Home Improvement @lemmy.world davidalso @lemmy.world 10mo ago

Heat damage or something else?

I'm cleaning this cabinet above the range/micro and noticed this mark on the back. I mostly keep cooking oils, vinegars, etc in here. Does this look serious?

Update: well it ain't pretty, but it shouldn't burn the house down. For anyone concerned, my electrician approves. Thank you all for your help today.

18 comments

Looks to me like something is scorching the wall. Could have been something inside the cabinet, like putting away a cast iron pan while it's still hot, but my guess is you have a screw in the wall there that is screwed into a shorted electrical cable.

I could definitely be wrong, but I'd cut a hole and see what's back there anyway.
- I agree about cutting away the drywall. Easy to fix after, especially since inside a cupboard. I would avoid touching with metal and wear insulated gloves I think.
  
  It's an IKEA cabinet with a melamine backing. I'm going to pull the micro and cabinet out and we'll see what that shows us
It looks like my client fails when I try to add photos. Here's a link to the pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aQmzYZvssHRkSBUG7
- So the the third photo is with the melamine cabinet removed? If so, you are so lucky to have found it now. That old outlet looks like it was shorting. Major fire hazard there. What does the back of the cabinet look like?
  
  The old outlet should never have been buried like that. I'm not an electrician but my understanding is that the outlet should have been removed, the wires properly terminated (with caps or the like), the box covered with a plate cover, then the back of the cabinet should have had a hole cut into it so access to the cover was still possible with the cabinet in place.
  
  Plus: what's the deal with the blue box? Was it never properly attached to the wall? Did the original installer mis-cut the cabinet hole and instead improperly add a new box?
  
  I am lucky. I had no idea this was going on back here. Here's the back of the scorched cabinet.
  
  And here is my new cap job.
  
  I'm going to cover it with a plate and cut a hole in the melamine just as you suggested.
  
  The blue box is one of those kind that is supposed to latch into the drywall, but the melamine is cut too tight for that to have ever worked so it's just busted out when I pulled on cabinet.
Does it come off with a magic eraser or elbow grease?
- Aha. Great question. Nope.
  
  Weird, I would probably get a noncontact probe and see if there's power, then cut power and see if there's something behind the drywall.

18 comments