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john@AEC

Oops, didn't see that coming....

Question

While washing a house & granny flat today....

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Granny flat on left, pool in middle & house at rear and on right

If you look closely at the dark red wall...

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you can see an exterior power point (good) and a small sandstone tile vertical against the wall...

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Sandstone paving and timber deck, with small tile mounted vertically

Do you see the gap at the top of the small vertical tile?

What is under the tiled area?

This is what is under the deck

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Pool on left, rainwater tanks at rear

What is under the tiled area? Storage at the rear of the garage.

post-1787-137772440877_thumb.jpg

Storage under paved area, pool on right

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Remember that small tile at the base of the red wall? the one starting to fall off the wall... above the storage area behind the pool...

OOPS

post-1787-137772440889_thumb.jpg

There's a power box in that wall, well there WAS a power box.

And from behind

post-1787-137772440895_thumb.jpg

:nightmare:

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Wow. Hope they have good homeowners coverage.

Thanks Adrian, they have insurance and didn't even argue the point.

The son showed me the loose tile suspected of letting the water in. I wouldn't have given it a second look as I thought it was on the ground, but the tiles were actually over the storage area at the back of the in-ground pool (so the pool wasn't actually "in-ground"). They were all quite thankful that I was there to get the parents (in their late 70's/early 80's) out and put the fire out (2 small powder fire extinguishers plus garden hose). The fire brigade were called, plus the police and ambulance arrived, then the electricity supplier sent a couple of technicians as the fuse at the mains also blew. The electrician arrived soon after to get power back to the parents part of the house, then spent 10 hours the next day replacing (and moving) the power box. Eventually the wall will have to be re-built.

I came back the day after to complete the job, plus they forced a new fire extinguisher on me. Great people.

Is there a lesson?

A disclaimer? Switch the power off? Get a bigger fire extinguisher?.....

:crushed:

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Looks like a nightmare to me. :/ that could have been a lot worse, good thing it wasn't!

Hi Grahams, it sure could, if I was at the other end of the main house I wouldn't have seen, smelt, heard anything, and if the elderly couple weren't home... I was on the roof over the deck, next to the pool and heard the faint chirping of the fire alarm (which I assumed was an alarm that was set off by the dog, as it didn't sound like the alarms I have at home), on getting off the roof I then saw smoke coming out from the garage (underground) and heard the sparking/shorting. On opening the garage door we were greeted with a cloud of black smoke and sparks in the distance. These sparks then became flames, but there wasn't enough light to see what it was....

I didn't bother with lottery tickets as my luck was all used that day!

John

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Considering that there is a pool in the same vicinity, I would have assumed building codes to have caught that power box as improper for the installation.

One or the other would have had to been moved.

btw, that was a factor 5 house wash on the p.i.t.a. scale! :D

Rod!~

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G'day Folks

Technically the power-box was under cover so it would have been legal, just the other side of the wall was exposed.... and there was a space in the vertical tile edging that appeared to let water into the wall cavity... then crackle, crackle, burn....

The electrician spent 10 hours the next day installing a new powerbox well away from external walls - where it should have gone first time.

Sure was scary - certainly my worst experience with electricity and water. It's been 2 months now and their insurance company haven't come knocking on my door.... so should be good, the owners new it was their problem and said as much several times.

Still haven't bought any lottery tickets!

John

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