A real Livewire

[Studders]

I was doing some decorating in a friends house and agreed to add an extra couple of sockets while I was there, simple job really shouldn't take more than an hour.

After lifting a couple of floorboards I started laying the cables to re-route the ring, I stuck my arm under the floorboard and pulled what I thought was the end of the new cable.... wrong move. I somehow managed to pull on a live cable that had been bodge joined, to really top my day off it touched the central heating pipe and blew a nice little hole into it.
Some five hours later...... I'd cleared up all the mess and repaired the pipe, but still hadn't done the job I'd started. Don't think my friend was too impressed somehow. Ho hum.

 

[salem2000]

It's bewildering the lenths some will go to to save a few quid, especially with electrics. In our Bungi had to rip out most of lighting as some was run in Bell wire and no earth in anything. A real Pro Job. NOT.

 

[AdamW]

It's bewildering the lenths some will go to to save a few quid, especially with electrics.

People will sometimes spend £30 a switch and £100 a fixture on lighting, and then begrudge the £3 to buy the bits and bobs to do the job correctly! As a Saturday boy in an independent DIY shop I was once asked to rewire a standard lamp (?!) and the customer was fuming that I had the audacity to replace the dodgy corroded failing bayonet with a new lamp fitting without his/her (honestly couldn't tell!) express consent at a cost of 65p (no labour charged). And there was no antique value to the original one either.

Thing is, just as everyone thinks they are an above average driver, we all think we are above average DIYers and thus any "bodgers" out there probably think they are doing nothing wrong. Some probably think they know enough to "make a calculated substitution" by using bellwire instead of T&E!

 

[notb665]

As a Saturday boy in an independent DIY shop I was once asked to rewire a standard lamp (?!) and the customer was fuming that I had the audacity to replace the dodgy corroded failing bayonet with a new lamp fitting without his/her (honestly couldn't tell!) express consent at a cost of 65p (no labour charged). And there was no antique value to the original one either.

I think everyone should be forced to do at least 6 months in retail, like a National Service. It would sort a lot of people out and make for a more pleasant society.

 

[WillB]

Hmm, have you ever been to the B&Q in the Old Kent Rd? They may as well be on NS for all the enthusiasm they show.