Why were the hot and ground touching in the first place? The hot is insulated, so was the hot wire cut/nicked or did the ground touch the hot wire at the receptacle screw? If the ground shorted at the hot receptacle screw, simply replace the receptacle and cut back the charred end of the hot wire and try again. If the wire was cut/nicked elsewhere in the box, you can pigtail the burned wire with a wire nut and continue to the receptacle screw.

They were touching, becuase I had pushed them all out of the way (with no regard to weither or not they were touching) to remove the rest of the drywall... I certainly had the intentions of moving them to the proper place before switching the breaker back on... freakin' wife tried to kill me!

ha... anyway, they were in fact touching at the outlet, the contact spots are visable (the big black marks) so I'm assuming that I can just replace the outlets using the existing wire?

Cut the wires before the burn marks and then connect them to the receptacle. If the trimmed wires aren't long enough, you can pigtail them.

Thanks big bird, but will I actually need to replace the receptacle? Or do think the current one will work? Also, will I need to replace the 'new' that I hooked it with it?

S

Assuming this was on a reasonable sized breaker (15A ?) there should be no hidden damage, just the burn mark you see. The breaker will be tripped and require resetting before anything will work. Most breakers must be turned to the fully-off position from tripped, and then to on.

It sounds like this might be a hidden receptacle. Did you know that it is a requirement that the receptacle and any junction boxes remain accessible? If there is a panel over it that may be ok, but you can't screw in drywall and paint or paper over it so that nobody can find it again or things have to be torn out to get to it.

Awesome... so I may just have to do a quick re-wire for it to work? Sweet... although, I suppose replacing the receptacles wouldn't be THAT big a deal!

It's actually not a hidden receptacle. I had to take out the some of the drywall above the CURRENT receptacle in order to run the wire up the wall to the ledge above my kitchen. Very much accesible... just a pain to wire it that way! Ha!

Thanks much for the input! I believe that this will by my LAST wiring job, as I realize I'm a MUCH better guitar player... haha...

There is a VERY valuable lesson in all this.

If you are going to be out of sight of the main panel, LABEL THE BREAKER!! You could have just as easily had both those wires in your hand when she flipped the switch.

"but will I actually need to replace the receptacle? Or do think the current one will work?

If the short occurred before the receptacle, the receptacle should not have been damaged and you can re-use it.

So, I clipped out the burn spot (a cut it about 3/4 inch under it) and re-wired... got nothing on the outlet, and nothing on the 'new' outlet that I attached to it.

SO, ran out to Lowes on a really rainy and humid New Years day to purchase a new GFCI outlet and a new 'regular' outlet. Got back home and installed THOSE outlets, and much to my surprise: they didn't work either....?

The breaker has been switched to the full off and back to on multiple times, and I've even gone so far as to through the main breaker off and back on, still nothing from EITHER outlet.

I hooked all (now 4) outlets to another line, and all work fine. Yet when I hook any of them to the 'blown' line, I get nothing....

Got any ideas?

Might be a fried breaker. Do you have a voltmeter? If so, with the offending breaker in the "on" position, see if you have 120V at the lug on the breaker where the hot wire is secured. Set your meter to "AC Volts", touch either the black or red lead to the lug, and the other probe to the neutral/ground bus. If you've got 120V, then the problem is elsewhere. If you don't, then try a new breaker. While still in the panel, also check that the neutral wire of the offending cc't is securely attached to the neutral/ground bus.

But if my breaker was blown, would all the other things on the same breaker still work? (i.e. all the above mentioned lights)

What above mentioned lights? I didn't read anything in your posts about lights still working on the same cc't yet the receptacles weren't. Regardless then you have a problem with something else in the cc't. The brief overcurrent situation may have affected another receptacle or switch. You'll need to have a look at every other device upstream of the short. Check tightness of screws at terminals and pay particular attention to any wire nut connections. If any devices are backstabbed, rewire them to the screw terminals instead.

...Sorry Big Bird, was posting on multiple sites...

ALL of the breakers are labeled incorrectly, for example: the two lines in the outlet box that I was working with are an outlet, and a disposal switch.

The disposal switch is on the 'Fridge' breaker (the Fridge is actually on the 'Water Pump' breaker... crazy) and the outlet is on the '#3 Guest Bedroom' breaker, which actually controls the Kitchen Lights, Front Hallway Lights, back Porch Lights, Dining Room Lights, and that outlet... and absolutly nothing in the guest bedroom.

All of the lights that were on that breaker still work fine, however the outlet doesn't. I can't seem to find any other outlets that are out... I'm hoping that there isn't a 'hidden receptacle' somewhere...

you need to turn off that breaker and see exactly what all does not work. then pull each and EVERY one of those devices, including the switches, until you find the loose connection. it could even be right at the first non-working outlet. if you are wired using the push in backstabs, pull the wires and put them on the screws. i guarantee that you had a poor connection and the short opened it. if it opened an actual wire inthe middle soemwhere, then the wire was either bad or undersized for the circuit anyway and should be replaced.

Recheck the numbering on the panel. There should be numbers stamped into the metal beside each breaker, and painted over so it is hard to read. Some stickers on panels do not have the numbers in the same physical order as the breakers and it is very confusing to match up. The numbers may go down the column but the breakers left to right and then down.

Seems like you could almost make a safety issue out of the confusion this creates, with people turning off the wrong breaker to work on something. I would have the code or UL or somebody require the sticker to put the numbers in the same order as the panel.

If someone has rearranged them so you really have the refrigerator on a breaker intended for a water pump, etc. some of the breakers may be oversized for the wire they have on them and could allow the wire to overheat. Also there is the possibility of a multiwire circuit having been rearranged so both hots are on the same incoming leg thus overloading the neutral.