Grumble Grumble Grumble
Have you ever wanted to find the previous owner that did a crazy crappy half-assed job of something or other and just smack them upside the head? Or at least grab them and cry "why did you do this to the poor old house?" I was having one of those moments tonight while I was trying to put the new baseboards in the living room. Some crazy drunk remodeling dude decided it was perfectly OK to mount a new electrical outlet right at the baseboard line, chew up the wall, then patch it all up with enough spackle to stick out 1/2" proud. This made mounting the new baseboard flush impossible. So, I'm trying to sort of push the electrical box around and the whole spackle wad concoction disintegrates. Oddly enough, I just laughed and took this picture.
After I regained my composure, I decided that I had better fix this whole mess rather than try and hack another concoction that would lead a future owner to curse me. While I was at it, I decided to throw in a wall sconce. This took the entire evening. The baseboards are no closer to being mounted, but at least I've got an outlet at the proper height, a flush wall, and a little more light. I'll try again with the baseboards tomorrow.
By the way, the little bits of blue tape mark the studs. Just though you might be asking.
posted by Greg at Monday, May 01, 2006
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5 Comments:
Nasty surprise, to be sure. This looks exactly like the same handywork that has cursed my house. Get this, I can plug something into an outlet and have the whole thing sink back into the wall because the box isn't attached to ANYTHING. On other outlets, the whole box is anchored by the outlet plate and nothing else!
Q: "Have you ever wanted to find the previous owner that did a crazy crappy half-assed job of something or other and just smack them upside the head? Or at least grab them and cry "why did you do this to the poor old house?" "
A: EVERY time we start a new project!!! Most of the time we just stand there with faces that look like we just smelled an entire colony of skunks, shaking our heads, and fling out the question, "what the....??"
By the way, great rewire and patch!
When I initially saw the second photo my first thought was, "How convenient that that sconce was directly above the work area to light things up." Then I read a little farther and had a chuckle. :)
Nice repair and opportunistic lighting addition.
Bill
Ha, I guess a lot of people want to strangle the previous owner/remodeler. Thanks for your comments!
Blue tape--you're a genius!
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