Illustration: Brett Lamb
You never know what you’ll find when you start poking behind the walls. Jim Melnik, owner of Before & After Home Improvement in Timmins, Ont., was in for a shock when he was called in to replace a bathroom exhaust fan. When he peered into the crawlspace to access the old one he spotted four uncapped electrical connections.
“Not only were there open connections but the box that the power was taken from had been drywalled over so it was not accessible. To make matters worse, cardboard boxes and old papers were stored around the opening just waiting to catch fire.”