When I arrived the boiler had broken. It was uncomfortable, but not dangerous. However, to fix it properly, it really needed to be relocated inside the house, which meant also relocating the refrigerator. Since the refrigerator was also on its' last legs, I had no problem with that.
But when the new fridge was delivered and the old one carted away, it was discovered that the refrigerator had been plugged in UNDER the sink...in an exposed outlet.....where it would have been possible for water to leak....or even just moisture ro accumulate. It was very dangerous.
We had electricians fix the outlets below the sink so that they are now not entirely exposed, should there ever be a leak. And now, nothing is actually plugged in there, either. It is a ridiculous place to have an outlet.
After living here awhile, my husband kept saying the toilet moved. Moved? Yeah, as in rocked when he was on it. Turns out it was not attached to the floor. It was just....plunked there. I shudder to think of what could have happened had it moved just a little too much one day.....a flood? I don't know, but we had that taken care of as well.
In the cold of winter, even though I knew the inside of the oven was gross, we decided to try turning it on anyway. The whole house blew. Poof...darkness. Once again the electrician came and told us the outlet and the plug were both ancient and worn. It was …..dangerous. We had a new outlet installed and bought a new oven.
Spring approached and we began walking farther....and noticed that the underside of our balcony in the back didn't look so good. Pieces of cement were breaking away and falling. Potentially, they could hit someone. Eventually, the balcony would not be safe to walk on. We very recently had that work done to reinforce the balcony and waterproof it, too.
We had an American chandelier and didn't know if it could be mounted here in Italy. The guy who put in our oven said he would do it. "But, is it safe? Should the lamp be rewired? Really, you don't have to do this....we will call an electrician." "No, no....no problem....I used to own a lighting store." Errrrrrrrrr. He would not take "no" for an answer and proceeded to install the chandelier.
We had to get adapters for each bulb since Italian bulbs didn't fit the sockets. However, he made it work. Somehow. And, in spite of our worry, it seemed to work alright. Except three months later....poof....darkness. Yeah, well.....not a really big surprise.
Soooooo, we found a nearly identical chandelier but Italy compatible. We had an electrician put it in. No troubles, no problems....until the old one came down. "Who did this?" Ahhhhhhhh…...the entire thing was ready to fall out of the ceiling. The "hook" it was hanging from inside the ceiling came right out. Zip. Wires helter skelter. A total mess.
We now have the look alike up...bulbs that fit, the lamp isn't going to fall anytime soon, it is in there nice and solid now and running on compatible voltage. The thing is, even with an "Italian" lamp...the wiring inside was a shambles.
Five dangerous things....really dangerous things....so much for inspections. I understand old appliances and damaged walls....but...FIVE dangerous things! We are lucky to have discovered them before any calamity happened.
But when the new fridge was delivered and the old one carted away, it was discovered that the refrigerator had been plugged in UNDER the sink...in an exposed outlet.....where it would have been possible for water to leak....or even just moisture ro accumulate. It was very dangerous.
We had electricians fix the outlets below the sink so that they are now not entirely exposed, should there ever be a leak. And now, nothing is actually plugged in there, either. It is a ridiculous place to have an outlet.
After living here awhile, my husband kept saying the toilet moved. Moved? Yeah, as in rocked when he was on it. Turns out it was not attached to the floor. It was just....plunked there. I shudder to think of what could have happened had it moved just a little too much one day.....a flood? I don't know, but we had that taken care of as well.
In the cold of winter, even though I knew the inside of the oven was gross, we decided to try turning it on anyway. The whole house blew. Poof...darkness. Once again the electrician came and told us the outlet and the plug were both ancient and worn. It was …..dangerous. We had a new outlet installed and bought a new oven.
Spring approached and we began walking farther....and noticed that the underside of our balcony in the back didn't look so good. Pieces of cement were breaking away and falling. Potentially, they could hit someone. Eventually, the balcony would not be safe to walk on. We very recently had that work done to reinforce the balcony and waterproof it, too.
We had an American chandelier and didn't know if it could be mounted here in Italy. The guy who put in our oven said he would do it. "But, is it safe? Should the lamp be rewired? Really, you don't have to do this....we will call an electrician." "No, no....no problem....I used to own a lighting store." Errrrrrrrrr. He would not take "no" for an answer and proceeded to install the chandelier.
We had to get adapters for each bulb since Italian bulbs didn't fit the sockets. However, he made it work. Somehow. And, in spite of our worry, it seemed to work alright. Except three months later....poof....darkness. Yeah, well.....not a really big surprise.
Soooooo, we found a nearly identical chandelier but Italy compatible. We had an electrician put it in. No troubles, no problems....until the old one came down. "Who did this?" Ahhhhhhhh…...the entire thing was ready to fall out of the ceiling. The "hook" it was hanging from inside the ceiling came right out. Zip. Wires helter skelter. A total mess.
We now have the look alike up...bulbs that fit, the lamp isn't going to fall anytime soon, it is in there nice and solid now and running on compatible voltage. The thing is, even with an "Italian" lamp...the wiring inside was a shambles.
Five dangerous things....really dangerous things....so much for inspections. I understand old appliances and damaged walls....but...FIVE dangerous things! We are lucky to have discovered them before any calamity happened.
No comments:
Post a Comment