Electrician Says Previous Homeowner Left a Troubling Surprise Above the Ceiling
A homeowner who works as an electrician got a shock to the system when looking at what had been hiding above the ceiling in their child’s room.
The homeowner, posting as u/Fearless_Zombie1003, shared a photo of the discovery Sept. 13 on Reddit. After removing a ceiling light fixture, u/Fearless_Zombie1003 found wiring coming through an opening with no electrical box surrounding it. They accompanied their post with a photo of their findings.
Their working theory was that a previous homeowner did not want the ceiling fan that had once occupied the spot, perhaps because of bunk beds and the threat proximity to the fan posed for anyone sleeping in the coveted top bunk. The poster believes whoever installed the replacement fixture discovered the wiring would not fit in the existing shallow “pancake” box and simply removed the box instead.
“Just remove the box and wire it up all […] in the ceiling,” the electrician wrote.
An Extra Wire Had Been Taped Off
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You Will Never Hate Anyone as Much as the Previous Homeowner
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u/Fearless_Zombie1003 in
homeowners
The homeowner said the location had three-wire cable for a fan and light, leaving one conductor unused with the replacement fixture.
“3 wire for a fan and light, so they had an extra, just wrapped in some tape chillin the lid,” the homeowner explained in a comment. “Not the most egregious thing but yeah not cool.”
They ultimately installed a new fan-rated box and ceiling fan. The homeowner said the change has already made their child’s room considerably more comfortable, going so far as to describe the room beforehand as “an oven.”
There is some electrical-code context behind the repair. The National Fire Protection Association has published National Electrical Code language generally requiring a box or conduit body at conductor splice, outlet, junction, and termination points unless a listed exception applies. The NEC also outlines specific requirements for boxes used to support ceiling fans.
The Reddit post does not specify where the house is located or when the previous fixture itself was installed, so it is uncertain which edition of the NEC or local electrical rules applied to that particular work.
This Discovery Inspired Some Additional Checkups
The homeowner said the custom house was built in 2006 and voiced excitement that “it’s really modern and has nice features.” However, they added, “the quality of the building materials and the shortcuts kinda suck.”
A weeklong plumbing problem had already tested their patience. These discoveries led the original poster to believe they would need to “start taking a closer look at some things.”
U/u/Fearless_Zombie1003 said a neighbor told them the previous homeowner’s wife had a lengthy “honey do” list during the decade the family lived there.
The current homeowner gave their predecessor credit for some of the work, noting that the landscaping was well done. U/Fearless_Zombie1003 went on to outright call the previous homeowner “a good landscaper.”
Outside of the original post itself, down in the comments, u/Fearless_Zombie1003 continued to offer grace. “Trust me,” they said in reply to a comment, “I’ve seen a lot worse in my line of work, and when it’s obvious someone was doing whatever they had to do to get through, they get no hate from me.”
Though, the circumstances behind u/Fearless_Zombie1003 coming to own that particular house informed their opinion on the situation. They added, “But this is a nice house and I’m by far the most broke person to ever own it. They knew better or at least should’ve.”
However, they still offered words of encouragement—and wisdom—for anyone else doing the best they could with an unusual project. “It’s not about the mistakes you made,” they wrote. “It’s how you deal with them and not leaving land mines behind for the next guy.”
