Before I got pregnant, we took on some pretty major home repair projects. I've been so sick that the projects got put aside. Now that I'm feeling a little better (and the neighbors are getting tired of our mess....) we have started making some progress again. The biggest project left is finishing the siding on the house. Tonight, Cody decided to work on the area behind the power company's meter box. And so our tale begins....
I was sitting in the house taking care of something for my mom when suddenly the electricity surged. I'm no electrician, but I knew that the room suddenly getting very bright was not a good sign. I rushed outside as quickly as my giant pregnant body would allow me to escape from the recliner. When I got outside, Cody was wide eyed and bushy tailed. His ear hair was apparently singed because he was so close to the box when his accident happened. I asked a few questions: Are you okay? What happened? Why did you do that? I'm not promising that Are you okay? was the first question, but it was one of the first few.
It turns out that as he was trying to reattach the power box to the house, the mounting screw fell off of the screw gun and landed in the perfectly horrible spot nestled between the terminals inside the meter box. I guess it caused some sort of arc and "burned" the screw on the terminals. I've asked him to explain this screw situation, but I REALLY don't understand any of the words he used. The end result was that the screw was not moving from the spot without sticking something into the exposed power stuff.
Life lesson #1: The power company will not help you if you do this. The box is not theirs, it is yours. If you call to ask for assistance, they will tell you to get an electrician.
Life lesson #2: If they have to turn off the power for you and/or your electrician to stick your hands in your box, the city (or whatever governing body) must come out to reinspect the entire house before they can turn your power back on.
Note to life lesson #2: Because of the projects I mentioned before, there is no way our house would pass inspection. Yes, Cody stole wiring from our basement to fix the mystery wiring issue caused by our house painter turned general contractor of our home. Yes, it happened months ago but he still hasn't fixed said wiring salvage.
Cody decided to take this as a personal challenge to get that screw out himself. I would like to note that during my crying and pleading to call an electrician, I did tell him I'd rather pay the money for professionals to do it than risk his death. I had these horrible scenarios go through my head involving me on the news discussing how the father of my unborn twins poked around in the power box and died and left my children fatherless. Is the power company at fault? (Yes..... I can't believe they say that box is ours not theirs) I hope I would make a sympathetic news interviewee.
So, Cody scowered the yard for non conductive materials to stick into the box in order to get the screw out. I cried and begged to call an electrician. He asked for a flashlight. I refused. He put on those stupid mesh gloves with the orange hand grips that you use to not get splinters when you handle wood. I went to find out when our Home Warranty expired.... 3 days ago. At some point I guess he shoved a scrap piece of vinyl siding near/under the screw. It was starting to get really dark, so I finally convinced Cody to come in the house and deal with it tomorrow. He said fine and yanked out the piece of siding.....
And the screw fell out.
Cody did not die. The house did not burn down.
Leonidas, and Zeus,and I are still angry.
(It was a lot more scary than this post makes it sound!)
Knowing Cody for many years I am sure there was a lot of planning and brainstorming before he took action.
ReplyDeleteCody is a great husband and has been amazingly good at doing this home repair stuff. I don't know that I can say he did much planning this time. Living on a Prayer would be a more accurate description of this event.
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