# Lightning hit house!!



## Flex277 (Jun 2, 2014)

Apparently our service manager is in need of help on a Saturday job to fix this house that got zapped by 1.21 viva watts and blew a hole the size of a basketball in the roof, blew devices off the wall, welded the gutters to the house etc. Never walked into a situation like this. He basically told me were prolly gonna rewire the house. The HO is in a hurry to get it done but nobody will work sat I guess except me. I mainly do commercial work and dinked around with a few houses but not that much. I expressed him this and he told me I'll do fine and I'm testing to be journeyman as of lately. Any words of experience would be appreciated


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

I reccomend rewiring the house is the home owner okay with removing any drywall in this situation ?


Sent from my iPhone using electriciantalk.com


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## Flex277 (Jun 2, 2014)

cdub347 said:


> I reccomend rewiring the house is the home owner okay with removing any drywall in this situation ? Sent from my iPhone using electriciantalk.com


Yes because that's what my boss said we'll have to do. Now as far as cutting out drywall. Just do enough to get old wire out? And new wire in? If need be. I don't wanna make a big mess in a house. On my commercial jobs I can make the biggest mess I want as long as I clean it up lol


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## FrunkSlammer (Aug 31, 2013)

This is either going to be a BIG mess, or it's going to take forever. Pick one, or both really.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

hopefully the HO has a good looking daughter you can shack up with while you spend the next few weeks tearing the house apart. 

good times.


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## Service Call (Jul 9, 2011)

I just finished a house rewire without removing all the Sheetrock. HO was responsible for removing material as pointed out by me. They also did the repairs. What a PITA. Next time my price doubles. The biggest problem was attic access through out the house was very poor.


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## retiredsparktech (Mar 8, 2011)

Flex277 said:


> Yes because that's what my boss said we'll have to do. Now as far as cutting out drywall. Just do enough to get old wire out? And new wire in? If need be. I don't wanna make a big mess in a house. On my commercial jobs I can make the biggest mess I want as long as I clean it up lol


How old is the home and the wiring method?
That's a rather severe strike! I wonder how the electronics and appliances fared. It sounds like a real labor intensive and time consuming job.


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## Flex277 (Jun 2, 2014)

Aww man what doosey. As you see the lightning hit the peak of the house. I'm thinking energized the metal soffit and travelled all the way around to the back of the house. Here's where I'm confused you see that big hole. It blew right through siding osb then wire and blew out the Sheetrock on the interior which was already down when I got there. So travelled around the house and entered their? Maybe a nail that was in the wire? I just wonder why it came in there?Fried the switch box and fried the garbage disposal outlet.kitchen circuit was ok. 2 gfi's were tripped. Shaked the house so much the exterior lights were loose and boxes sticking out passed the siding an 1/8 of inch. Total circuits tripped were 8. 6 of those were arc faults. 2 flat screens fried garage opener was fried and not working. Water heater demand controller was fried and unresponsive same goes for the control board in the furnace. Even fried the doorbell transformer.


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## wendon (Sep 27, 2010)

Good old steel siding!! Don't think I'd side my house with it as it is a wonderful conductor. I've seen a light shorting to the soffiting of the house cause the ground wire to arc on one side of the house and cause shocks from the screen door on the other side!


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## retiredsparktech (Mar 8, 2011)

Flex277 said:


> Apparently our service manager is in need of help on a Saturday job to fix this house that got zapped by 1.21 viva watts and blew a hole the size of a basketball in the roof, blew devices off the wall, welded the gutters to the house etc. Never walked into a situation like this. He basically told me were prolly gonna rewire the house. The HO is in a hurry to get it done but nobody will work sat I guess except me. I mainly do commercial work and dinked around with a few houses but not that much. I expressed him this and he told me I'll do fine and I'm testing to be journeyman as of lately. Any words of experience would be appreciated


After reading the original post, I was trying to determine, what was meant by the term "1.21 viva watts".
The term "viva" in Latin, means something, relating to "life or lifetime".
Please enlighten! :001_huh:


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## Shock-Therapy (Oct 4, 2013)

_1.21 gigawatts_. We are talking time travel here.


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## Flex277 (Jun 2, 2014)

Aww stupid auto spell on iPhone should be 1.21 gigawatts lol


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

I usually ask the bottom 2 feet of drywall in rooms and at every switch cut nails with a saws all and get side screw remodel boxes and use a flexible fish bit to fish in wires .. You'll need an attic guy to run wires/ or crawl space but that's how we do remodels and they turn out nice every time .. Remove wires you can get to but I would just cut out all boxes and use remodel boxes and cut in new plugs next to existing and make sure to disconnect all old circuits so you don't energize old wires that are buried


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

Remodel boxes are your best friend in these cases and as Lind as you disconnect old wiring only remove what you need to and u can get to ... The wires that are in the house are junk so if you can't remove it just leave it and cut in your new boxes .. A long flexible fish bit will save your life as well


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

as i have been told several times, electricity is not smart, it doesnt always follow the path that its supposed to. and lighting proves that that!


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

I do remodels and rewires with minimal damage every day if you have any questions ... Feel free


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

Pick your easiest route .. Crawl or attic and start cutting out boxes gently to not ruin Sheetrock just cut nails .. Cut wires and pull old box out .. Move over a stud bay of possible and cut in your new box .. Or move over a few inches .. You know your box will be nailed on a stud so you will have a whole like 12 inches to cut a new box wherever it may be .. Take your flexi bit stick it in the wall and drill your whole up or down wherever you choose to run and have your crawl guy shove your wires down or up


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

Label all your wires when your running them and don't install your remodel box until your for sure complete with that box .. Also just a tip on remodel boxes.. It's always good to spin the screws on them a few times to establish treads on the plastic tabs so when you install the box it will tighten easily ... In spots where you want to reuse a box location get boxes with Sheetrock screws inside them to secure to a stud they work great


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

You should be able to wire it new with little to no new damage only repairs will be old box locations


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## piperunner (Aug 22, 2009)

Well lets see the service one ground rod and one lightning arrestor did it have the NEC 25 ohm rod or just two rods per code . Good pictures nice to see a lightning strike on a residential job send this to the NFPA with the two ground rods .:thumbsup: Show the service grounding


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## Flex277 (Jun 2, 2014)

piperunner said:


> Well lets see the service one ground rod and one lightning arrestor did it have the NEC 25 ohm rod or just two rods per code . Good pictures nice to see a lightning strike on a residential job send this to the NFPA with the two ground rods .:thumbsup: Show the service grounding


Hmm let see at the meter it had a ground rod that went up to the meter that was bonded to the neutral. In inside the house panel it had a bare copper #6 to the water main and a ufer right next to panel and neutrals and grounds were sharing the same bar? Legal? The ufer was right next to the panel and have never seen it done like that.


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## piperunner (Aug 22, 2009)

Flex277 said:


> Hmm let see at the meter it had a ground rod that went up to the meter that was bonded to the neutral. In inside the house panel it had a bare copper #6 to the water main and a ufer right next to panel and neutrals and grounds were sharing the same bar? Legal? The ufer was right next to the panel and have never seen it done like that.


 
Well the first disconnect if its the panel inside would be ok but is that a rebar sticking out of the wall next to the panel and that's bonded to the panel neutral and grounding bar? 
So the meter is and the panel is jumped N & G do you know what was the point of the strike were did it hit the service or some were in the house.


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