A man was shocked to discover a very serious wiring issue while doing some renovations at his home in southeast Calgary, one that could have caused a fire or even had deadly consequences.

Guido Mennes bought his home in Auburn Bay in 2013 and discovered a serious issue when he was replacing a ceiling light fixture.

He says when he removed the fixture, he discovered that the casing on the wires underneath was cracked and flaking away, exposing the live wires.

“If you got your hand across the hot wire and the neutral wire, you could get a bad shock; it could knock you off the ladder.”

The homebuilder, Morrison Homes, installed the fixtures when the home was built in 2009. It was used as a show home until Mennes bought it.

When Mennes discovered the issue, he said he checked all the other wall fixtures in his home and found nine of 18 had the same issue.

“I know this is not normal. I’ve owned four homes over the years and I’ve never seen this in any of them.”

Morrison Homes was able to direct Mennes to its supplier who gave him replacement fixtures, but he wonders how many other homes have this same problem.

Calgary’s chief electrical inspector says he’s seen this issue before and claims it’s not a faulty fixture that’s the problem, it’s the user.

Adam Ghani says the issue, called ‘overlamping’, occurs when people use higher wattage bulbs than a socket has been rated for.

“With 300 watts of bulbs, over time, that heat builds up and literally cooks the wiring.”

Fire officials say Mennes’ broken wiring is a serious fire hazard.

“It’s not uncommon for us to attend fires that have started due to light fixtures and overlamping,” said Carol Henke, public information officer with the CFD.

Mennes, meanwhile, says that he’s never done anything wrong and has always made sure to use proper 60W incandescent bulbs when he bought the house and has used the correct CFL bulbs ever since.

Officials say that as incandescent bulbs are phased out, the issue should entirely disappear because new LED bulbs, that are lower wattage, don’t heat up.

(With files from Lea Williams-Doherty)