You Can't Do That, Part IV

There's nothing wrong with having an outlet in a bathroom, especially if it's a GFCI outlet.

And there's nothing wrong with connecting an outlet in the same box as a light fixture as long as you have a dedicated power source.

Except, the person that did this bathroom decided that it would be all right to connect the outlet to the light fixture that was controlled by a switch.

How cool is that, an outlet that operates on a switch?

You Can't Do That, Part III

If you know a little bit about plumbing, you will recognize the drain coming out of the wall (white part). The sink was located directly above that.

The only problem is that the sink was atop a vanity. And the vanity was placed OVER the baseboard heater.

You Can't Do That, Part II

You would think I was all done after the insulation. Nope.

When adding a fan to your bathroom, you invariably have to add a power source. You could tap an existing power source and run a wire for a new switch. If you have the sheetrock off anyway, you'd have the whole wall open and you'd drill a hole in the stud cavity and fish the wire to the new fan.

The wrong way to do it is put the wire on the outside of the framing and then put sheetrock OVER it. Yes, we had that in two places.

Have no fear, I have at least one more coming.

You Can't Do That, Part I

There's something to be said for building a house from scratch.

The upstairs bath had been remodeled sometime in the 80's. I'm not sure of the extent of the renovations, but obviously a medicine cabinet had been abandoned and a mirror plastered over the open spot. No problem, what do you do with an exposed area, you fill it with insulation.

Once the room was gutted during this renovation, we see what the real problem was. The only insulation in the exterior wall was the little bit where the medicine cabinet had been abandoned.

This can't be legal

Running the wire for my second hallway light, I encountered this beauty. It's a piece of sheilded wire connected to Romex with a wad of black tape around it. I'm thinking this should probably be in a junction box, but looking for opinions.