Home Repairs/HoneyDo List/Advice & Tips/etc.

[Bleed S & G]

It will be expensive if you use an electrician. If you do it your self make sure you find out all you can before you do it. The guys at places like home depot wil tell you a lot. usually you just use romex wire but you need to check the local codes before you buy it. You also need to know how to pull it into tight areas.
Make sure that the circuit breaker, the wire, and the fixture are all rated for the same amps, this is very important.
Above all be sure you know what you are doing before you rewire.

I've got an electrician who is very reasonable (does it on the side of his job) - he's damn good in the Columbus area - PM me if you want his info if you're still looking..

 

[Mac]

I'm frustrated as hell. So my basement bathroom had ivory plug and (3 switches). 2 of the switches were older and it only had 2 wires (no ground) for it, unless one was hot and the other was ground (I don't know because I am an amateur at electrical shit). Except for one of the switches, which had 3 wires for only two options. And that 3rd wire was bridged over to the other switch. Okay so I thought one was neutral and the other was hot. Nope, now I'm in a mess where my basement outlets/lights aren't working together since they are somehow tapped together. And the outlet power tester says hot/ground reversed.

I'm pissed because I've spent about 2 hours trying to fix it and now I'm giving up.

 

[Mike80]

So we were able to get the shitty plaster and the ruined drywall removed without much of an issue, at least until we hit the corners where, of course, they used the wire mesh they SHOULD HAVE USED for the plaster as their mold for the corners.

Shitstains also decided to use the door frame on the lefthand side as one side of the corner instead of making a corner and putting the door next to that. So we are going to have to play with it a tad when we actually drywall it.

Unfortunately I'm out of commission. I somehow found a way to fracture a Lumbar vertebrae Saturday and am out of commission at least until I see the orthopedic guy. Fun times

 

[Mike80]

I'm frustrated as hell. So my basement bathroom had ivory plug and (3 switches). 2 of the switches were older and it only had 2 wires (no ground) for it, unless one was hot and the other was ground (I don't know because I am an amateur at electrical shit). Except for one of the switches, which had 3 wires for only two options. And that 3rd wire was bridged over to the other switch. Okay so I thought one was neutral and the other was hot. Nope, now I'm in a mess where my basement outlets/lights aren't working together since they are somehow tapped together. And the outlet power tester says hot/ground reversed.

I'm pissed because I've spent about 2 hours trying to fix it and now I'm giving up.

I would recommend capping the wires and getting someone in that has a bit more experience at that point. It sounds like they have it cross-wired in a weird way that may end up with you needing to have it entire re-wired.

 

[Mike80]

I don't get what the problem is. Are you out of explosives? :p

Oh if I could I absolutely would....

A battalion fire-for-effect would do the house NICELY

 

[Deety]

I would recommend capping the wires and getting someone in that has a bit more experience at that point. It sounds like they have it cross-wired in a weird way that may end up with you needing to have it entire re-wired.

What nonsense. Don't listen to him, Mac.

WD-40, duct tape.

You're welcome.

 

[OSUBucksFanDW]

BuckeyeMac, I'm going to give you a little electricity lesson. First of all, your neutral is seldom hooked to the switch. It is either wire nutted to all the other neutrals in the switch box or is connected at the light. You should have one hot and one "switchleg" on each switch. The switchleg carries the hot to the light when you flip the switch on, and breaks the circuit when you flip the switch off. Also, on older houses, the neutral was used as the ground (as the neutral is your grounded conductor, and the hot is ungrounded). So, if you hook up a neutral on one side of the switch and a hot on the other side of a switch, when you turn the switch on, you will immediately have a dead short. Not good. I would suggest going to Home Depot and getting a no touch voltage detector, around 15 bucks. Turn your breaker on and find out which wire(s) are hot, and hook your hot up to one side of your switch. From there, it should be easy to trace out which of the other wires are your switchleg. Also, count how many screws there are on the switch, not counting the ground screw. If there are only 2 screws, then you have a single pole switch, which works in only one location. If you have 3 screws, then you have a 3 way switch, which is connected to another 3 way switch somewhere in the room. Hopefully, you only have 2 screws, and it will be easy to trace out your switchlegs. If not, and you have a three way switch, get back to me and I'll try to walk you through how they work. Good luck, and BE CAREFUL. Make sure to turn your breaker off and keep it off until you need it on to find your hot wire. Once your hot wire is found, turn the breaker back off! Hope I haven't confused you. It really is pretty simple.

 

[Mac]

BuckeyeMac, I'm going to give you a little electricity lesson. First of all, your neutral is seldom hooked to the switch. It is either wire nutted to all the other neutrals in the switch box or is connected at the light. You should have one hot and one "switchleg" on each switch. The switchleg carries the hot to the light when you flip the switch on, and breaks the circuit when you flip the switch off. Also, on older houses, the neutral was used as the ground (as the neutral is your grounded conductor, and the hot is ungrounded). So, if you hook up a neutral on one side of the switch and a hot on the other side of a switch, when you turn the switch on, you will immediately have a dead short. Not good. I would suggest going to Home Depot and getting a no touch voltage detector, around 15 bucks. Turn your breaker on and find out which wire(s) are hot, and hook your hot up to one side of your switch. From there, it should be easy to trace out which of the other wires are your switchleg. Also, count how many screws there are on the switch, not counting the ground screw. If there are only 2 screws, then you have a single pole switch, which works in only one location. If you have 3 screws, then you have a 3 way switch, which is connected to another 3 way switch somewhere in the room. Hopefully, you only have 2 screws, and it will be easy to trace out your switchlegs. If not, and you have a three way switch, get back to me and I'll try to walk you through how they work. Good luck, and BE CAREFUL. Make sure to turn your breaker off and keep it off until you need it on to find your hot wire. Once your hot wire is found, turn the breaker back off! Hope I haven't confused you. It really is pretty simple.

All of my switches are single pole (2 screws plus ground). I've switched out about 20-30 outlets/switches before this last bundle and I didn't have any problems until I saw 5 wires plus a bridged wire from one switch to the other.

Now one of the switches works (the one for the vanity light) however, the bath fan/light doesn't work and the light in the shower doesn't work.

In your explanation, let me get this right, older switches (the ones I tried to replace but am having problems with) would have a ground and hot only? If that's the case then there's my answer because I've been hooking up the hot and neutral, but it the neutral doesn't go to the switch then like you said I'm shorting myself out. Thus to correct the problem I should have one wire as hot and other as ground?

 

[OSUBucksFanDW]

You should have one hot wire and one switchleg per switch (one hot and one switchleg for the vanity light, one of each for the fan/light, and one of each for the shower light). If there is no ground wire in the box (a green wire or a bare copper wire) then the neutral is acting as ground. It does NOT get hooked to the switch. It gets wire nutted together with all the other neutrals in the switch box. What color, and how many, wires do you have in the switch box? One thing to remember is a neutral is always white, but a white isn't always a neutral. You may have a white wire acting as a switchleg.

 

[Mac]

There's 5 wires total for two switches in one box. I'm not at home right now but I believe there is at least one ground wire. And I believe all the wires in the box are white, and I believe that adds to part of my confusion

As for the other switch that is by itself for the shower light, there are two wires for that switch.

I'll be home from work in less than a few hours, I can upload a picture for you to see as well

 

[Mac]

Switch on right works to light above vanity/sink.....Switch on left is the bath light/fan

Front view of the switches

 

[Thump]

I'm frustrated as hell. So my basement bathroom had ivory plug and (3 switches). 2 of the switches were older and it only had 2 wires (no ground) for it, unless one was hot and the other was ground (I don't know because I am an amateur at electrical shit). Except for one of the switches, which had 3 wires for only two options. And that 3rd wire was bridged over to the other switch. Okay so I thought one was neutral and the other was hot. Nope, now I'm in a mess where my basement outlets/lights aren't working together since they are somehow tapped together. And the outlet power tester says hot/ground reversed.

I'm pissed because I've spent about 2 hours trying to fix it and now I'm giving up.

Piece of advice regarding electrical and plumbing, if you do not know 100% what you are doing, pay a professional.

 

[Mac]

Piece of advice regarding electrical and plumbing, if you do not know 100% what you are doing, pay a professional.

I agree with you, but I was switching out plugs and switches. It's basic stuff until I got into this mess. It's like changing out a ceiling light, its not hard to do but sometimes you hit a wall with something

 

[Gatorubet]

Hope I haven't confused you. It really is pretty simple.

So is brain surgery to the brain surgeon.

Switch on right works to light above vanity/sink.....Switch on left is the bath light/fan

Front view of the switches

Turn off the circuit breaker. Stuff the entire electrical box with steel wool, making sure to touch all the various wiring ends.

Buy some graham crackers, marshmallows and Hersheys chocolate - and get a long pointed stick.

Turn the circuit breaker back on.

S'mores!!!!!

 

[OSUBucksFanDW]

OK, I'm guessing that the switches in the picture are the new switches? It also looks like there is one black wire, 4 whites, and no green (grounds). I'm also going to guess that you have one hot(black), 2 neutrals (white) and 2 switchlegs (also white) The first thing to do is find out which one is your hot wire and which 2 are your neutrals. I'm guessing the hot is the black wire. Do you have any sort of voltage tester? Ideally, one with 2 test leads on it. If not, you're going to have to get one at Home Depot or Lowes. A cheap one will run you around 30 bucks. If so, disconnect all the wires, turn on the breaker, place one test lead on the black and, one at a time, place the other lead on the white wires, keeping one lead on the black while checking the whites. The whites that are the neutrals will read 120 volts black to white, the switchlegs will read nothing black to white. Then turn off the breaker. Take your neutrals and wire nut them both together and shove them back in the box. Then take 2 pieces of wire 8 inches long, strip off the ends a half inch or so, and wire nut them to the hot. These are the hots that will feed the switches. Connect them to the switches, one per switch. Then connect one of the white wires to one switch, and the other white wire to the other switch. Turn the breaker back on, and if my guesses are right about which wire is what, everything should work properly. If the switches are backwards from what you want them to control, simply turn off the breaker and switch the switchlegs from one switch to the other. Hope this works for you. I've been an electrician for nearly 30 years, though I do industrial electricity (nuke plants, refineries, chemical plants, etc.) and haven't done residential wiring in a long time. But I think we're on the right track. Any problems, reply to this thread or pm me. BE SAFE!!!!!! 120 volts can hurt you. I have to go to bed tonight at 8 to get up at 3 in the morning to drive to work, so I probably won't be able to check back in until tomorrow evening. Good luck.