Mauritz Nordstrom
02-08-2009, 09:02 PM
I did an end of warranty inspection on a new house. The owners had been in it for almost a year.
I found one of the electrical outlets absolutely filled with expanding foam. It bridged all of the wires and screws on the plug.
I asked the homeowners how the heck this happened. They told me that they had complained about air intrusion coming through the sockets after they moved into the house. The builder sent a repairman, probably a "handiman," to fix the problem.
They watched him bend the edge of the electrical box, squirt the foam to the wall sides of box and then close it up. Apparently it expanded into the box as it did its job.
I'm not sure, but I doubt these expanding foam products are rated as electrical insulators. It just galls me that builders like this would endanger people just so they could spend $1.49 instead of doing the job that they were paid to do. Ugh!
http://www.rvhighway.com/outlet1.jpg
http://www.rvhighway.com/outlet2.jpg
I found one of the electrical outlets absolutely filled with expanding foam. It bridged all of the wires and screws on the plug.
I asked the homeowners how the heck this happened. They told me that they had complained about air intrusion coming through the sockets after they moved into the house. The builder sent a repairman, probably a "handiman," to fix the problem.
They watched him bend the edge of the electrical box, squirt the foam to the wall sides of box and then close it up. Apparently it expanded into the box as it did its job.
I'm not sure, but I doubt these expanding foam products are rated as electrical insulators. It just galls me that builders like this would endanger people just so they could spend $1.49 instead of doing the job that they were paid to do. Ugh!
http://www.rvhighway.com/outlet1.jpg
http://www.rvhighway.com/outlet2.jpg