DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad DIYers

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We were recently invited to sort out some dodgy backyard electrics. It was surprising that no one had managed to get a shock off this exposed wiring. When we traced back all of the cables that were darting around behind bushes and exposed to the elements they all traced back to the shed. The shed was also wired incorrectly in that the old and cracked trunking had been walked on and exposed to heavy moisture.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Electrical

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Whilst undertaking a job elsewhere in this flat we came across this mess. The fan had obviously been replaced at some point in the past and perhaps the new one had a smaller case than the old one. The owners solution was to leave the wires exposed. If you look closely you can see a cut in the brown (live or line).  Althougth the earth usually isn’t required for a double insulated appliance it is customery to cut it off and tuck it tucked away within the unit where moisture cannot gain entry into the cable sheath. This particular bathroom is on an inside wall with no windows so moisture build up would be a concern to all wires that are exposed.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad DIY Gas and Electrics

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We were on site to replace an electric double oven and gas hob as well as add an new kitchen extractor fan. When we viewed the job a few days earlier it didn’t look too bad but of course we don’t have x-ray vision and can’t see behind kitchen units to see how things are really hooked up. In the case of this kitchen things were not hooked up as they should have been. We had work to do with the cabinets, eletrical and gas fittings too. continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad DIY Gas and Flue

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Due to the weather this week and a few cancellations I have decided to jump into the archive of weekly pictures that have not won our coveted Cowboy Of The Week Award and show you this gem.  My joiner rang me late last year and asked if I would look at replacing a wooden fire surround for his client.  I went down to take a look and found this basket mounted in an opening which was built by her ex-husband many years ago. When I tried to inspect the flue I couldn’t see anything but a blackened metal plate sitting directly above the fire basket just behind the lintel. As I fished around I discovered that the metal plate sat upon four hexagon nuts supposedly allowing a draft to pull through but no grit to fall onto the fire basket! continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad DIY

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While moving a boiler for a client we were presented with this issue. The single socket was feeding a fridge located under a stairway. The socket was already spurred off of the ring located upstairs. The black cable was the also wired into the socket from behind and then fed out to a shed via an armoured cable. What’s the problem with that?

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad DIY

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I offer this piece of advice for all those who have a friend, work collegue, mate, uncle or cousin who loves to dish out DIY advice with no actual training in the field. DO NOT blindly take that advice without using a bit of common sense. Case in point!

We found this serious fault a few weeks ago when asked to repair an apparent burnt out bulb in a bathroom we had fit about a year earlier. When we entered the loft space to change the transformer we found the burnt piece of plastic pipe waste pipe as shown in the photo. The plastic pipe was resting DIRECTLY ON TOP of the halogen light! continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Cowboy Electrics Fitters

After years in the business you can often times read a house like a history book. Most often I’ll start reading the as I drive up the the property and sometimes it’s once inside. Sometimes issues show up unannounced. But sometimes there are so many issues that the mind boggles at how unsafe some homes really are. continue