PTSD and Adrenaline
PTSD and Adrenaline
My experience with such houses has been that some things are beyond repair. Spider webs into spider webs take forever to figure out and that is just what you can see. No telling how many hidden open splices in walls, 15A receptacles tapped from range outlets, 10, 12 & 14 wire all in the same 30A ckt, etc. Everything you do will uncover some other issue and there will be no end to it.
Give him a price on a demo & as simple a rewire as possible, maybe do it at cost if you owe him favors or feel for his situation.
Yes there will be defective wiring. Return to the original scope of work and stay focused.
I call it the "Joy of Home Ownership"
Its on a three wire and that is why you are getting the lag in voltage. Somewhere there is a defective wire that is cracked, grounded, hooked up wrong, broken light socket, receptacle, or switch. Look at the whole circuit. It will be something somebody messed with recently. Ask the resident what where they doing when it happened. What got fixed hung or replaced.
As for what to do, and how to proceed, it is not your decision. It is the property owners decision. Do what you feel competent doing. Walk away from what you do not feel competent doing. Give the Owner educated choices.
That is really all that is required here.
As for suite happy, I am thinking that is what insurance is for if it ever gets to that level of costs. If the property owner does not keep his property up to safe standards it is not your problem. When people start talking lawyers and damage and imaginary what if's, I start looking for the door because I am dealing with a burnout case looking for trouble where there isn't any. I get that with linemen and middle management all the time. Until the personnel changes I do not go back. It is an adrenalin junky thing, they get off on it. It takes about a year and a half for them to move on.
It is not your problem but it is an opportunity.
