stupid florida construction

[zorak1066]

well looks like I either go propane or natural gas after all. the only place I would have used an induction cooker would have been the garage.. shelter from floating tree crap... easy to put a fan behind me to keep me from croaking from heat.... but... the idiots who built the place used a 15 amp breaker in the garage for everything...doors...outlets...

1800 watts at 120 volts -> 15 amps. so if I was to crank up a strong boil for any length of time odds are I would keep popping the circuit breaker.

15 amp fuse!!!! wtf?

the houses down here would not pass code anywhere else in the real world. none of the outlets are grounded properly... none of the doors I have ever encountered have been hung plumb.... light switches that POP everytime you turn on or off a light.... and they want $160k for a house that anywhere else in reality would only fetch $90-100k at best. wow... gotta hit the stinking lottery and get out of Oz.

[mashani]

House I lived in here before this one, I was working on a radiator (steam heat) and I was laying on the floor against the wall messing with its steam doohickey... my leg touched outlet cover and the screw that held it in... my hand was on the radiator... Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! And I was out of it for a bit because of how far the current traveled through me...

Outlet was "fake grounded" by former owner so it would pass stupid inspector test - little wire from ground to negative... except it was not to the negative! And the plumbing was the ground for the few things that actually were.

So... I felt your pain.

This house, being old, is a mix of good outlets in places like kitchen and bathroom and computer areas where code or sanity requires it - and non grounded ones in others where it's not so important. But at least the non grounded ones don't try to hide it.

[zorak1066]

there's a tv bay in the living room over the fireplace with shelves on either side for media equipment. would you believe they put in a TWO PRONG multi outlet for this???? TWO ******* prong???? nothing has been made with 2 prong / non grounded since what... the 70s???? and this house is only about 8 yrs old. TWO PRONG!!

(shakes head)... im living in hell I tell ya... absolute hell....

the master bathroom has a vanity with drawers on the top and doors below... would you believe the drawers are all FAKE!??? you get exactly 2 doors to open for a large non-shelved storage...in the master bath.

the kitchen has buttloads of cupboards.... half of which you cant fit even a plate on because the shelves are 10" x 10". you have drawers that cant even hold a thing of aluminum foil. you have cabinet space that extends 3 feet beyond the doors that in order to use, you have to put on a miner's hat with a light and crawl under the cabinet! lol!

don't get me wrong.. it's a step up from the hell hole we were in before but so many logistics to work out! I tell ya, they do everything for crap here. nothing makes any sense.

[zorak1066]

oh and my personal favorite... a walk in closet that measures 6ft by 4 ft.. not bad but.... the DOOR OPENS INWARD TO THE CLOSET. so you lose usable floor space because of the stupid door having to swing in.

my dad was a civil engineer in Detroit. I bet he is just rolling in his grave at the architectural stupidity of this place.

[FedoraDave]

Casa Dave-Guy is a house that's over 80 years old, and it was never properly upgraded electrically. It must have been grandfathered when the laws changed. All the outlets on the lower floor are 2-prong. There's only one outlet in the kitchen besides the one dedicated to the refrigerator; there weren't a lot of electrical gadgets in the 1920s. When I went to install a ceiling fan/lamp in the living room, I discovered a couple of things. First, the wires were insulated with paper and cloth, and second, the circuit system is a mish-mash. One circuit feeds random rooms all over the house, including the basement. Another feeds the kitchen and the stairway to the second floor, for some reason. It makes no sense at all.

I'm sure you'll find way to work around it. The way I deal with my situation is muttering a lot of bad words under my breath.

[braukasper]

my dad was a civil engineer in Detroit. I bet he is just rolling in his grave at the architectural stupidity of this place.

Hate to tell you this. It just as bad here. Unsheilded wires in the attic, fridg & microwave one the same circuit. The whole garage, 3 car & shop on one circuit 20 A. Pressure tank for the for a 1500 SQ FT house problem house is 2800 SQ FT. Shoddy workmanship is universal!!!

[monsteroyd]

Light switches that pop are switching the ground (instead of the hot) and are not very nice to have if you are dealing with flammable gas. In that case, they are called detonators.

EDIT: depending on how it is wired, you might be able to fix it either at the light or the switch, it just depends on how they ran the wire. It really is NOT safe.

Monty

[Rebel_B]

there's a tv bay in the living room over the fireplace with shelves on either side for media equipment. would you believe they put in a TWO PRONG multi outlet for this???? TWO ******* prong???? nothing has been made with 2 prong / non grounded since what... the 70s???? and this house is only about 8 yrs old. TWO PRONG!!

(shakes head)... im living in hell I tell ya... absolute hell....

the master bathroom has a vanity with drawers on the top and doors below... would you believe the drawers are all FAKE!??? you get exactly 2 doors to open for a large non-shelved storage...in the master bath.

the kitchen has buttloads of cupboards.... half of which you cant fit even a plate on because the shelves are 10" x 10". you have drawers that cant even hold a thing of aluminum foil. you have cabinet space that extends 3 feet beyond the doors that in order to use, you have to put on a miner's hat with a light and crawl under the cabinet! lol!

don't get me wrong.. it's a step up from the hell hole we were in before but so many logistics to work out! I tell ya, they do everything for crap here. nothing makes any sense.

This the 21st century! What the heck is going on down there in Fla Fla land? Unlicensed electricians? Chinese cabinets misplaced?

[mashani]

Honestly everything else about that old house (Built in 1920) and my current house (built in 1936) is of higher quality construction then the McMansions they build here today. Electricity just wasn't that big of a deal back then, you had some lights and a toaster and a radio maybe.

[jimjohson]

when we moved in this place we quickly found out (by trial and error) that they ran 6 out of 7 rooms off the same 30a fuse. was blowing 4-5 fuses a week. I had to put a breaker box in and re-wire the house to fix that. good thing I knew how so it just cost material, 1 Saturday, and an electrician to inspect the work.

[FedoraDave]

JJ, come to my house and do the same!

I have beer, and I'll smoke some ribs......

[Funky Skunk Brewing]

That stinks zorak1066. My father was a building inspector in Escambia County (Florida) for 25 years and he would he would have a field day at these places. Where is this in Florida? I live in Pensacola, our house was built in the early 80's and we did not have two prongs anywhere in our house. Whatever contractor or company built that house should be looked in to, really.

Our house was built better in my eyes than friends that live in nearly bran new houses. Everything is just contractor grade BS and usually they are replacing stuff once a month from something they did wrong or cheaped out on. Just par for the course it seems these days. Build them for cheaper, charge more for them.

[jimjohson]

JJ, come to my house and do the same!

I have beer, and I'll smoke some ribs......

I was 33 then, I can't even get my 59 year old butt in my attic now. the opening seem to have shrunk.

[Yankeedag]

JJ, come to my house and do the same!

I have beer, and I'll smoke some ribs......

I was 33 then, I can't even get my 59 year old butt in my attic now. the opening seem to have shrunk.

Well I am blaming my closet for my clothing shrinking. I mean they fit just fine before they went in there....