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Marty Cortez asked about our wiring debacle in Longlegs post, so I'm writing here to avoid cluttering her thread:

So far our construction consists of a garage and guest casita. The power room is in the garage, and power is run to sub-panels in the guest casita. When we were building, I had suffered a pretty severe injury at work and I was in physical therapy during most of the construction. We couldn't make trips down to check progress. Fortunately a neighbor kept us updated with nearly daily photos and we were able to correct a lot of mistakes that way.

Unfortunately the photos couldn't show what was going on in the walls. When they installed the electrical, they wired each circuit correctly, however they didn't run wires from any of the circuit breakers to the individual circuits. Not one circuit breaker had a hot wire running to it's branch. Did the guy think power was magically going to cross through the walls to each switch and outlet

The only solution was to chip out the walls, run wires from the breaker box, up the wall to the roof, across the roof and down the wall to the start of each circuit. Fortunately we have a flat roof with a parapet so they can't be seen. To make matters worse, they didn't use waterproof junction boxes on the roof. Just open pvc and the metal boxes that are normally put into the walls. I finally stopped the project and took over myself after I recovered. I re-wired it with all waterproof conduit and junction boxes.

If there is a bright side the builder did refund us for the electrical work. Unfortunately that doesn't make up for the stereo wire used on some of the circuits and lack of proper grounding, or the fact that I nearly electrocuted myself when I discovered that the ground was tied to hot instead of neutral (which shouldn't have been done at that breaker box anyway ). Fortunately I was able to eventually run ground wires so most of the circuits are protected now.

The builder took a pretty big hit because of this guy, but he really should have supervised him better. We don't plan to even start digging footings before we are on site permanent to supervise this time.

Originally Posted by BigWooo

...they didn't run wires from any of the circuit breakers to the individual circuits...

...chip out the walls, run wires from the breaker box, up the wall to the roof, across the roof and down the wall to the start of each circuit...open pvc and the metal boxes that are normally put into the walls...re-wired it with all waterproof conduit and junction boxes...stereo wire used on some of the circuits and lack of proper grounding...ground was tied to hot instead of neutral...

...really should have supervised him better...

They hadn't installed wire hoses to run the wires in??

Even if they did install them, it doesn't necessarily follow that they'll be usable! I decided to have A/C installed in the MBR, more to reduce humidity than temperature since it still hasn't gotten above 82 inside my place....quoted as a 6-hour job, they worked 12 hours yesterday & got everything installed....EXCEPT for the wire because all of the wire hoses in place are either blocked or crushed! So hopefully this afternoon they find an acceptable solution!

It sounds like you've gotten a large dose of the realities of building here with your casita & garage construction....you've been initiated to expect the unexpected! Hold on to your hat! Typically all the subsequent surprises just keep getting bigger & bigger!

PS Electrician probably figured you were going wireless!!

You did say you were going to be OFF THE GRID ! Don't you have rebar in the concrete walls? Just hook a hot leg to the rebar and you don't need outlets, just plug into the walls anywhere you want!

PS- when you do the wiring on your next house, be very carefull not to nick the insulation on the wire or the electrons will leak out. It's a very common rookie mistake, just thought I'd give you a heads up.

As an electrician, I cringe hearing these stories. Just makes me even more sure that we'll be doing our own! ALL OF IT!

Cringe? My God, I wish all we had to worry about were some leaking electrons. Since the electrician and plumber are usually one and the sam, you get two nightmares for the price of one. We call it "the gift that keeps on giving".

Wow this is a scary story. Most of what I've encountered in my brief 3 year life in Ensenada has been superficial stuff.

My house on Punta Banda, built in 2007, had normal and minor challenges, due to the experience and quality of the general contractor's subs. Only curve I threw them was my need for steel-frame construction with insulation.

Other than trip reports, I guess my favorite read about Baja is the consruction projects. Longlegs and Bigwooo, thanks for sharing yours. Bigwooo, hope your health is improved enough to allow you to chase after whatever you need.

I wish I had all your comments to read when I was trying to fix this mess , probably would have lightened my mood a bit

Some wire is in the plastic tubes, some isn't, guess he figured stereo wire didn't need protecting. I'm just glad this was only a small part of the project, and that for the most part it was fixable. Now I've just got to make sure I keep the holes on the roof sealed where the conduit drops down into the walls, and make sure nothing like this happens again

Thanks for the tip about nicking the wires. For the house I plan to use romex from the states as well as protecting it in the plastic tubing.

So far I don't have any plumbing surprises...well, ok ONE: For the first few months we had a lot of debris in the lines, he didn't flush them. I wound up putting drip irrigation filters at the toilet and faucets until all the junk finally flushed out of the system. All seems good now though. And thanks Bajadock, I've recovered well.

Wooo, let me lighten your mood a little more!

This week, I finally decided to put A/C in the MBR to reduce the humidity....I can live comfortably with an uppermost limit of 82 degree interior temperature with the ceiling fans to move the air around, but the humidity is a whole nuther story!

Since I don't have contact numbers for any of the plumbers/electricians who worked on my place....to be honest, I seem to recall ceremonially burned two of their numbers intentionally I talked with a local builder & went with his referral. It turned out that I KNOW the guy & he speaks fluent English, but when he was my former neighbor, he was an airline pilot....which in perspective of the past couple days makes things really scary! I liked him as a neighbor, but I don't believe he's found his true calling as an electrician! He asked if I had any pics of my construction (little did he know) to help him locate the pre-plumbed A/C wire hose. I showed him the attached pic & zoomed in to clearly show the wire hoses coming up to the back left of the PVC pipe (far left background).

He took one look at the pic & informed me that he wanted to see a roof pic, not a floor pic! I said, "This IS a roof picture, I pointed out the 2" bano vent pipe, which he informed me I was wrong that was clearly the 6" floor drain where the toilet will sit! When I insisted it was a roof shot, as evidenced by the foam roofing panels, not to mention the really short cardons in the background, he continued to argue with me that it was a floor pic! I told him I just happened to be on the roof when I took the pic & that the floor is roughly 13' BELOW! Then I told him I wanted to go up on the roof & see exactly where he was putting the condenser. I'd ask him to place it out of view from ground level....he opted to put it where he wanted it....in front of the lowest section of the facade, rather than putting it behind a taller section where it wouldn't be visible from the ground! I told him it should be hidden behind an adjacent taller facade section & he insisted that it had to sit right where it is "for the wind to turn the fan blades!" I know that the condenser needs to sit where it gets unimpeded airflow, but it came as a real shock to me to learn that the condenser fan blade is dependent upon wind to turn it!:

On what he quoted as a 6-hour job, he spent 12 hours here Thursday & 4 on Friday & couldn't fish the wire through any of the FIVE wire hoses up on the roof! Yesterday, he asked IF I KNOW where the breaker box is....I said of course, "I KNOW where it is! It's in the garage on the back wall to the right as you go out the kitchen door"....to which he replied, "No, that's too far away, I want a closer one!" I said, "Nope, there's only ONE electrical panel in this casa & it's in the garage." He still insisted there had to be a closer one! I reminded him that I designed this casa & I know where I put the breaker box & I know there's only one! You could say that I had a less than favorable INTERNAL reaction to his arguing with me about details of my construction like I'm a stupido gringa! He threw in the towel on fishing the wire, so a real electrician came & fished the wire from the roof to the electrical panel tihs morning. But the first guy now has to come back to finish the connection to the A/C so it's a certified installation!

I'd told pilot/electrician that none of the 4 wire hoses in a cluster 10' to the right of the A/C plumbing was the A/C hose....that they're my PC connection to the satellite dish, two phone jacks in the MBR & the double outlet in the PC corner, that they all come straight down the wall behind my PC & to leave them alone. But I'm only a dumb gringa....he's qualified to know otherwise, so he removed the spray expansion foam, tried to fish the wire which just came straight down the wall behind my PC....he left them all open I know it's wasted energy to be angry, but I'd TOLD him to leave those hoses alone & why. So last night, I was not really happy to discover unwanted & uninvited guests galore!

Wooo, you are SOOOOO lucky that you have the knowledge & skill to do your own electrical!! [/FONT]

That EMT (electrical metalic tubing)... otherwise referred to as flexible conduit...can be a life saver for future work. Even here in the states where everything is typically done with romex, we always use some conduit where there's the possibility of future work. It's not typical to use conduit in residential applications, but it has saves our butts many times.

And ....uhhhh....Woooo....I was sort of kidding about the electrons leaking out. ops: It ain't quite like plumbing, but it is a good idea to not nick the wires. Wire nicks will create "hot spots" which, if bad enough, could cause problems.

It took me a couple reads to figure out what electrical hoses were.

So is the a/c running yet? I haven't checked the other thread yet, maybe Legs should post it again in her construction thread so we don't miss any of the agonizing action.

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

"for the wind to turn the fan blades!"

Now THAT is a classic!!
You shoulda told him that all the electrons would leak out if he put it there.

Nuts, I debated posting it on my thread or here on Wooo's thread....I posted it here to give him a little bit of moral support!

At 1:30 today, Fly-by electrician was supposed to be here in one hour, at 2:30, one more hour....I just called him at 6 PM & asked if he was planning on finishing my A/C electrical today & I received a 1-word response...."Why?" To which I sweetly replied, "You were supposed to be here at 2:30....(etc!)....it's now 6 PM, I'd just like to know if you're coming tonight or not, so I know what to plan for." He said he'd be here "when I finish this job I'm on....probably in two hours." Which most likely means he's going to show up without calling tomorrow afternoon. At which time I'm leaning towards telling him I don't have work done on Sunday, unless it's a unique circumstances which I've arranged my schedule to accommodate well in advance in advance.

I shoulda told him I needed to know if he was coming today or not so I'd know what time my hot dinner date & I could plan on getting nekkid!

Kate, after the past few days in his stellar company, you don't REALLY think it'd be wise for me to intentionally jerk his chain....DO YOU? Remember, this man is STILL convinced that the pic up there is the floor of my casa, not the roof!

8:05 PM Electrician & helper arrive

8:25 PM A/C on....manual is only in Espanol, no English version, remote is in English, but in Celsius, manual has instructions to switch it to F, electrician can't get it changed; on-line search for model number resulted in the fact that I musta bought a non-existent model!

8:33 PM Electrician & helper leave, taking the manual with him to read over the week-end to figure out how it works.

8:36 PM Water running all over floor & splashing on my wooden furniture. Shut unit off, called electrician on his cell, told him he apparently forgot to hook up drainage hose correctly, he said he's coming right back....at best, he can only be 3 minutes out from my casa..................

8:49 PM No electrician

8:55 PM Electrician returns....explains drain pipe must be blocked; no he didn't check viability of drain pipe during installation! Didn't notice if drain pipe was vented.

9:10 PM Electrician offers to cut a hole in the wall to direct water onto patio....I pass on another Mickey Mouse temporary repair which will just have to be repaired later.

9:25 PM Electrician makes a special trip out to the garage to shut the breaker off, because apparently he thinks I'm so stupid I'd use the A/C in Flood Mode!

9:26 PM Electrician leaves & we're back to where we started, in a humid casa with my billfold about $1,000 USD lighter....for the time being! Manana is another day!

I'm considering seeing how many hours I can sit on the bottom of my pool....without floating to the top!

This is getting almost as good as my drainage system / rat in the pool story!!
BTW, a friend who lives a few blocks from me said her AC unit spit out 5 gallons of water in just a few hours yesterday.
Once you get out of flood mode, try setting it to 28C, which is about 82, and work upward or downward from there.
Oh, and treasure that last electric bill. You probably won't see another like it any time soon!

Originally Posted by BajaNuts1

That EMT (electrical metalic tubing)... otherwise referred to as flexible conduit...can be a life saver for future work. Even here in the states where everything is typically done with romex, we always use some conduit where there's the possibility of future work. It's not typical to use conduit in residential applications, but it has saves our butts many times.

And ....uhhhh....Woooo....I was sort of kidding about the electrons leaking out. ops: It ain't quite like plumbing, but it is a good idea to not nick the wires. Wire nicks will create "hot spots" which, if bad enough, could cause problems.

It took me a couple reads to figure out what electrical hoses were.

So is the a/c running yet? I haven't checked the other thread yet, maybe Legs should post it again in her construction thread so we don't miss any of the agonizing action.

I googled the leaky electron thing and came up with nothing so I figured you were either messing with me or walked around with tinfoil on your head to keep the government from reading your thoughts

no tinfoil.....yet...

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

Nuts, I debated posting it on my thread or here on Wooo's thread....I posted it here to give him a little bit of moral support!

Moral Support! You're scaring me to death I'm so not looking forward to construction

Just kidding, even though I know we're in for a lot of headaches, I can't wait to get started. We got the bids this week and they were both actually pretty close. Believe it or not, they prepared the bids very similarly, and with (most) of the info we asked for. May be a good sign. I haven't had time to really go over them closely yet, and I still have to do some math (Bid + 50% ), but at a glance it looks do-able.

Now gotta go back home, re-check the budget, sell everything and write my resignation letter! I'm actually more apprehensive about quitting my job than anything. Even though we've been planning this for a long time, it's still a bit worrisome.

If we can pull off getting down here by October, we may be able to break ground before the end of the year (THIS YEAR ). .

No risk, no gain. It will all work out somehow - I promise...

Originally Posted by BigWooo

I'm actually more apprehensive about quitting my job than anything. Even though we've been planning this for a long time, it's still a bit worrisome.

I sure know that feeling. I was more than ready, but after depending on a salary for decades, the prospect of getting by on a finite nest egg is pretty scary. My comfort was in knowing I'd have a place to live, no debt, and health insurance. I figure I'm more or less in control of the rest, especially now that the major construction is over!!

It definitely is a change of mentality / lifestyle. It isn't for everybody but those I know who have learned to make the transition and adapt will tell you they are much happier in their "new" lives with much less stress than we have been "conditioned" to live with north of the border.

I know, I have my head in the sand...

Wooo, hire that kid with the terrific smile & awesome work ethics to jefe your construction....I think second place should fall to BajaGringo since it sounds to me like he just accepted some personal responsibility by making you that promise!

On your LAST drive home from work, it's kinda mandatory that you roll down your windows on the freeway & scream at the top of your lungs...."Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"....Considering the fact that you're in CA, it'll probably not garner much attention at all....but it'll do wonders for your soul!

I am a big believer that we worry way too much about potential problems in life that simply find their own way of working things out...

I know, (again) I have my head in the sand...