Receiving Unlawful Advice: Two Short Stories

There once was a pre-adoptive family who was remodeling their bathroom...

Story One: The couple went to a home store to find parts for their vanity drain line. Because of the location of their vanity a "T" needed to be put into their cast iron drain vent (or so they thought). After much throught the home store staff decided that a "saddle" was needed to put the "T" into the cast iron. The helpful staff told the homeowners where to buy the PVC saddle and made sure they went home with several high dollar drill bits and an oil to use when they drilled the iron.

Well, today this couple was asked by the plumbing inspector where the vanity drain line would be located. The confident man stated that a saddle would be used. To this the law man replied, "That's Illegal." After a slight stammer the young homeowner expressed agreement with the inspector with a respectful, "OK". The gracious enforcer knowingly asked if this advice came from a home store and then provided a suitable alternative. I am very thankful! The End.

Story Two: The same couple headed off to the nearby home store after being unable to mount a wall light electrical box because of the same cast iron pipe that was mentioned in story one. The box was too deep. When the friendly attendant in electrical was asked for assistance he provided several solutions that wouldn't work because of the pipe. Then he confidently said, holding up a wall mount box, that the back of the plastic box could be cut off to fit into the tight area. The homeowners discerned that this was wrong and looked puzzled. Then the husband asked the associate if his method would pass the electrical inspection. The man then asked if the homeowners were going to have an inspection. When he learned that they were, he stated that the method could not be used and recommended that they move the light away from the pipe. He then left the aisle. After this a customer helped them, and with him the homeowners engineered a way to mount a ceiling box to the wall using furring strips - it looks great. The End.

A special thank you to my dad who I watched and helped with many electrical tasks. Thank you for the good and legal example!