Hello, I just moved into this house and it’s a pretty major work in progress. One thing that’s perplexed me though is the front door.
We have a light switch inside that no one knows what it actually does. It’s right inside the door but it doesn’t turn on the porch light. That one is on the other side of the room.
We had a contractor over giving us quotes to install stairs and I asked his opinion. He pointed out the white around the door is not wood but a barely transparent plastic. He’s pretty sure it’s supposed to light up and the reason the switch doesn’t work is because the bulbs are probably burnt.
Issue with that is that I can’t find a way in to check that. It definitely is a very fragile plastic. Wouldn’t take much to break. But I’d like to not break it so I can replace the lights and put it back together. But I don’t see screws or anything. Anyone have any advice?
You sure that mystery switch doesn’t turn on the outlet mounted on the exterior (upper left) ?
I don’t think so. We found a mysterious wire in the basement that goes outside to nowhere directly below it. Either way that doesn’t work and I’m just trying to find the best/least damaging way to remove it.
But it did cross my mind and I tested it with the switch on and off and it worked with neither. That being said I don’t think it’s an outdoor rated plug so it could just be bad either way.
Well, if the interior switch is bad, the device (outlet or otherwise) would never turn on. I’d start by confirming that power is coming into the switch (LINE), and power if leaving the switch in the ON position (LOAD). One of those voltage detectors can do that. If you know the LOAD is good, then use the voltage detector on the suspected lights.
From the pic it looks poorly caulked along the edge of the plastic. I’d take a razor and remove the caulk to see if that would allow the plastic to be removed. The caulk may be the only thing holding the plastic in place. Does the plastic slide at all? It may just be a matter if sliding it in ine direction to remove it from the frame.
That’s just really poorly applied paint. I could try that though.
The plastic slides a little but more so because it’s probably a tiny bit small that it has wiggle room
Can you post a picture of the trim on the INSIDE that is likely holding that plastic in place? I would approach this like a door with glass sidelights. (Not a joke or pun, that’s what they are called)
Have an electrician come map your outlets. They find the connections in the breaker panel, then they trace them out to figure out where they go and what they do. Your contractor may be right, but as someone that bought a house that’s over 100 years old, it’s just as likely that the switch goes nowhere/isn’t live, or powers something you’d NEVER think of, or powers something that you can’t even see because someone put a drywall facade over it or some other weirdness!
We discovered that we had a LIVE outlet, under our living room floor. For some reason, at some point someone decided that needed an outlet literally in the middle of the living room floor (coffee table lame is my guess). The previous owner/flipper put feaux-hardwood laminate down in the whole house and instead of deactivating it, they just put the flooring right over the top of it and its live 100 year old cloth wrapped wires, leaving us a lovely little fire hazard! That outlet was controlled by, you guessed it, the mystery switch on the wall next to the front door that didn’t seem to do anything.
Hey just so you know - those combination key locks take mere seconds to brute force. I’d recommend not using it if you have anything of value - even tools - inside.
It’s on the list. We just got carpet laid downstairs and still need 2 more rooms done, we got a new furnace/ac, and are now installing interior stairs. It’s a big project overall cause we’re converting a duplex to a single family home. But eventually new locks will be put on.
Old houses are required to have a mystery light switch to keep the ghosts occupied.
There is a chance that if those are lights beside the door, they were installed and just lazily trimmed over. Meaning there is no way to access the bulbs without tearing apart the trim. Personally, I would find out it if the switch has power coming to it. Then replace the entire entryway and install a proper porch light that is powered off the switch. It will look better and ensure things are done right.
