# Photos of an Eichler hack job.



## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Reminded me of a former forum member :yawn:

Anyway, I was here for a couple days fixing all this stuff and rewiring the kitchen, dining room, and some other stuff. have to feed some new ckts and do other stuff to bring it up to code.
Anyone who as ever done some work in an Eichler knows what a pita it can be.

So... here's the existing homeowner fun stuff:
Switched extension cord.








Nice use of plastic wiremold.








Romex to canopy.








Of course lamp cord was involved.









to be continued.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Some exterior (outside of the house :thumbup photos:
















This box is as, has not been touched by me.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

For those of us who don't live in the Cultural Center of the Universe, how about a definition of _Eichler_.:001_huh:


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

I always knew those Carlon boxes were a safety hazard  :jester:


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

interesting

here's a link for people who don't know what an eichler is
http://eichlersocal.com/


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

480sparky said:


> For those of us who don't live in the Cultural Center of the Universe, how about a definition of _Eichler_.:001_huh:


haha, sorry. It's a design style of a house. The man, Eichler, designed them. 
I don't pretend to be an expert on them. I do know there is no attic and no crawl space underneath. basically just a slab, beams, some sticks and a roof.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Speaking of carlons: (also outside)


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Here's some more for the hell of it.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Okay last ones for now.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

Rudeboy said:


> haha, sorry. It's a design style of a house. The man, Eichler, designed them.
> I don't pretend to be an expert on them. I do know there is no attic and no crawl space underneath. basically just a slab, beams, some sticks and a roof.


As it should be, I love post modern stuff.


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## Bkessler (Feb 14, 2007)

The last house I saw like that the owner was a high school shop teacher, he did some awful, awful things,









This little beauty was alive and well when I found it.

Can you believe someone would use a hose to go under a driveway then use the hose as a conduit, lay it in the dirt and call it good.......................................... and not use a ground wire.....ha ha ha.


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## danickstr (Mar 21, 2010)

At least they painted the NM so it blends in. I think I am a hack sometimes when I do stuff like overfill an existing box by .5-1.5 CI or something, or leave a box full of dead wires open in an occupied house while the drywall is being finished. But then i am reminded what HACK really means....handyman - alias careless killer.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

bump.


Thank you bacon, sincerely, water chestnut.


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## moman (Apr 15, 2010)

I rewired one of those homes. No attic, sits on a slab and walls are mainly glass. We ran about 1000' of pipe on the roof and poked down to the devices. It looked like a commercial job. The HO didn't want to open up any ceilings or walls.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

I ended up running about 50' of 1'' emt along the side of the house from the main into a storage room to a junction box which shares a wall with the kitchen. Since the kitchen was the main thing being completely rewired I brought my ckt's there. Ran some wiremold for the lights.


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## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

Looks like a canidate for surface mounted EMT!


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

A little update, replaced all the romex with pipe.
















A couple rough photos of the kitchen. Could be cleaner... the old insulation was a pita.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

:sleep1:


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

BuzzKill said:


> :sleep1:


When are we going to see some of your work?
:laughing:


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

Rudeboy said:


> When are we going to see some of your work?
> :laughing:


I'm not really an electrician.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

BuzzKill said:


> I'm not really an electrician.


Gotcha.:thumbsup:


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## Mastertorturer (Jan 28, 2009)

In Ontario EMT is not approved for wet locations but maybe it's different where you are. It is approved for damp locations providing the conductors have insulation suitable for wet locations. 

Ridged conduit would have been a better choice on the exterior of a building.

That flourescent fixture is approved for damp locations too? Seeing as how the sockets are exposed I'm gonna guess not. You replacing that too?


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

BuzzKill said:


> :sleep1:


 Peter is that you?????????:no::no::laughing::laughing:


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Mastertorturer said:


> That flourescent fixture is approved for damp locations too? Seeing as how the sockets are exposed I'm gonna guess not. You replacing that too?


I'm not replacing it. It had an extension cord running to it which is gone now.


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

Mastertorturer said:


> In Ontario EMT is not approved for wet locations but maybe it's different where you are. It is approved for damp locations providing the conductors have insulation suitable for wet locations.
> 
> Ridged conduit would have been a better choice on the exterior of a building.
> 
> That flourescent fixture is approved for damp locations too? Seeing as how the sockets are exposed I'm gonna guess not. You replacing that too?


 
Even with compression fittings emt is still not legal? I thought the usa had stupid rules......


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## Voltech (Nov 30, 2009)

Rudeboy said:


> A little update, replaced all the romex with pipe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Man that MT looks like crap. I hate when I have do crap like that. No matter how it's installed, it still looks like crap.


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## Mastertorturer (Jan 28, 2009)

jwjrw said:


> Even with compression fittings emt is still not legal? I thought the usa had stupid rules......


EMT will rust if it's exposed to water. I've seen it first hand so it seems like a pretty normal rule to me. 

*Ontario Electrical Safety Code 12-1402*

(1) Electrical metallic tubing shall be permitted to be used for exposed and concealed work, except that it shall not be used

(a) Where it will be subject to mechanical injury either during installation or afterwards
(b) Where exposed to corrosive vapour except as permitted by rule 2-112
(c) For direct earth burial;
(d) in wet locations
(e) in concrete or masonary slabs in contact with earth, unless a seperate bonding conductor is installed in the tubing. 

*Section 0 Object, scope, and definitions*

Wet Location - A location in which liquids may drip, splash, or flow on or against electrical equipment


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## miller_elex (Jan 25, 2008)

Mastertorturer said:


> Ridged conduit would have been a better choice on the exterior of a building.


And this is profitible HOW?!? 

Plastic pipe is the way to go! It paints better too, which makes it disappear.

I was sent on a job like that too, except it was supposedly bid for an attic. Ended up piping the stuff on the lid in EMT, steel boxes above, bell boxes on the walls, short condulets. We were concious of where the straps and couplings went, the HO loved it so much she had multiple orgasms on the kitchen island staring up. What a GILF she was. The job didn't make money, but still, everyone was happy.


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## Mastertorturer (Jan 28, 2009)

miller_elex said:


> And this is profitible HOW?!?
> 
> Plastic pipe is the way to go! It paints better too, which makes it disappear.
> 
> I was sent on a job like that too, except it was supposedly bid for an attic. Ended up piping the stuff on the lid in EMT, steel boxes above, bell boxes on the walls, short condulets. We were concious of where the straps and couplings went, the HO loved it so much she had multiple orgasms on the kitchen island staring up. What a GILF she was. The job didn't make money, but still, everyone was happy.


It's very profitable when you don't have to rip out an illegal installation.

Code is the law.


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## Widestance_Politics (Jun 2, 2010)

By the looks of that garage I would expect the HO to wind up on that Cable TV show about hoarders......I'm gonna take a wild guess and say the homeowner ran all those cords on the advice learned from a Home Depot electrical sales tech. Like Bkessler's photo, I once went and looked at a job where the homeowner was remodeling his own kitchen and had the floor poured with fancy, colored and stamped concrete. He took some Home Depot advice and ran a garden hose as conduit from the wall out to where the island would be......needless to say there was no chance of pulling any circuits through it......


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## Widestance_Politics (Jun 2, 2010)

Mastertorturer said:


> It's very profitable when you don't have to rip out an illegal installation.
> 
> Code is the law.


NEC states that for a wet location all straps, supports, bolts, screws, and so forth have to be of corrosion-resistant materials, or protected by corrosion resistant materials 358.10(c).....the EMT in the photo would be considered installed in a damp location around here, and would be perfectly legal.Then again we get a lot less rain/snow out here. Car wash's, lift stations, ponds, fountains, etc. are what would be considered "wet" around here, we run EMT outside a lot.You would not be able to compete running ridgid in that instance.....


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## Bkessler (Feb 14, 2007)

Rigid does't rust? Is this some sort of magic rigid?


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Widestance_Politics said:


> By the looks of that garage I would expect the HO to wind up on that Cable TV show about hoarders......I'm gonna take a wild guess and say the homeowner ran all those cords on the advice learned from a Home Depot electrical sales tech. Like Bkessler's photo, I once went and looked at a job where the homeowner was remodeling his own kitchen and had the floor poured with fancy, colored and stamped concrete. He took some Home Depot advice and ran a garden hose as conduit from the wall out to where the island would be......needless to say there was no chance of pulling any circuits through it......


You'd be correct on the hoarding. The HO died about six months ago apparently. This is the clean version of the garage. Before anyone asks, no, it's not my ladder although I did use it to pull wire.


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## Archania (Mar 16, 2009)

Ahhh Eichlers... There are tons of those here in the Bay Area too. Basically nowhere else to run new circuits except on the roof or on the exterior walls. Most of those Eichlers in Palo Alto have good 'ol Zinnsco 60 amp services (that are already maxed out with circuits). 
People are shocked when they find out how much it will cost to run new circuits on the roof, because most of them have foam roofs now, so thats another big expense to have the roof patched where the conduits go through it.
Another thing I hate about those houses is that most all the ceiling boxes are pancake boxes, so there isn't much room to do anything else...


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## Big City Electrician (Jul 5, 2010)

OMG, I just installed exterior floodlights (using EMT!) on one of these houses in Granada Hills. I had no idea this was an important architect or design style. Interesting,


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