How predatory remodeling ruined my house in a matter of days after closing
Amáda points out that I rebuilt the stair landing to its original size, but not wide enough to match up with the wall. It’s easy enough to fix. I take off the deck and treads of a few stairs, add some framing, and put wider treads back on. I also add in a little foamboard insulation around the perimeter.
Is it crazy to move a service panel? Yes. But since we already have everything exposed, and we’re laying out the basement from scratch, why not rethink it? We had already moved the service panel from a closet to a bedroom. This time, we’re going to move it to the laundry room, near the furnace and other mechanicals on a different side of the house. Luckily, we won’t need to run new wires for this.
I start by picking an ideal spot on the basement wall and marking it off with tape. Then I anchor some framing to the wall and carefully insulate around it.
Meanwhile, Harry help cut some additional insulation.
I hire an electrician to move the service panel. The plan is to have a second meter and panel for an electric car charger. Also, we’re going to remove the overhead power line and mast from the back of our house and have an underground service line installed.
My electrician rigs up some temporary power to the new electric service panel by daisy-chaining off the old one. From here, he can begin moving the circuits and breakers one by one. As you can see, some of the laundry plumbing is in the way. This will have to be moved to its final location.
My electrician continues the migrating the electrical circuits. I continue adding foamboard insulation to the outer walls.
It’s the most basic rule of American carpentry framing: Studs must be spaced evenly 16″ on center. It’s really simple when the wall measures exactly 8 feet. You also want that framing tightly fastened to something. The idiots who flipped our house didn’t even do that much right.
Nothing says “I took a shortcut” like framing over drywall. That’s exactly what the flippers did at the end of this stud wall. On the backside of this wall is the mechanical closet where the furnace and water heater are. The drywall has some mold damage, so I decide to partially demolish the lousy parts of this wall and rebuild it later.
Just when I think there’s no more demolition to be done, there’s always another Bagster to fill up. It’s fun watching them lifted up, though.
Today the power company dug a trench and ran new underground electrical service to the house. They connected it to the new duplex meter housing and 2 new service panels. They also removed the old overhead line, mast, and meter box.
Today my electrician disappointed me. I hired him to move my electrical service panel, which he did. As for all of the other electrical problems in the house, he simply refused to fix them. He said they’re too hard to find, and not worth his time.
One such problem has to do with a circuit that runs through this junction box. It’s huge circuit that powers most of the house including lights, outlets, the refrigerator, the washing machine, the garage door opener, and more. Somehow, both ends of the circuit are on separate breakers. Removing the connection at this junction box doesn’t break the circuit. Instead, it causes a “free neutral”. When that happens, the lights in the house blink on and off. You can’t make this stuff up.
I asked him what it would take to fix the problem. He wouldn’t give me a bid, saying the problem could be hidden anywhere, like in the attic. I tried to reason with him, saying that the entire basement is exposed, and the attic has very safe lighting and rat runs. He simply said “I don’t do attics” and wouldn’t even look.
Unfortunately, untangling this mess means I’m going to have to hire another electrician, or find a way to do the job myself.
These drain and vent pipes are attached directly to the basement wall. I need to insulate that wall with foamboard insulation. This means carefully cutting out pink foamboard shapes that exactly match the pipe hangers and fitting them into place. Then I’ll have to do this again for with the fire-resistant foil-faced foamboard, but this time I’ll have to insulate around the pipes themselves… very complex shapes. What a painstaking job. No contractor would do this kind of work, but I’ll feel better knowing that wall is thoroughly insulated.
