Are you Grounded?

This is a simple [read as: kinda boring] post but something that we didn't know when we moved into our 50 year old house.  We had to check to see if our outlets were grounded.  We used this little device our friend Jeff knew about and it's genius.  It couldn't be easier.  You plug it in and it has different lights that tell you if it's grounded or not.  The directions are on the top.  It's a very useful tool. 

So most of our outlets weren't grounded, which we figured, because they were so old and because they were almost all two prong.  So another of our first [and last] tasks was to change out outlets so we could safely plug things in.  

In the photo above the old outlet is on the right and the new outlet is on the left.  [You probably could have figured that one out? Yeah I know.] Anyways, my dad and Daniel ran this new outlet into our living room because the other ones in that room weren't grounded.  We needed to be able to (safely) plug things in like lights [no overhead lighting in the living room] so this was pretty important.  Don't ask me why they set it up the way they did.  [If you would like to know leave me a comment, I will find out for you!]  We plan on replacing the old outlet receptacle [the little box with wires going in that sits behind the switch plate; it holds the little circles where the prongs go in] because some of the other's are dry rotted and we want to avoid any serious dangers that may cause [like fire, or sparks].   

This is what one of the light switches looks like. Some of them have now been replaced, but we still have quite a few to go.  It's a tedious task, but not difficult.  I will try to get Daniel to write a post soon about how to actually replace these! 

This is right inside the door.  Switch plate removed.  There are actually 4 switches right next to each other and the third one controls the lights to the kitchen. So when we [we is usually Daniel and I and/or Jeff who is teaching us how to be handy] updated the lights in the kitchen, [more to come on that later] Jeff, switched out the receptacle.  Eventually all four will be shiny bright white and NEW! Hooray!! I can't wait for that day! You can really see how nasty the other switches are in comparison.  In one of my other posts I was trying to show how much grime was on the switches and now you can really see it! 

Well, that's all I have to say about that.

Love,

Sarah