student homes - a shocking tale!
Posted by danm
Fellow gpg students!
Well, those in britain that is, Gui use to live in a palace!
Went to open my bedroom door last week, as you do. Nothing particularly special about the day, just like all the others really.
Except that day, I was quite surprised to receive a little tingle when I put the key into the bedroom lock. The sort of tingle you get when you run around on carpet in the house and touch the TV; or when your're in the supermarket and get that static electric shock. Was quite funny, I didn't expect it, and assumed it was my new housemates playing a trick on me.
Not that I got a thrill out of it, but I touched it with my finger too, as I thought it might have discharged itself. [family fortunes style incorrect sound effect]ERGGH ERRRGGGH[/family fortunes style incorrect sound effect]. How wrong could I have been.
I've played those smelly little electric buzzer games with friends all the time, my little brother also use to zap me with the igniter on those barbeque flamers. I've also licked the 9v batteries to zap my tongue.
But my god those seemed like small bait. The second time I touched it I felt as if someone was sandpapering both my entire arms whilst blowing heavily on them, followed by a nasty achey sensation as though my arms were being pulled out their shoulder sockets.
Being stupid, I did touch it again to see if it would suddenly stop, but it didn't. The electric shock was a bazillion times weaker, but still there. I did this about three more times touching various parts of the door and radiator around me until I asked the housemate across the landing.
He came out still in his boxers and a tshirt, clearly not anticipating a reaction. He truly had nothing to do with it, and upon telling him what I felt, he looked as if I was both laughing and being pathetic over nothing.
'Have you got anything metal' he asked. Me, being numbnuts, grabbed an aluminium baseball bat from my floor and handed it to him. 'No mate, no chance. Put the end on the radiator and lean it to the door handle'.
It looked like we were doing some sort of GCSE Physics experiment. It kinda was. But without even GCSE knowledge, lol.
The bat wouldn't balance, and thinking 'its got a rubber handle mate, touch that bit', I slowly balanced the end on the radiator, and made it gently kiss the doorlock.
I have included the photo I took of the door and radiator right after it happened.
In short, there was a very quick BANG noise, followed by a large bluey white flash about twice the size of said housemates' fat head. It happened right next to his head, which made it far funnier, and only got funner when the bat fell onto his foot :P All the lights went out, and all we could smell was burning and copper coins. The end of the baseball bat was also unusually warm when he moved it away from him.
We must have stood there saying nothing for half a minute thinking what the fudge had happened, before we went to turn the trip switch back on and see exactly what did flash and bang.
I called my dad, and his initial reaction was, 'oh shoite, the radiator is probably not earth bound, so theres a leaky live current touching it somewhere in the house giving you a bit of a buzz'. We called the letting agency, reported it and demanded it be sorted immediately.
This was on Monday gone. 7 days later nearly, and nothing.
Earlier today my dad was working close by, he popped in to check it out. Pulled out the 'Megger' electric votltage checkery thing majig and gave it a loving little prove.
The radiator read something like 4.5 volts. Apparantly, that's nothing, my dads finger gave off 9.5 as he proudly showed.
He poked and prodded a few things, each giving around 3 to 7 volts. Weird. Maybe just a random charge, one of those freak things?
Last in line was the socket part of the door lock. In goes the probe.
DING!
The digital display reads '239 volts'. TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE!
My dad jumped back and quite literally had a little truffle in his derriere.
Basically, my landlord, the stingy barstool that he is, has made a hash job of all the little DIY tasks in the house, and simply used a random two inch woodscrew to put in a brass door bit that needed a half inch screw, to match all the others.
That screw penetrated the doorframe, into the partition right into a LIVE WIRE. My door lock, and handle, the thing I touch every single day about 50 times a day was running 239 volts of live electricity straight from the mains.
Had I not been such a smelly and worn my shoes inside the house all the time, and have a good rug mat beneath me and that thin scraping of a carpet, I could very well have chargrilled myself before finding out the results of the grand prix!
Disaster!
Anyone else got dodgy landlords to coexist with the magic dodgy housemates thread? :P
Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it
Well, those in britain that is, Gui use to live in a palace!
Went to open my bedroom door last week, as you do. Nothing particularly special about the day, just like all the others really.
Except that day, I was quite surprised to receive a little tingle when I put the key into the bedroom lock. The sort of tingle you get when you run around on carpet in the house and touch the TV; or when your're in the supermarket and get that static electric shock. Was quite funny, I didn't expect it, and assumed it was my new housemates playing a trick on me.
Not that I got a thrill out of it, but I touched it with my finger too, as I thought it might have discharged itself. [family fortunes style incorrect sound effect]ERGGH ERRRGGGH[/family fortunes style incorrect sound effect]. How wrong could I have been.
I've played those smelly little electric buzzer games with friends all the time, my little brother also use to zap me with the igniter on those barbeque flamers. I've also licked the 9v batteries to zap my tongue.
But my god those seemed like small bait. The second time I touched it I felt as if someone was sandpapering both my entire arms whilst blowing heavily on them, followed by a nasty achey sensation as though my arms were being pulled out their shoulder sockets.
Being stupid, I did touch it again to see if it would suddenly stop, but it didn't. The electric shock was a bazillion times weaker, but still there. I did this about three more times touching various parts of the door and radiator around me until I asked the housemate across the landing.
He came out still in his boxers and a tshirt, clearly not anticipating a reaction. He truly had nothing to do with it, and upon telling him what I felt, he looked as if I was both laughing and being pathetic over nothing.
'Have you got anything metal' he asked. Me, being numbnuts, grabbed an aluminium baseball bat from my floor and handed it to him. 'No mate, no chance. Put the end on the radiator and lean it to the door handle'.
It looked like we were doing some sort of GCSE Physics experiment. It kinda was. But without even GCSE knowledge, lol.
The bat wouldn't balance, and thinking 'its got a rubber handle mate, touch that bit', I slowly balanced the end on the radiator, and made it gently kiss the doorlock.
I have included the photo I took of the door and radiator right after it happened.
In short, there was a very quick BANG noise, followed by a large bluey white flash about twice the size of said housemates' fat head. It happened right next to his head, which made it far funnier, and only got funner when the bat fell onto his foot :P All the lights went out, and all we could smell was burning and copper coins. The end of the baseball bat was also unusually warm when he moved it away from him.
We must have stood there saying nothing for half a minute thinking what the fudge had happened, before we went to turn the trip switch back on and see exactly what did flash and bang.
I called my dad, and his initial reaction was, 'oh shoite, the radiator is probably not earth bound, so theres a leaky live current touching it somewhere in the house giving you a bit of a buzz'. We called the letting agency, reported it and demanded it be sorted immediately.
This was on Monday gone. 7 days later nearly, and nothing.
Earlier today my dad was working close by, he popped in to check it out. Pulled out the 'Megger' electric votltage checkery thing majig and gave it a loving little prove.
The radiator read something like 4.5 volts. Apparantly, that's nothing, my dads finger gave off 9.5 as he proudly showed.
He poked and prodded a few things, each giving around 3 to 7 volts. Weird. Maybe just a random charge, one of those freak things?
Last in line was the socket part of the door lock. In goes the probe.
DING!
The digital display reads '239 volts'. TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE!
My dad jumped back and quite literally had a little truffle in his derriere.
Basically, my landlord, the stingy barstool that he is, has made a hash job of all the little DIY tasks in the house, and simply used a random two inch woodscrew to put in a brass door bit that needed a half inch screw, to match all the others.
That screw penetrated the doorframe, into the partition right into a LIVE WIRE. My door lock, and handle, the thing I touch every single day about 50 times a day was running 239 volts of live electricity straight from the mains.
Had I not been such a smelly and worn my shoes inside the house all the time, and have a good rug mat beneath me and that thin scraping of a carpet, I could very well have chargrilled myself before finding out the results of the grand prix!
Disaster!
Anyone else got dodgy landlords to coexist with the magic dodgy housemates thread? :P
Holy crap dude! That's seriously scary. :S
It's a shockingly bad DIY job on your landlord's part too.
It's a shockingly bad DIY job on your landlord's part too.
Danny boyo, seriously file a police report! From there on you'll be able to get compensation or sue the bastard !
You can't die before we meet up
!
You can't die before we meet up
!That's scary ... reminds me of the house we rented before buying the one we live in now. It had ugly plastic baseboard so I tried to remove them, not suspecting thatthere were wires rfunning behind it. Grabbing a loose end of said baseboards I accidently caught a wire connector that was behnd it with bare wire sticking out - gave me a shot of 230V/16A. Not to pleasant, but hey, who wants to live forever ...
Another funny anecdote ... during semester break I worked for that TV guy. One day he touched a CRT in the wrong place and got an electric shock (and we are not talking 230V/16A but real heavy current here). He got a black hole burned in his thumb. Incidently he had a 24 hour ECG running that very day. His comment "There goes the ECG, this device is fux0red now..."
REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS
Another funny anecdote ... during semester break I worked for that TV guy. One day he touched a CRT in the wrong place and got an electric shock (and we are not talking 230V/16A but real heavy current here). He got a black hole burned in his thumb. Incidently he had a 24 hour ECG running that very day. His comment "There goes the ECG, this device is fux0red now..."
REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS
Guimengo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Danny boyo, seriously file a police report! From
> there on you'll be able to get compensation or sue
> the bastard !
>
> You can't die before we meet up !
No, but you can. I'm coming for you Gui.
The Flanker is gone.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Danny boyo, seriously file a police report! From
> there on you'll be able to get compensation or sue
> the bastard !
>
> You can't die before we meet up
!No, but you can. I'm coming for you Gui.
The Flanker is gone.
guys this may be a silly question, but this matter, should i just make the letting agency and landlord deal with it immediately, or is there someone else i should notify before?
its currently protected by a slab of corkboard my dad and i rigged up to save me from sizzling, but he says this is insanely dangerous and the landlord has breached his policy by providing a dangerous home.
is gui right in thinking this is sue worthy, or possible to get something from it? i dont want to sound the weeny sort, but i know people who have done this sort of thing for lesser problems, and the current landlord is MEGA loaded - he owns 12 houses in this street alone, and has planning permission for a 39 room tower of student homes to be built next year. plus he has homes all over the uk elsewhere.
to add to his dodgy persona, the 3 room house we ar ein has had the inner stairs removed, and an illegal no planning permission external metal spiral staircase fitted in the backyard to reach the 3 rooms upstairs. this clearly faults on the uk fire hazard planning regs.
the fact he hasnt bothered to sort this electrical issue since he saw it last tuesday, promising the electrician was on his way and saying hed been let down...
besides ghostbusters and time team, who do I call?
any help most appreciated!
thanks!
Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it
its currently protected by a slab of corkboard my dad and i rigged up to save me from sizzling, but he says this is insanely dangerous and the landlord has breached his policy by providing a dangerous home.
is gui right in thinking this is sue worthy, or possible to get something from it? i dont want to sound the weeny sort, but i know people who have done this sort of thing for lesser problems, and the current landlord is MEGA loaded - he owns 12 houses in this street alone, and has planning permission for a 39 room tower of student homes to be built next year. plus he has homes all over the uk elsewhere.
to add to his dodgy persona, the 3 room house we ar ein has had the inner stairs removed, and an illegal no planning permission external metal spiral staircase fitted in the backyard to reach the 3 rooms upstairs. this clearly faults on the uk fire hazard planning regs.
the fact he hasnt bothered to sort this electrical issue since he saw it last tuesday, promising the electrician was on his way and saying hed been let down...
besides ghostbusters and time team, who do I call?
any help most appreciated!
thanks!I finally read it, and WOA! you are one lucky person. So it was the door jamb that was basically added to the live wire (The part that keeps the door shut). I would ask why is there a wire there? Something about that doesn't add up, as a live wire should be far enough in from the door to facilitate mounting and closing. Obviously, someone has done something wrong - either the lock isn't where it should be, or the wiring isn't correct.
I'm not an electrician or nothing, but that lacks common sense. Who runs a wire where you know you are going to have things poking into the same area? YMMV.
When is the electrician supposed to be coming? I'd get on the landlord about it to make sure he knows your serious. He should have one coming already, but get a date. If not, sue the hell out of him. You obviously realize you could have easily been killed because of this - don't you think something like that would be worthy of suing someone over? And the stairs only compound the case against him.
If there is anyone up there I'd have a talk with them first, get a good strong case against him. Ohhh wait, I'm thinking of a dorm. Or am I. I digress. Basically, your house has horrible wiring, and no legal fire escape.
You do the math.
The Flanker is gone.
I'm not an electrician or nothing, but that lacks common sense. Who runs a wire where you know you are going to have things poking into the same area? YMMV.
When is the electrician supposed to be coming? I'd get on the landlord about it to make sure he knows your serious. He should have one coming already, but get a date. If not, sue the hell out of him. You obviously realize you could have easily been killed because of this - don't you think something like that would be worthy of suing someone over? And the stairs only compound the case against him.
If there is anyone up there I'd have a talk with them first, get a good strong case against him. Ohhh wait, I'm thinking of a dorm. Or am I. I digress. Basically, your house has horrible wiring, and no legal fire escape.
You do the math.
The Flanker is gone.
I had to re-read the original post a couple of times to make sure I wasn't missing anything. By rights Dan you should get your full deposit back and move out of there IMMEDIATELY! In fact, the landlord should be providing alternative accomodation as the place he's providing for you to kill yourself in is clearly not doing its job properly.</joke>
Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld
GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.
Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld
GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.
Holy crap! I read that with my law degree in the back of my mind, and couldn't actually believe it when you said 239 volts!!
I'm not a fan of suing, you don't have to sue, but you should DEFINITELY highlight the fact that the landlord is in clear breach of contract. The law doesn't care who fitted the dodgy DIY, it is on the landlord's property so it is his responsibility.
What's the minimum you want from this? A house that is secure for yourself, with no risk of injury. You don't have to sue anyone to achieve that. You just tell him that he's in breach of contract, and he'll work his socks off to make it better, otherwise you'd be within your rights to withhold rent.
P.S. Wow, seriously lucky. Glad you're OK.
K*bots UK, specialist providers of 'fun science' Curriculum Enhancement days for Primary and Secondary schools in Britain.
Please find us on [en.wikipedia.org] for more information.
I'm not a fan of suing, you don't have to sue, but you should DEFINITELY highlight the fact that the landlord is in clear breach of contract. The law doesn't care who fitted the dodgy DIY, it is on the landlord's property so it is his responsibility.
What's the minimum you want from this? A house that is secure for yourself, with no risk of injury. You don't have to sue anyone to achieve that. You just tell him that he's in breach of contract, and he'll work his socks off to make it better, otherwise you'd be within your rights to withhold rent.
P.S. Wow, seriously lucky. Glad you're OK.
I normally would say stay away from suing, but what Smorr has said is right. The flat is a death trap. You have very good grounds to take legal action against your landlord, should you want to go down that route.
Your landlord has to replace the section of wiring which was pierced by the screw. Removing the screw won't be enough, as the damaged wiring would still be a fire hazard.
I think you should demand that your landlord (a) has the damaged wiring replaced ASAP and (b) stops charging you rent for the rest of the time you're staying in his accommodation, and if he has a problem with that, then threaten to sue the hell out of him. That might sound like a tough line to take, but as said above, you could've lost your life, so you'd actually be being pretty reasonable. And if your landlord is loaded like you say, then waiving your rent will hardly bankrupt him.
Your landlord has to replace the section of wiring which was pierced by the screw. Removing the screw won't be enough, as the damaged wiring would still be a fire hazard.
I think you should demand that your landlord (a) has the damaged wiring replaced ASAP and (b) stops charging you rent for the rest of the time you're staying in his accommodation, and if he has a problem with that, then threaten to sue the hell out of him. That might sound like a tough line to take, but as said above, you could've lost your life, so you'd actually be being pretty reasonable. And if your landlord is loaded like you say, then waiving your rent will hardly bankrupt him.
...Aside from the fact that if you use the threat of legal action to blackmail somebody, the courts will throw out your claim.
Just act like an adult about it. An immensely pissed-off adult, but an adult nonetheless!
K*bots UK, specialist providers of 'fun science' Curriculum Enhancement days for Primary and Secondary schools in Britain.
Please find us on [en.wikipedia.org] for more information.
Just act like an adult about it. An immensely pissed-off adult, but an adult nonetheless!
Dan, from what i recall from my time in Portsmouth, some friends of mine were moved out of their digs because they reported a few electrical faults. An engineer came out and had to have the building condemed! Said friends were moved into a lovely residential-let to keep them quiet! (And it worked. c'mon, how many students had a conservatory and a pond!?)
I would definatley make noises if i were you....
I would definatley make noises if i were you....
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