Overheard a homeowner say they changed their own outlets last weekend

I was at a supply house in Denver Tuesday morning grabbing some 12/2 Romex, and this guy next to me was telling the counter guy he rewired three outlets in his living room because a YouTube video made it look easy. He said he only turned off the switch for that one outlet, not the whole breaker. The counter guy just nodded and handed him a roll of black tape. I wanted to say something but kept my mouth shut. Has anyone else run into a DIY job that turned into a fire waiting to happen?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia_jones7229d ago

Did he bring marshmallows for the fire he's about to start? Sounds like that living room is gonna be a whole lot warmer soon.

matthewgonzalez28d ago

Nah I gotta disagree a bit here. Yeah turning off just the switch is dumb and dangerous no argument there. But acting like a homeowner swapping an outlet is automatically a disaster is kinda gatekeepy. A basic outlet swap is literally just matching three wires color to color if the old setup is standard. I've seen guys who claim to be electricians do way sketchier stuff like backstabbing outlets with aluminum wire or forgetting to wrap the screw terminals. A cautious newbie with a voltage tester and a YouTube video is usually fine as long as they kill the right breaker first.