Renovation reality......nightmares!

OK, my project has officially become a reality show episode. Just when I thought things were coming along reasonably well, despite the fact I was working outside under halogen lights until 9 PM the last 2 nights. Friday night was great but Saturday was getting pretty cold by then but I had open holes in my attic gable which had to be closed in before bad weather arrives.


Saturday, having turned out nicer than expected, looked like a good time to get a bit more plywood on the house. Standing near the top of the 16 foot ladder, ripping down fiberboard was fine, then I decided to remove the last piece of masonite siding, at the top of the gable. I sliced through the plank as it had a large screw eye in it which the electric wire from the pole attached to.

Unfortunatly, a small miscalculation occurred about this time. The screw eye, which I thought had been screwed into the 2x4 running up the wall behind the electric box, was actually only screwed into fiberboard. When the last piece of siding was cut, the electric meter and the 10 foot steel pipe running from it to the roofline, had no support at all and the next thing I knew, the electric wires were on the ground and the meter was hanging from side of the house.

Nice, eh? Ever wonder what you should do when your electric meter falls off your house? Not really something I spent a lot of time contemplating up to this point. Forced to think about it, the first thing that came to mind was "Is it safe to touch it?" followed by wondering if I would end up with a pile of crispy critters if the little dogs ran into it. I decided first priority was to herd the dogs into the house and lock them in. Then I debated what to do next while continuing to pull sheathing off the house. I thought about calling for someone to come cut the power off but had visions of spending the rest of the weekend in a dark, cold house. I thought about just leaving it laying in the yard until Monday when utility workers would be on duty. I was so flummoxed! What to do?


Fortunately, about that time a neighbor drove up and having been a friend of my son during childhood, he commented on how much fun it looked like I was having. His brother works for the city so he called to see if it was safe to leave the meter down over the weekend. The brother didn't think this would be safe so he called a crew who showed up shortly and cut the meter loose from the pole. They then rehung the meter on the house and connected the wires back up so I didn't have to spend Sunday in the dark. I didn't get the plywood all up but that will have to wait for another weekend.