Remodeling One KNOWS Is Unsafe Without Looking Much Further

Seeing this I knew we were dealing with remodeling one KNOWS is unsafe without looking much further.

Seeing a few new-looking breakers in the panel box I was anxious to remove the cover to look inside.

But one of the older circuit breakers was wired up with this wire.

It enters the box like any other wire.

It's what it does later that is so, um, creative.

Notice that the white (neutral) wire goes straight up?

Weirdly, it goes directly into a breaker newly labeled "1".  On the cover it says that breaker services the attic.

Neutral wires do not, (um, well, let's say) are not supposed to service the circuit breaker.  Almost certainly this wiring was changed by the great and powerful Remodeler   from what it was originally, or left by the builder.

If the neutral line services the circuit breaker, what of the black?

Well, where else would it go?

Onto the neutral bus (!) to be double tapped with the ground line!

All of this is so amazingly backwards and incorrect that there is nothing to do but shake one's head.

Now, this is only one of many, many electrical issues found in this house!

There was old wiring improperly redone and new wiring installed;  old light fixtures improperly rewired and new light fixtures installed; old receptacles painted and stuck and new receptacles improperly installed.  And the beat goes on.

My next post about this house is of something I bet no one reading has seen before!

I'm going to call it "Wynken, Blynken and Light."  The incorrect white and black wires in this post are Wynken and Blynken.  Wait til you see Light!

My recommendation:  seeing something like this wiring above you know the rest of the inspection will be full of oddity.  There are times when home inspectors see things that they find amazing.  Just when I have "seen it all," I run into something that is odd and different beyond belief!  So, stay tuned to the fun.  Of course, stuff like this is not fun to a buyer who has high hopes that this or that is the house of their dreams.  But, as I often say, the house is the house.  Better to find out before moving in than after that it is full of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" items!