Scary Renovation Stories, Part 1

On the first day of renovation, the GC and the electrician were joined by some muscle who helped with the demolition. Since that first day, it's been a two-man show. I like hearing them work stuff out together and it gives me great comfort. One person is bound to miss stuff. Two are more likely to work stuff out well (geeks in the audience might think about Extreme Programming as an example of this).

Anyway, the scary part is when they find messed up stuff (which is often.) They have found:

• Junction boxes that are wired in an unsafe manner.
• Live wires tied in to boxes and just hanging behind drywall (so a nail driven into the drywall could have found an exciting surprise.)
• Outlets that had fires behind them years ago.
• A big, fat electrical cable that goes nowhere and was cut off abruptly with a saw.

Maybe they are just making this stuff up, but it gives me comfort to know that all the money we are paying (and it is lots of money) will result in a house that is more pretty, functional, and safe.

It almost makes the 6:55 a.m. wake-up call (courtesy of a reciprocating saw in the dining room) worth it.

The Day

• Workout: interval running (30 sec. hard run/30 sec. jog for about 2.7 miles) here is the map
  
• Music: Carl Orff, The The, Sublime, Beastie Boys, English Beat
• Photos: Day 4 of the renovation