In the fine newsgroup "alt.home.repair", w_tom
artfully composed this message within news:40BF8FE7.FA86D232
@hotmail.com on 03 Jun 2004:

Most of your responses are nothing more than speculation.
None mention the most typical reason for that problem. A
weakened neutral wire is the most typical reason. Easiest to
detect with a 3.5 digit multimeter (as sold in Home Depot,
Radio Shack and Sears even for $20). The house is powered
from two incoming wires (that share a common neutral). Some
appliances and lights powered by one wire will see a voltage
increase while others will suffer a voltage decrease. This is
especially destructive to incandescent bulbs that glow much
brighter but fail quickly.

snip

You've given me a lot to read and I appreciate everyones input. I
tend to agree that an electrician is needed; first I'm going to
contact the power company with the new information that I'm not the
only one experiencing this. It does sound like what you say, in
fact, the one neighbor with the same problem owns a house built by
the same builder so problems could be identical, and inside. I
certainly will feel safer to have an inspection done on the inside
since the power company might not be able to confirm or deny a
problem in their equipment soon enough for me. Thanks!



--
Cheryl