Shocking! Good Thing I Carry Electrical Tape In My Toolbox

Digital Image

Digital Image

This house is being remodeled, and the electrician has not finished. He left these switches sticking out of the electrical box. See those screws on the side of the switches? Those are what carry the electrical current, one in and one out. If you touch one, nothing happens (theoretically). But if you touch both at the same time, a connection is made between them and you get a shock. Ouch!

Now think about trimming wet wallpaper with metal tools around switches sticking out of a box like this, with live current (what we call “hot wires) attached to them. No thanks! In fact, while I was trying to stuff the switches back into the box, there were sparks. No thanks!

So I got some electrician’s tape and wound it around the switches, covering the screws – and protecting me from the live wires!

Tags: electrical tape, electrician, hot wires, remodeled, wallpaper