Electricians, Part 2

OK, an electrician (and helper) came out today at 11 am.  I demonstrated the problem (but of course, as dramatically as possible).  I have a split-foyer house, which means the front door is halfway up the house, a half set of stairs goes down the the basement and a half set of stairs goes up to the one main floor.  So it looks like a 2 story house outside but it is really a ranch house on a full basement that is mostly above ground.  I hope that makes some sense.

But that means that the light inside the front door is about 15" high and that there is a light switch at the top  in the middle at the door, and at the bottom at the basement.  I've never used the middle one because I enter the house through the garage attached to the basement and only use the top and bottom switches. 

So the first electrician decided to wire the new ceiling light to the switch at the basement end of the stairs.  I asked why not  just connect the new light directly to upper light but he said that wasn't really possible.  After he was done, it turned out that the upper switch wouldn't turn the lower light on "because of the wiring".  Grumble grumble...

After he left, I discovered that using the switches in order of descending the stairs made one light come on and the other off back and forth.  I emailed the company and said politely that this couldn't be normal or unfixable.

Enter today's electricians.  Now I will say from the start that they understood the problem immediately.  When they saw the one light turning on and the other turning off from the same flip of a switch, they cringed (it was their own company's previous work after all).  Even the electricians HELPER said that the "main switch" must be at the top of the stairs.  I mentioned that I had suggested the more direct solution was to fish a wire from the new light to the existing light up the walls and across that attic.

After opening all 3 light switches and testing the circuits head electrician said my suggestion to the previous electrician was the best way to do the job.  I didn't comment further.

But another matter was the "new" ceiling light I wanted installed at the top of the stairs.  Its a old fake tiffany lamp (Mom and her sisters fought over it thinking it was real from Gramma).  The first electrician refused to install it because it was missing support parts.  I thought I had "fixed" it well enough but the new electrician said it still wasn't to code and needed "canopy and ceiling plate" parts they don't have.  So it needed an antique lamp repair shop.  OK, I'll trust him on that and get that done.

So, because wiring the new lower stairs light to the upper light now would mean all the wiring work today and unwiring and rewiring it when the old "tiffany" lamp was repaired (at extra cost).I agreed to basiclly let them set the switch wiring bck to the previos settings (so the lower light was not connected).  That was how it was before the lower light was installed earlier this week, so it is back to normal.

When I get the "tiffany" lamp repaired for "to-code" conditions, there will be little charge since I already paid for the lower lamp installation and wiring.  Doing the wiring between the lamps will take them extra time, but they gave me a quote for that and will stick to it (and I've already paid for it).

But since they were there, I had them replace a motion-detector light way up over the front door (that the roofers messed up when they detached and re-attached it after doing their work AND they looked at my kitchen ceiling 4' fluorescent light fixture which bizzarely will not come on in the hottest part of Summer.  I've assumed attic heat is the cause.  Well, it only happens then. 

The first electrician said I needed to convert the existing T-12 ballast and tubes to T-8 because "they run cooler".  The 2nd electrician (who had recognized the first electrian's multiple failures) said "well, you probably need a new ballast, but do you have any new fluorescent tubes around?"  I did.  He replaced them and they worked.  I felt stupid. 

But its dim.  The 2nd electrician is an honest person.  He said, you know, you can buy a new one at Home Depot and have them install it for less than I can do this work.  I thanked him.

The second electrician and his helpers did good honest work, admitted where things had gone wrong before and repaired those parts at no cost (and detailed on the work order those things that should not be charged in the next visit).

I value that.  I found the company on Angie's List and selected them among 3 companies all rated "A" in all categories. OK, they had that first guy do badly, but they returned so quickly with a better person that I bet that first guy is already gone).  I found the roofer there and the replacement siding company too.  I have had nothing but great service from "A" rated house work companies on Angie's list.  Dentist and doctor too, BTW.  

I'm not here to promote Angie's List in any way other than my own personal satisfaction with the service, but it sure has been working for me.  Its possible the top ratings are not very different at "A" or "B" level, but I think it really weeds out the bad ones and that's good enough for me to stay subscribed.

And I still have other work to have done.  The asphalt driveway is 26 years old and falling apart.  I want a cement one.  Back to Angie's List...