Again, I find myself waiting for the electrician. A different electrician, this time. The last one told me the fix I wanted was a hell of a lot more complicated than I had anticipated, and that I could therefore probably get away with installing the fan with only a fair-to-midling chance that anything would burst into flames.
Hmm. I'm not sure those odds are quite good enough for me.
See, in most normal houses built by people who aren't insane and trying to kill the next folks who buy the property, electrical wire is:
1) insulated with something other than cloth, and
2) strung through pipes (or conduits, Rob, to make you happy) so it's easy to replace said wire when it becomes out of date -- for example, when most of the world starts insulating wire with something that is not, in itself, flammable.
But my place is just a cavalcade of fun 'n flammable wackiness. Some of the wire is in pipes, some are not. Some of the wire is new and properly insulated, some is not.
No problem, you say. How bad could it be? You only need to cut a relatively narrow channel in your wall and ceiling, install the pipe, then install the wire through that. Bingo! Well yes. Except..... my house has the original plaster walls. Fabulous, you say, they add character. True, they do, and it is one of the things I loved about this house when we looked at it. The only problem with old plaster is that, as far as I know, no one has yet designed a tool, method or procedure that will even lessen the odds that the plaster won't crack into a million pieces and fall to the floor the moment its integrity is violated. Hell, I was waiting for the house to collapse when I put up pictures.
Faced with such a prospect, Electrician #1 said take the risk, put the fan back up and hope for the best. As I have already mentioned my squeamishness about stuff that may explode/burst into flame, I'm getting a second opinion.
Now Rob from work -- who yesterday foolishly revealed to me that he is a civil engineer and that he fixes up house stuff for fun -- told me to ask about flexible conduit. OK sounds fabulous. Will do.
Not to be outdone, Newton sent me listings for people who may be able to help, courtesy of Viz magazine. Thanks, dude. You really need to get out more, don't you? (And no, not hearing from me does not necessarily mean I am"shagging the electrician.")
Continuing in the house vein, did you hear someone had invented self-cleaning glass for windows? Where do I sign up?
Hmm. I'm not sure those odds are quite good enough for me.
See, in most normal houses built by people who aren't insane and trying to kill the next folks who buy the property, electrical wire is:
1) insulated with something other than cloth, and
2) strung through pipes (or conduits, Rob, to make you happy) so it's easy to replace said wire when it becomes out of date -- for example, when most of the world starts insulating wire with something that is not, in itself, flammable.
But my place is just a cavalcade of fun 'n flammable wackiness. Some of the wire is in pipes, some are not. Some of the wire is new and properly insulated, some is not.
No problem, you say. How bad could it be? You only need to cut a relatively narrow channel in your wall and ceiling, install the pipe, then install the wire through that. Bingo! Well yes. Except..... my house has the original plaster walls. Fabulous, you say, they add character. True, they do, and it is one of the things I loved about this house when we looked at it. The only problem with old plaster is that, as far as I know, no one has yet designed a tool, method or procedure that will even lessen the odds that the plaster won't crack into a million pieces and fall to the floor the moment its integrity is violated. Hell, I was waiting for the house to collapse when I put up pictures.
Faced with such a prospect, Electrician #1 said take the risk, put the fan back up and hope for the best. As I have already mentioned my squeamishness about stuff that may explode/burst into flame, I'm getting a second opinion.
Now Rob from work -- who yesterday foolishly revealed to me that he is a civil engineer and that he fixes up house stuff for fun -- told me to ask about flexible conduit. OK sounds fabulous. Will do.
Not to be outdone, Newton sent me listings for people who may be able to help, courtesy of Viz magazine. Thanks, dude. You really need to get out more, don't you? (And no, not hearing from me does not necessarily mean I am"shagging the electrician.")
Continuing in the house vein, did you hear someone had invented self-cleaning glass for windows? Where do I sign up?
posted by SAJ at
2:04 PM
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