The Mystery of the Flickering Porch Lights

After installing the patio door (see this post) I got to add a couple porch lights to this East Nashville home. Adding wiring in an older home like this has a tendency to be a nightmare at times, because the wires are inaccessible and the walls are plaster. I didn't run into these problems on this project, but I did have a mystery to unravel at the end.

THE SETTING

The homeowner wanted me to add a couple wall mounted porch lights to add more light to his porch. He had showed me a light switch at the front door that he wanted me to use because it didn't seem to do anything.

After a little research I figured that there must have been a ceiling fan in the front room at one time, and the switch controlled the fan. This was a great find, because I could use the switch and junction the wires in the attic without running any new wires to the switch.

I ran new wires from the attic down to the location of the new wall-mounted porch lights. Thankfully, there weren't any studs in my way and this process went smoothly. Whenever mounting exterior lights on clapboard siding I like to first cut out a place to add some kind of mounting board, usually some sort of 1x8. Otherwise, the fixture won't sit flat against the wall and instead lean in or out at an angle.

THE MYSTERY

After running the wires and installing the fixtures it was time to turn on the breaker and give it a try.

Yea! The lights came on and the switch worked.

Wait... the lights went off... one came back on... now they're both on...

What!???

This continued for several minutes. The lights were coming on and off independently of the switch. Sometimes together, sometimes not.

Usually, there's a logical explanation for these types of things. In this case, I retraced my steps in my mind. My first thought was to check the switch. It was the same old switch that had previously not been used. Perhaps it was faulty. I replaced it with a new one.

Same problems.

Hmmm... all the wires from the switch and the attic come together in a junction box in the attic. Perhaps one of the wires is not making a good connection. So, off to the attic I went to check the junction box. I took it apart and put it back together. Let's check it again.

Lights still flickering! Oh my!

At this point, I was starting to feel quite befuddled. I checked the connections at the fixtures. Thinking that a wire might be broken or had a nail in it, I went into the attic and wiggled wires while the homeowner watched below to see if that changed anything. No luck.

At this point, it was time to pull out the box and find the instructions.

I started looking over the first page and read the words "Motion-Activated..."

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Mystery solved.

It turns out that the lights were a gift to the homeowner and he didn't realize they were motion-activated. I installed them without looking much at the box or instructions. The sensors were very small and matched the finish of the fixture and the adjustment knobs were hidden at the bottom where I didn't see them.

I was so glad to find the answer to this one. You know the old saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try reading the instructions." I'll take that to heart.

I guess it at least makes for a good story...

:)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Recipe for a Sagging Porch

This week's exciting project is to replace a porch before it falls down! Seriously, when I began today it was sagging by a few inches, though it had been that way for a while. The homeowners thought they should be proactive and take care of it before it lands on their front door.

As I removed some of the beadboard ceiling, I noticed a couple immediate reasons for the sag. First, there was no ridge beam. A ridge beam is a large piece of lumber that runs perpendicular to the rafters at the very top. It's so important because it would join the rafters to the main house and prevent movement of the porch.

Secondly, where the 3/4" roof decking had been nailed into the main house roof's decking, there was now a large gap. This means that there had been a couple inches of movement and these important connections were no longer providing any support.

The entire weight of the porch was now being supported by the two 4x4 brackets that were angled back to the house.

The fix for this involves totally removing the porch and building a new one, matching the old one and the upper dormers of the house as closely as possible.

I dismantled the porch, starting with some of the trim and then removing the shingles. I made a simple 2x6 post to support the front of the porch so it wouldn't move on me while I was working. With the shingles off I removed the decking, rafters and the rest of the trim.

As I went along, there were a couple more reasons I discovered for the weakness of the structure. For one, the sides of the porch didn't have any supporting members. They were just made out of a box of 3/4" material with blocks in the corners. I also found that the brackets (that were now supporting all the weight) were only nailed with 2 finishing nails in each end!

With the porch off and all the debris cleaned up, I'm ready to frame a new one tomorrow.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Don't Do Casing Like This

Yesterday, when I arrived at a job to do some trimwork I found some very creative door casing to fix. A homeowner had wanted to 'dress up' the rooms a little so they installed decorative fluted casings with rosettes. It wasn't bad except that they put the plinth blocks above the baseboard! (see the picture)

Casing is a term used to describe the trim around a doorway. There are many varieties dependant upon the style and material used.

Plinth Blocks are the decorative piece sometimes found at the bottom of door casings that simulate the base of a column. They should be installed flush to the floor and butt up to the baseboard.

Correcting the casings was no simple task, because it involved taking all of it off and removing quite a bit of baseboard. Thankfully, it wasn't every doorway in the house, but only about 4 in the main living area.

In my next post, I'll talk about the best way to go about removing trim without causing more harm than good...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Electrical Mystery Solved!

Today I was working at a friends home who is getting ready to sell her home in Lockeland Springs (East Nashville). I was working on a short list of repairs fixing some rotted wood, painting doors and working on an electrical mystery.

The mystery was to figure out why a countertop GFCI outlet in the kitchen wasn't working at all. In fact, it hadn't worked since it was installed. I took the cover off and tested the wires and found that they were connected properly. This meant that I had to go searching in the attic.

In the attic I found the junction box for these counter outlets and made sure the connections were tight. The wire was hot coming into the box, but the outlet below was still dead. This meant that there was a problem in the wire between the two or there was more happening in the wall that was unseen. It was still very much a mystery!

I got some new 12/2 wire and fished it through the wall into the attic. As I was pulling the 'bad' wire out of the junction box I found the problem.

When the box was installed it was placed directly over a nail that was sticking through the wall from the wood siding outside. The nail was in the perfect place to pierce the wires that were pulled into the box!

If you look closely in the picture you can see the nail in the hole at the bottom of the box where the wires came through.

When I checked the other wires I found another one that was also damaged. The nail had hit two wires and probably caused some heat from the looks of the charred wire sheathing.


I clipped the ends and got rid of the offending nail and put the junction box back together. After some testing, everything was now working correctly.

I love it when mysteries get solved and I get to be a part of it. It was a good day.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com