Journeyman Discovers Previous Electrician Grounded Entire House to a Rebar Stub and a Prayer

A routine inspection by journeyman electrician Tamara Lug uncovered a grounding system so inadequate that she initially believed it was 'a practical joke set up by coworkers' before realizing the homeowners had been living with it for nine years. The home's entire grounding infrastructure consisted of a 14-inch piece of rebar driven approximately eight inches into the soil beside the foundation, connected to the panel's grounding bus by a length of 14-gauge solid copper wire that had been attached to the rebar with a hose clamp. Near the base of the rebar, Lug found a laminated index card bearing the handwritten message: 'Close enough. God bless this house.' 'The NEC requires a minimum eight-foot ground rod driven its full length,' Lug explained, still visibly processing the discovery. 'This is eight inches of rebar with a greeting card. The wire connecting it to the panel isn't even the correct gauge. And the hose clamp is from an automotive section.' The homeowners, who purchased the house in 2017, were unaware of the issue. 'The inspector said the grounding was fine,' said homeowner Patricia Watt. 'Though now that I think about it, he did the entire inspection in eleven minutes and was eating a sandwich the whole time.' Lug installed two proper 8-foot copper-clad ground rods with Acorn clamps and a #4 AWG bare copper grounding electrode conductor. She also removed the index card, which she has framed in her office as a 'cautionary exhibit.' The original installer has not been identified. Lug suspects they are 'either retired or incarcerated.'