01-19-2019, 10:00 AM
I spent the week meeting with contractors for painting, flooring and moving. Both the flooring and painting contractors I hired from Home Depot were thousands of dollars less than other contractors. I blame the flooring guy from Empire for even suggesting Home Depot. I would never have even considered them but the Empire guy (Empire is a flooring company that has ads constantly on TV) said they were much better than Lumber Liquidators. I gave it a shot and called them and save about $4K in the process. So, thanks Empire.
I also hired an electrician to come in and fix our wall sconces one of which was no longer working. I don't play with electricity. It's not one of my skill sets so I always bring someone in.
I also wanted the electrician to look at a plug in the bedroom and a loose socket in one of my ceiling fans. I had dealt with these electricians before. The Queen had a problem while I was out of town with the electrical panel once while I was out of town. I found these guys. They did a good job at a reasonable price. After some hunting I found their number and gave them a call.
When the new wall sconces arrived on Friday, I gave them a call and they came right over. I was very happy.
They couldn't do anything about the plug in the bedroom. The A/C unit that plugs into that socket just draws too much power for that circuit. It's always going to pop the fuse.
One of the electricians got to work on the sconces. Turns out the one that wasn't working had burned out in the socket.
Meanwhile I talked with the other one about the sketchy light socket in the ceiling fan. Let the adventures begin.
He started by saying he doesn't work on ceiling fans. I countered with I don't need you to fix the fan, I just need you to check out the ceramic light socket. The problem has always been some sort of loose connection.The bulb works when you put it in the socket but goes out when you tighten the glass lid over it. I figured an electrician could find the source of the loose connection.
He agrees to look at it. He fiddles. He gets it working. He's happy. He tightens the glass globe and the light goes out. He fiddles some more. Now all this time, the electricians have been dealing with hot circuits, including the sconce guy.
The ceiling fan guy takes apart the socket. There is much discussion about the age of the ceiling fans. I say 20 years. He mentions these parts would be hard to replace. I go on-line and find many similar parts within a few seconds for about $4.00.
He takes the socket apart and reassembles it. During that time, the other light in the fan goes out and the fan itself kicks on. No amount of pressing on the remote shuts off the fan. The fan electrician gets off the ladder and gets a bulb out of my floor lamp to see if maybe it's just the bulb that has burned out.
During the removal of the bulb, ceiling lamp electrician shatters the floor lamp. Oopsy.
Ceiling lamp electrician tells me it's not his job to play with ceiling fans. The best bet at this point is to replace the ceiling fan all together. And since this is a really old model, I will have to replace both units so they will match. He tells me he will come on his own time and only charge me half price to change out both fans.
Excuse me? What was going to be a $150 job is now a $500 job. Thanks, now.
We go back and forth. There is a lot of discussion of him telling he's not supposed to do what he did so it's my fault for making him do it.
I escalate and ask to speak to his boss.
I talk to the boss. I tell him I just need to go back to the point where I have one light and the ceiling fan works. He agrees, but there is no way to get to that point. The fan has to be replaced. He says if I get the lamps, he'll put them in for free. Sigh. New fans it is.
They are coming back on Monday when the ceiling fans come in. Until then I have a fan spinning above my head blowing cold air. I might head up into the attic to see if I can disconnect it.
Meanwhile I'm heading to the garage to see if can get the rear wall back on it's foundation.
I also hired an electrician to come in and fix our wall sconces one of which was no longer working. I don't play with electricity. It's not one of my skill sets so I always bring someone in.
I also wanted the electrician to look at a plug in the bedroom and a loose socket in one of my ceiling fans. I had dealt with these electricians before. The Queen had a problem while I was out of town with the electrical panel once while I was out of town. I found these guys. They did a good job at a reasonable price. After some hunting I found their number and gave them a call.
When the new wall sconces arrived on Friday, I gave them a call and they came right over. I was very happy.
They couldn't do anything about the plug in the bedroom. The A/C unit that plugs into that socket just draws too much power for that circuit. It's always going to pop the fuse.
One of the electricians got to work on the sconces. Turns out the one that wasn't working had burned out in the socket.
Meanwhile I talked with the other one about the sketchy light socket in the ceiling fan. Let the adventures begin.
He started by saying he doesn't work on ceiling fans. I countered with I don't need you to fix the fan, I just need you to check out the ceramic light socket. The problem has always been some sort of loose connection.The bulb works when you put it in the socket but goes out when you tighten the glass lid over it. I figured an electrician could find the source of the loose connection.
He agrees to look at it. He fiddles. He gets it working. He's happy. He tightens the glass globe and the light goes out. He fiddles some more. Now all this time, the electricians have been dealing with hot circuits, including the sconce guy.
The ceiling fan guy takes apart the socket. There is much discussion about the age of the ceiling fans. I say 20 years. He mentions these parts would be hard to replace. I go on-line and find many similar parts within a few seconds for about $4.00.
He takes the socket apart and reassembles it. During that time, the other light in the fan goes out and the fan itself kicks on. No amount of pressing on the remote shuts off the fan. The fan electrician gets off the ladder and gets a bulb out of my floor lamp to see if maybe it's just the bulb that has burned out.
During the removal of the bulb, ceiling lamp electrician shatters the floor lamp. Oopsy.
Ceiling lamp electrician tells me it's not his job to play with ceiling fans. The best bet at this point is to replace the ceiling fan all together. And since this is a really old model, I will have to replace both units so they will match. He tells me he will come on his own time and only charge me half price to change out both fans.
Excuse me? What was going to be a $150 job is now a $500 job. Thanks, now.
We go back and forth. There is a lot of discussion of him telling he's not supposed to do what he did so it's my fault for making him do it.
I escalate and ask to speak to his boss.
I talk to the boss. I tell him I just need to go back to the point where I have one light and the ceiling fan works. He agrees, but there is no way to get to that point. The fan has to be replaced. He says if I get the lamps, he'll put them in for free. Sigh. New fans it is.
They are coming back on Monday when the ceiling fans come in. Until then I have a fan spinning above my head blowing cold air. I might head up into the attic to see if I can disconnect it.
Meanwhile I'm heading to the garage to see if can get the rear wall back on it's foundation.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm