hear that at least that those guys were polite and willing to learn.
They were my kind of guys. They listened and were hard working.
Great job. You're saving lives. What a shame that the city is so corrupt that they would sacrifice lives for money. Someone needs to go to prison for this.
They need to be held accountable.
If you are not already familiar I suggest you look up the Badger house fire in Stamford Connecticut that occurred on Christmas morning 2012 where three young daughters and the two elderly Grandparents were consumed in a house fire while the mother and the contractor boyfriend were sleeping downstairs
A 1920 two-and-a-half story frame house at the end of a cul-de-sac was undergoing complete renovation for quite some time and and with the construction being incomplete they were granted a a temporary Certificate of Occupancy when in the aftermath it was clear to the most untrained eye the house was not in any condition to be occupied with scaffolding still surrounding the house siding unfinished and who knows what else to say the very least
Firefighters on the scene battling the flames attested that the fire was out of control as the balloon frame structure with the wall framing extending from the foundation to the roof line contained no fire stops and none were installed during the recent improvements before the framing were covered that they could see as they open the walls to fight the fire
I only bring this up because the next morning news reporters from local papers were on the scene taking pictures and one happened to catch a photograph of the back of the rear entryway vestibule, which they later call the mud room and clearly it was a photograph of a sub panel which appeared to have arcing burn marks emanating from it onto the wood siding.
The mother and the contractor told the authorities they had enjoyed a Christmas Eve in front of the fireplace and when the fire was out the contractor boyfriend had swept up the ashes so Santa wouldn't get burned, they told the young girls and putting them in a paper bag he placed them them in a covered metal receptacle in the mudroom claiming that this is where the fire must have started. Though in later depositions the contractor claimed the mother had put the ashes in the mudroom and he had taken the blame originally to protect her
The contractor disappeared himself for a while, then resurfaced though his records were difficult to attain, The mother, Madonna Badger was found to have deleted all records and photographs of the construction project from her ex husband's computer, though he attested she had permission to access his apartment and his computer
The contractor's insurers agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying seven million dollars to the estate of the three little girls.
The father of the three girls who lived in Manhattan said publicly to Katie Couric he could not go on living without his three daughters and was determined to bring Justice to those who caused their death and filed suit against the City of Stamford claiming they were responsible
[ From The Hartford Courant - Matthew Badger (the father) argued that the city was reckless by giving (the contractor) Borcina , who had no contractor's license, a building permit. He also argued that the city approved plans that didn't include smoke detectors in the girls' third-floor bedrooms, which he said was a statutory requirement.
A key issue was the city's decision to demolish the house two days after the fire without telling Madonna Badger. The lawsuit named the city Director of Operations Ernie Orgera and Chief Building Official Robert DeMarco as defendants and alleged that they conspired to illegally demolish the house to spare the city from legal liability.
Within a few days the entire house was carted away and destroyed, prohibiting any private investigators or insurance investigators from looking into the cause of the fire. In depositions, the city's two fire marshals acknowledged that the swift demolition of the house and destruction of debris made further investigation impossible ]
City officials testified however they all circled the wagons, even one refusing to testify.
With neither physical evidence nor testimony to prove liability the court had no choice but to find for the motion to dismiss the case though in it's finding it admonish the city and its employees for its actions. The city did agree to settle the lawsuit for undisclosed amounts to the Estates of the children and the grandparents though public records show that six million dollars was paid to the children's estate with the grandparents estate settlement unknown
And sadly true to his word Mr Badger one month after his case was disposed passed away from an unknown cause except stated as natural causes. Heartbreaking. And this past October Michael Borcina, passed away from cancer, his years after the fire were spent working for Habitat for Humanity.
I'll leave it up to you as to what the total number of victims were as result of this circumstance. As a footnote then-mayor Dannel Malloy is now the governor of the state of Connecticut
So five lives perished in the fire, two more in the years shortly thereafter when malfeasance, negligence and conspiracy surely seem to be at the root of it all and nobody personally went to jail or lost their job or had to pay out of pocket or had wages garnished. They get to continue on with their lives doing their job as city employees the same way with no accountability, to collect their paychecks and later their pensions with one making it all the way to the State House and as all governors do with hopes and aspirations one day moving to higher office.
The only consequence we can hope for is that these people have some kind of conscious and for the rest of their days their sleep will be disturbed by the images of three small girls and two elderly trying to escape the flames of a burning building that they could have prevented and the heartbreak of their loved ones. If not then truly these people truly are sociopaths with no empathy and feeling for the pain of others. So sad there are re these that not only walk among us but are in positions of authority vested with Public Safety
I'm sorry for blowing up your comment box, but your video was diligent thoughtful sincere accurate responsible and spot-on and it triggered this in me, something I've watched from day one and followed every development and in the end has left me disturbed and unsettled over how this could continue in our society today
Seeing what you saw on your video brought back the possibility of this happening over and again to innocent people by negligent people. Thank you and keep on fighting the good fight
Sadness and anger from your accounting strikes me. I loathe incompetency and dereliction of duty. I left two hours ago a city meeting with Jerry Hill our local Senator. I have been trying for almost a year to have a law passed in California, which would make it mandatory for any electrical work to be done by a licensed electrical contractor or a State Certified electrician. In California our State Contractor's License Board allows general contractors to do all of the electrical work without an electrical license or certification, if the general contractor performs two or more unrelated trades to carpentry . . . STUPID! As an electrical contractor (C10) I must used State Certified Electricians, but a general contractor who know far less than myself about electricity can use his laborers or anyone else in his employment . . . STUPID California law. Thanks for your comments. You and I have been cut from the same cloth.
This is outrageous.
I dare say in all probability since it has happened this once, it has probably happened other times. They should find out who inspected and approved this work then audit their history of approvals.
You would think so! I turned in my photos and comments to the building department, and have subsequently been to the home for other issues. Without permission to investigate, I see some of the same code violations I documented. If I were to told to sleuth, I'm sure that many issues still exist.
I've been an AV installation contractor and data cabler for 10+ years, done a lot of residential work so I've been in a lot of roof spaces, and a fair bit on the commercial side too. Seen my fair share of dodgy work (and come close to accidents due to it, more than once) but I've never seen any electrical job done as poorly as this. I feel sorry (and a fair bit worried) for the homeowners. Great video, keep up the good work upholding codes/standards and pro installation practices.
Thanks . . . and I'm sure you have seen much poor workmanship.
I just learned how to rewire my entire kitchen (to the studs) I went slow, read the code, asked when I didn't know and used channels like this to help me understand. By no means could I go solve weird problems, but damn, take pride in your work!
When you said you thought it couldn't get worse, I was thinking the house burnt down...
Don't forget possible electrocution.
Fun story from when my dad had some electrical problems...
He noticed that the main fuses in his house started blowing out one after anther. So he starts disconnecting different parts of the house only to find that if he disconnected the electricity to his barn, the main fuses would hold.
He then starts going over the electrical systems in the barn and couldn't find anything wrong with them, so he concludes that the problem has to be in the line between the house and the barn. He hires a digger to come and dig the cable outta the ground, and lo and behold!
The asshat that owned the property before him had run short on cable when he first put the line down, so he spliced it together with another cable midway through, only he "insulated" it by wrapping the wires in fist-sized balls of electrical tape instead of using proper insulation. He then buried the cable straight down in the dirt, no protective tubing or anything. Fucking genius.
It kinda makes me surprised that not more houses burn down due to electrical fires with all these clowns running around doing electrical work.
Thanks for the story. I thought you were going to tell me that the neighbor had tapped in underground. Thanks again.
Ha, not quite that that interesting i'm afraid, but it would have made for a good laugh ;)
Karl The Fragr - I ran into a case about 5 years ago where a guy was growing a lot marijuana in his house, but the electrical bill was small. Often times people were caught because the electrical bill was very, very high. He had dug down to the utility company's cable before it got to the house (in front of the meter) and double tapped in. So there was no metering of the electrical . . . I think his penalty was greater for stealing electricity than for growing pot.
I'm only two years into my electrical engineering degree, but all these wiring jobs made my eyes roll back into my head.
Good . . . it should. Thanks for watching.
No problem! Your electrical-related videos are a good watch.
Thanks.
Inside wireman apprentice here, sent this to my instructor at my JATC, expecting to elicit a good chuckle... but he wept. Thanks for posting this though, I'd call it job security for myself if it wasn't somebody's home that could unexpectedly burn down.
Yes, hacks like these make job security for us all. Thanks for sharing.
Not sure why this was recommended but I am planning on being an electrician...
I don't know if you are serious, but the salary for a journey electrician in my area is about $70/hour. There is certainly a shortage of good electrician in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
I'll keep that in mind,though I am out in the midwest.
I was born in Missouri and lived in Kansas. The weather where I live in California is ideal for working year round.
(Remembers months of Osha training in high school like a form of ptsd) *Looks at mess* *Dies from heart attack*
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under the United States Department of Labor.
No I understand what OSHA was, I just found it very funny in a sad way how nothing was up to any standards. It's so bad it seems like they were trying to collect insurance on the house
I don't believe this to be true, i.e. to collect insurance money. The general building contractor is a slick talker. I spoke with him on the phone once, and twice in person. When I confronted him with the poor workmanship he did not become defensive, which I was prepared for, but immediately turned to his men who were standing by and blamed them. He showed no loyalty towards his men, nor did he accept the blame. He simply kissed my ass thinking he could sweet talk me. I treated him courteously, but was direct about explaining that done of his work was code complying. He never flenched, but simply repeated his disappointment in his men.
Don't know how this was recommended to me , but glad it was. Interesting and informative.
Thanks. I hope you took away something of value.
He saves the best for the last sentence of the video.
To be fair, electricity "could" be grounded to wood. You'd just have to keep that wood fully saturated with water and somewhere have a connection to earth ground.
Easy-peasy, house on fire-y!
MonkeyJedi99 Wow . . . I am still learning . . . thanks . . . haha.
I've done electrical design work for a company out in California before, they wanted us to violate NFPA 30A, 52, and 70E (designs were for fuel dispensing locations) all over to save costs. Also, if I saw this in my house I would be calling a lawyer before calling the third party electrician because that wiring screams future lawsuit. The only way I would feel comfortable with any correction is if it involved tear down the walls and allowing a third party to inspect the work. I don't know a lot about NEC, most of my work is exempt from NEC, but I've read enough to be horrified by that install.
Thanks for sharing your experience. And I too would have insisted that the walls be opened and all of their wiring redone.
holy hell. This makes me feel way more confident in my DIY jobs. I actually follow the rules and think everything through logically. This video makes me sad for those homeowners and the workers too.
And perhaps more suspicious of general contractors . . . Your logic and study will take you far.
When I go for my electrical apprenticeship I'll keep this channel subscribed; codes may vary from country to country, but skill, talent and doing the job right is pretty universal.
Zombie1Boy - You can also ask me any questions you like about the code or good electrical practices.
Why am I watching this, I don't even know what this guy is talking about and this was in my reccomended...
shalol When building a house, you have to get it inspected. which makes sure it's safe and up to the current electrical code.
Most of this is terribly unsafe and some of it is just ugly.
Guyrations I realize that, I'm just saying that I'm no inspector and this was recommended
Andy Merrett Not really I do often do Reddit 50/50's though
this is why i have trust issues
I too have trust issues . . . and they are legit.
WOW!!!!! I have never.... As a 15 year IBEW journeyman electrician this gives me the shivers. I have seen a lot of bad work, I have even seen someone wire a bathroom fan/light like the can light except even worse because the sheath was stripped back about a foot, but I have never seen that many insane violation and absolutely straight up fire hazards. I guess I'm glad I've been so sheltered.
. . . and you have been well trained. The union provides superior instruction and high standards. I know you have seen much and will see much more.
This was very eye opening and informative also i liked your presentation cuts and tone of voice you get a sub sir!
Thanks.
Why is this in my recommended section? It's a good video, but I don't know why it's in my recommended.
Perhaps you are eclectic in your interests.
well u better check ur attic before squirrels chew up ur wires an burn ur house down.
dont know how this was in my recommended but interesting!
Same.
scrotus faptaculoius same
Oh brother this brings back memories. in the 80's the city in which I lived had a Mayor and city council which were heavily in favor of development. Developers started building at a higher rate then had ever been seen previously. In this city were many older homes that had been built on spacious lots. Soon multi unit condos projects with 80-120 units stood where previously 1 or 2 single family homes ad been. The building inspectors, as was discovered after the fact, were doing "drive by inspections".
Hundreds of these buildings were constructed with a dangerously few good inspections. I came into this after the court settlement was reached. The list of serious decencies was staggering. Shear walls nailing not to code, hold downs, weak concrete footings, insufficient rebar in the rook of underground parking lots the lists went on and on.
Total disaster.
Your experience has shown you how important good inspections need to be. Thanks, for sharing your experience.
I was in the same situation in my house. It was inspected and then a few months after buying it I started some basic remodeling. The electrical was a mess. Junction boxes everywhere, including behind walls and in the cold air return of the heating system! My favorite was the switch for the porch light that also operated all of the recessed lights in the living room. There were two switches in a 2-gang box, but only one worked and operated all of the lights just mentioned. When I pulled it apart, there was a mess of wires that made so little sense that I cut the whole thing out and traced the mess back to the panel to start from scratch. They also simply cut out ground wires in many places!
I know what you had to go through. Glad to hear that you have straightened it out. Thanks for your comments.
I know what you had to go through. Glad to hear that you have straightened it out. Thanks for your comments.
I'm confused by this video. I live in FL and our laws do not allow unlicensed electricians to work on new construction. It's supposed to be done correctly the first time. I'd be suing the GC and the county. The county is responsible for their inspection. Period. If they pass work like this, they should be held accountable. This GC should not be allowed to build a bird house until he has had every single job reinspected and brought back up to current code with zero safety violations present. ZERO!!!
In Alachua county, this GC would be in Jail. This is criminal negligence.
A general contractor can do his own electrical work here. This was not a new house, but a remodel with the walls taken down to the studs.
It's a wonder the place hasn't burnt down yet...
. . . give it time.
I think the wiring itself is an accurate representation of Calif. governmental process.
celtdoggy - Thanks for the humor.
Damn 1.9 million is a lot of money for bonfire.
Yes, but it maybe even more expensive if it catches the homes near it on fire.
why was this in my recommended and why am i watching it
Thanks for watching, though you didn't know the reason. Take photos if a contractor works in you house or your friend's house. It may benefit you . . .
No idea why youtube recommended this video to me, but it was interesting.
Sadly this happens a lot in southamerican countries, not as awful, but it's almost there. I've been saying to my family to call specialized people to renew all that awful electric connection on the house, but they refuse, saying it's "expensive" and how some members of the family can do the job.
Chalk Teacher the only expense is their life and their valued possessions if it's not corrected.
Chalk Teacher. Take photos and send them to people like me. I'll give you comments on your photos.
Agreed . . .
good video. im subscribing. i like that you are responding very actively to comments. even silly misguided ones. keep on keepin on!
Thanks. I figure if someone takes the time to comment, I should show them that courtesy . . .
I flipped out when I saw the grounding put into the wood. I'm 15 years old but damn they really weren't schooled enough for this. This is why I'm careful about contractors and their workers. I'm glad that my dad taught me about construction and electricity at a very young age so now I already have a head start for saving money and for my career job of working in the military as an engineer. Nice video as well, I enjoy watching videos like these because you always learn something from them and how not to end up like that grounding wire.
You sound like a smart kid with standards. I went through cryptography training in the Army, it was excellent training with electronics. No matter your age, the exciting thing about life is there is always more to learn. Your parents should be proud of you.
This is so interesting an I barely understand any of it. Thanks for opening my eyes to other career opportunities
I know you are joking, but maybe you should think about it and become a qualified tradesman - lord knows we need them.
This was some great ASMR
Interesting way of putting it . . .
It reminds me on an "electrician" who did some wiring in my sister apartment: Using PE wire for two pole switches or leaving PE wire floating in a junction box. Quite a combination: When "real" PE and one of the two pole switches were all connected together (he must have forgotten that he used two of the green-yellow wires for lightning circuit) switching on one of the lights switched "live" all electrical appliances in the kitchen :)
We all make mistakes, but when trained we make fewer . . .
My experience with electrical wiring/routing stops at 36v DC, however even I could tell the way that those fixtures and boxes were wired is ASKING for short circuits, arcing, and, consequently, fires. I'm glad someone was there to fix the problem before it became worse - those electricians were just hacking together 120v AC lines!
True, thanks for your comments.
I can't watch this video anymore. It's like a horror movie and I'm not even an electrician.
It was a horror movie, and I have trouble watching those type of movies too.
City inspectors aren't electricians...I would had insisted that a licensed journeyman or master electrician had looked over everything before the city even came in. I would be surprised if they even bothered to look up into the ceiling.
An electrician should have done the work. California has a loophole in the law that allows a general contractor to do the work without any training or certification.
Thank you algorithm for sending this my way 9 years later
I know just enough to get myself in trouble; I've installed light fixtures and run lines for outlets and such a few times over the past couple of decades. That said, how on Earth anyone thought much of this was acceptable is beyond me. Heck, 10 minutes spent googling how to install a light or outlet would have covered most of it. Scary stuff.
You are absolutely right on. Thanks for commenting.