A safety reminder

I know we are all extra careful when inspecting other people's homes. This is just a reminder to extend that care to our own homes.

My wife visits her brother in Dallas a couple times a year and always comes back with stories of the neat things that he has done to his house. This time was no exception. He had installed a whole house fan and she was amazed with how well it worked. Of course she wanted one now an it just happened that he had another one laying around. When she got home with it, I was ordered to install it (I always do what the boss says).

I laid a couple sheets of OSB over the joists, which almost covered the area leading to where the gaping hole was going to be. It was mighty warm in the attic so I had to take frequent breaks to cool down. With not much trouble, I cut the hole and mounted the fan. All I had left was to run the wire and then hook it up on both ends. I saved that for the next morning.

Friday morning, I went straight up there. I tied the end of the wire temporarily to the fan an began unrolling it. Remember the frequent breaks I had to take? Well, I was tired of going up and down the ladder and just wanted top finish the job. Remember the part about "almost" covering the joists? I forgot that and was walking sideways unrolling the wire and of course I was not watching where I was going.

I think it was my third step that went through the insulation and then through the sheetrock of my living room ceiling. I fell sideways and I believe I hit every rib on the joist until my fall was stopped by my armpit. Fortunately, I was not seriously hurt. The doctor said that I was lucky that I did not shatter at least one rib and puncture my lung or spleen.

Learn from my stupid mistake. Always pay attention to what you are doing. At home or at work. Ok, now you can start laughing. let out a big one for me too. It hurts too much to do it myself.