On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:05:36 GMT, "Donna"
wrote:

Hi guys!

About two years ago, we finished (to be precise, we hired a contractor to
finish) our breezeway, turning it into a room. After the renovation was
complete, we discovered that the outlet on the interior wall, and it's
matching outlet on the garage wall, and our porch light post, are now dead.

It's been two years, obviously this isn't a pressing problem, but geez, I'd
love to have that porch light back. Any suggestions as to how to figure
this out? The renovation consisted of wallboarding over the exterior walls
of the breezeway (e,g, we didn't open up the wall where the fault must lie -
between the interior and the first exterior (garage) plug. We did take the
ceiling down to the studs, but iirc, there was no wiring there.

Can I safely assume that the fault lies in the wall between the
breezeway-cum-office, and the garage, rather than anywhere in the wire
between the breezeway/office and the front porch?

How do I tackle this?

And, erm... considering it's two years after the fact, and realizing this is
a bit late to be asking... is there any risk of fire with the dead wiring in
the walls?

As always, thanks for your kind assistance. Help me Obi-Wan! You're my
only hope! (Well, my only hope other than calling an electrician and
opening up the finished walls. Eek.)

Thanks!

Donna


There is no way any of us can tell without seeing the thing. The
source of the power comes from your breaker box. Where is that?
Assume it mosdt likely begins at the outlet or light closest toward
the direction of the box. Of course that is not always the case, but
more than likely.

Shut off the power to the whole house. Then open each outlet and take
off the light fixture. You dont need to remove the wires, just pull
the outlets and light out of their wall boxes and look for a broken
wire. If a wire is off a screw or pulled out of a wirenut, fix it.
If not, the remodelers may have cut a wire inside the wall and unless
you have electrical experience, you be best calling an electrician.

Of course, you can use a tester and all of that, but it dont sound
like you are experinced with wiring and no one wants you to get hurt.

I dont think you have a fire hazzard after 2 years, but anything is
possible.

Might you have a relative or neighbor that has done some wiring? You
might be able to get the job done without a costly electricians bill.

But do safely open each of those boxes and look for a broken wire. As
long as the power is off, it's simple to use a screwdriver and look
inside. Each outlet should have a white wire going to the silver
screw and a black (or other color except white or green) going to the
brass (gold) screw. Then there is a bare or green wire going to the
green screw. You COULD have two sets of wires going to one or more of
the outlets. That means these wires go to the next outlet in that
same line. As for the light fixture, it's most likely has wirenuts.
The black and white wires need to match the same color.