I am the worst DIY’er on the planet, especially when it comes to electric’s. I’m ok with things you can see but the invisible ninja has taken its pound of flesh on a number of occasions. The two that really stick in my memory are.
Just picture the scene married one week moved into a two up two down semi. The house was what any newly wed’s wanted. Second hand cooker and refrigerator, a hand-me-down sofa, combi TV+VCR and a washing machine with a plug.
Then I noticed a lone electrical socket on the wall with a hole for the electrical cable for an appliance not using the plug. Off came the plug stripped back the cable and took the socket off the wall. Looked at the cables feeding the socket so instinctively put the live to live, earth to earth and the neutral to neutral. Job done. Waited for Linda to come home from work before standing back and admiring the manly handy work before inviting her to throw the fuse box switch just like smashing the champagne bottle on a newly launched ship.
BOOM an almighty bang and flash from the kitchen, Plaster and dust everywhere. I had only wired the washing machine directly into the ring main input ports of the socket instead of the output ports of the socket. The end result was a new kitchen wall re plastered and tiled to add insult to injury my old man is an electrical technician who had the following to say, vivere e imparare figlio (Live and learn son). Call the people that Know.
And more recently, a full bathroom conversion with the help of my nephew (top builder). Whilst installing the extractor fan (You guest it electricity again) I used the existing electricity feed from the old shower to feed the extractor fan. Nothing could be simpler (Not). Wired the dam switch the wrong way. Started to peal back the wires from the freed to supply the extractor with a chisel (Yes you got it, still live) the chisel flew out of my hand an flew across the bath room, it became embedded in the wall besides my nephews ear (very close call, barred from the Bathroom).