The Domino Effect

We are still unpacking and rearranging stuff. So, this morning I had an idea to rearrange some of the things on my kitchen counter, to get more useable counter space. I wanted to move the coffeepot over to a different spot. The place was much more user friendly, and did'nt take up workable counter space.
One problem, there was no electrical outlet where I wanted to move it. So, I asked my hubby if would be possible to put in an outlet. There was already a switch there for the outside porch light. He looked at it briefly and said, "Shouldn't be a problem, I'll just have to run to Lowes and get some supplies."
When he returned, he looked at the wiring for the exsisting switch, and noticed that there was no ground wire in the switch box. So he went outside to look at how the light was wired, and to determine just what had been done with the ground wire. Then we had to shut off the power to the switch. That was a case of flipping breakers to find which one supplied the power. Now being that it was a switch located in the kitchen and suppling the outside light, you would expect to find the power supply for said switch on one of the kitchen breakers.
For what ever reason, it was on the same circuit as the hallway lights. Go figure. Plus he could not pull the ground wire from the outside back through to the switch that it should have been in, in the first place.
So with some creative rewiring, he was able to get the ground wire that he needed from the hot water heater (located just below the switch) and was able to put in the outlet that we needed to plug in the coffeepot.
He had to remove the cover for the breaker box to see where the ground wires for the house were. All of the wiring looked to me as if it had been put in by crazed monkeys on a wild acid trip. How he could figure out what was what is still amazing to me.
During this whole process he asked me how I would feel about rewiring the whole house, because a lot of the wiring is really screwed up and makes no sense.
I must have had a really strange look on my face because he added really fast, that it would not be that bad to do.
Thank goodness that he knows what he is doing when it comes to this stuff.
Ah, such are the joys of having an older fixer upper house. I just wonder what other surprises we are in for. But we are making progress. Uncovering the walled over window in the bathroom was a major plus. Not to mention getting rid of the twilight zone decor in a long narrow hallway.

I really love this place, but some of the messes we have found I could do with out. But it is just all part of the experience of renovation.
I am lucky to have married such a handy guy.