[earl hall]

good morning all,

Yesterday I had the fun task of installing 3 overhead lights in a 1977 brick ranch. Which ment climbing up in to the attic to run the wires, well While I am up in the attic pulling the cable, I trip over a wire that was not fastened,
No big deal say's I, so I fasten it down, and start looking ( which means following it along through 2 feet of blown in inslation) well after following the wire (and fasting it down as I go) I come accross an almost empty spool of wire and a real nice flashlight and a set of linemans pliers! Oh thank you says I! and then I go and find the other end of the wire and guess what... It is wraped around rafter, So I pull out all my fasterers and yank out the wire which I then roll up and get to keep (yea! about 75' of 14/2) I love it when other folks leave there stuff behind..
Oh I forgot to mention, it was friggin hot up there too nothing like crawling around in an attic when it is hot out, :Thumbs:

 

[earl hall]

is this code anywhere? I doubt it!

Had a job last week I thought you would get a kick out of.

Home owener call me and says that his basment outlets are not working, So I go over and take a look,

After seeing that the CB was poped (non GFI), I start pulling the plugs (also non GFI), I see a big ol' black mark along the side of one of the metal boxs. Well I then notice the wires.. White hooked up to the box ground and then to the ground screw on the outlet, and the bare hooked up to the outlet, black hooked up . well I decide to pull and look at all the other outlets in the basment and find them all hooked up this way.
Well I ended up pulling new wire, installing a GFI breaker and installing new outlets
nice way to make a few $.
I pointed it out to the homeowner and recomended checking all lights and outlets but they said no.
the only thing that scares me, is if they wired up basment outlets that way what else could be screwed up in that house.

 

[jproffer]

I think I would've said from the start "I'm checking (and fixing) everything, or nothing". Sometimes if you let 'em know how dangerous it can be to do nothing, they come around. Things like "WHEN (not if) the house burns down, and someones trapped in here, I wouldn't be able to live with myself after doing only half the job" usually scares people enough to at least consider it.

 

[mdshunk]

You can't make the whole world perfect. I see so much crap on a daily basis that little phases me now. The best thing you can do is advise the building owner as best you know how. The decision is up to them. Make what you "touched" right, and then quit touching stuff. :cheesygri Document the hell out of what you did and what you found on your invoice. This is one place where the more detail the better (for you down the road, if there ever is any trouble). Resist the urge to rewire every home you enter.

 

[PipeGuy]

...after following the wire (and fasting it down as I go) I come accross an almost empty spool of wire and a real nice flashlight and a set of linemans pliers! Oh thank you says I! and then I go and find the other end of the wire and guess what... It is wraped around rafter, So I pull out all my fasterers and yank out the wire which I then roll up and get to keep. I love it when other folks leave there stuff behind.. :Thumbs:

Ooo, this is the worst post I've ever seen. What, you post a story like this and you get a free bowel of soup? Oh hey, it looks good on you though. :Thumbs:

Nothing like stealing the customer's stuff to make a job worth doing, huh?

 

[plumguy]

good morning all,

Yesterday I had the fun task of installing 3 overhead lights in a 1977 brick ranch. Which ment climbing up in to the attic to run the wires, well While I am up in the attic pulling the cable, I trip over a wire that was not fastened,
No big deal say's I, so I fasten it down, and start looking ( which means following it along through 2 feet of blown in inslation) well after following the wire (and fasting it down as I go) I come accross an almost empty spool of wire and a real nice flashlight and a set of linemans pliers! Oh thank you says I! and then I go and find the other end of the wire and guess what... It is wraped around rafter, So I pull out all my fasterers and yank out the wire which I then roll up and get to keep (yea! about 75' of 14/2) I love it when other folks leave there stuff behind..
Oh I forgot to mention, it was friggin hot up there too nothing like crawling around in an attic when it is hot out, :Thumbs:

So, because you were miserable working in a hot attic..do you think that justifies stealing from a customer's home?? You're a member of a community of contractor's that strive to do the right thing. This site is evidence of that and is where one can give back or become more knowledgable too serve their customers...shame on you!

 

[earl hall]

So, because you were miserable working in a hot attic..do you think that justifies stealing from a customer's home?? You're a member of a community of contractor's that strive to do the right thing. This site is evidence of that and is where one can give back or become more knowledgable too serve their customers...shame on you!

well I did not steal anything! what I did not add was no one had been up in that attic since it was built, (still the orginal owners) and the stuff left up there was left over from the sparky that did the wiring back in 77. AND I did tell the homeowner that I found that stuff up there, and they said to keep it, (granted the flashlight ended up being ruined from the batteries leaking)
What I was tryiung to get accross is numb nuts who don't clean up there work area can be a big pain for someone else down the road.

How dare you assume I stole anything. And since when did Most Contractors become goody goodies anyway? 85% of my work is fixing stuff they screw up and when the costmers can't get them to fix it they call me.
And by the way For GOD sakes I only charged them $100.00 to run 3 lights!
I was helping them out because they really did not have the money to do it
So kiss my lilly white hick butt.
:evil:

 

[plumguy]

I come accross an almost empty spool of wire and a real nice flashlight and a set of linemans pliers! Oh thank you says I! I love it when other folks leave there stuff behind.. :Thumbs:

Not only did I assume that you stole it...but that you're "lilly white hick butt" has done it before or at least YOU make it sound that way!

 

[mdshunk]

When you wrote:

...I come accross an almost empty spool of wire and a real nice flashlight and a set of linemans pliers! Oh thank you says I!

and

...yank out the wire which I then roll up and get to keep.

and

...I love it when other folks leave there stuff behind..

it sure seemed like you wanted people to think that you took this found treasure. Then you tell guys to kiss your butt for thinking so. Not exactly the classiest response. There is such a thing as "abstaining from appearances", if you know what I mean. Taking the high road would have involved an apology for making it seem like you might have stole the stuff, and then explained that the customer gave this gear to you when you pointed it out to them.

I guess you already know that any Romex left over from '77 would be the old 60 degree celcuis rated stuff, and is not legal to use anymore.