Decoding Construction Terms.

For those of us who are not familiar with building and repairing houses, I will attempt to decode some of Tom's construction jargon. This may take time and just one or two more posts.

GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter): a type of electrical outlet typically used within 6' of a water source. These are usually placed near the sinks and their purpose is to automatically shut the outlet down if there is risk of shock. GFCI's detect risk of shock by monitoring the amount of energy going through the circuit. If that energy decreases somewhat significantly, that means something else is picking up the current. That is when the GFCI cuts the power to that circuit. For example, if you wanted to dry your hair in the tub and accidentally dropped the hair dryer in the water, the GFCI would most likely protect you from dying. You'd still get electrocuted, but not totally fried. In our house, we had NONE of those. Now, we have 2!



Romex: the current (haha...get it?), most commonly used type of wire to run electricity throughout a house. Romex is a brand name, but most widely known of. Basically, this type of wiring is wire wrapped and protected in a plastic coating. Any generic wire of this type is also referred to as NM which means non-metallic (the plastic coating). NM wire is used quite a bit because it is easiest to work with, easier to cut than other electric components (all you need is some pliers and/or wire strippers) and it is WAY lighter than the metallic sheathed wire. Don't let that fool you though. Romex is freaking HEAVY for how small of a package it comes in.

As you can see from this picture from Easy Home Improvement Projects, there are three wires in the plastic coating, which are the ground, common/neutral and hot.

FUBAR: Looks like a hammer, but is primarily designed for demolition work. It's heavy, comes in many sizes and has multiple tools built into it, such as a hammer head, pry bar, ..... and a ton of weight to make it super difficult to actually use. We have matching FUBAR's, but mine is the mini one. Tom uses mine instead of his big one.

Image from Gizmodo:


More construction explanations to come. If there are things a normal person wouldn't understand, please let us know. Sometimes we forget when we're talking shop.

Jessie

Currently Listening to "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc