Tracing Back

We knew we were buying an old house with 100 years worth of mysteries to solve. And we got a good taste of the challenges that lie ahead this past weekend. During the past decade electrical supplies have evolved from "Knob and Tube" through aluminum to copper wires. And our house has it all. Look at all this junk in the basement. Some of this hardware we have never seen in our lives before, so imagine trying to figure out how the whole house was wired. That's exactly what we have to do in order to update the electrical system correctly.

 

Knob and tube wiring

Previous owners have certainly attempted to update the electrical system, but not so successfully. Someone pretended to change the wires, but simply made open air connections between old cloth wires to a new copper wire hidden in between the old plaster ceilings and the new sheet rock ceilings a foot lower. This is  not only illegal, but also very dangerous. Apparently these connections tend to heat more than regular connections and being in the open with led paint chips falling over them is not the correct way to handle the problem. The ground wire is just sticking out and cannot even be connected to the old wire and therefore the circuit is not grounded.

Unsafe open air connections hidden in the ceiling

So first things first. Let's redo the electrical service entry to the house. The old line was unsafe as the main power line was simply running alongside the house unprotected. And without the proper installation, rain water was running along the main electrical line and making its way into the electrical box causing breakers to rust. But a day's worth of work from a certified electrician gave us a fully updated service entry including an upgraded 200 amp supply, a new meter box, a new breaker box, all new breakers, and a mast properly installed outside. Eventually we plan to run the wire underground, but we have to address issues with a 6 foot cement fence before we can do that.

New service entry with proper mast installation

With so many wires heading in all directions it is difficult to trace each circuit back. But slowly we have to update each circuit with proper copper wires from the breaker box all the way to each light fixture, each switch, and each outlet. So this weekend we have undertaken the unimaginable task of replacing each circuit. Opening up the ground floor bathroom floor to repair the foundation also gave us privileged access to the crawl space under the family room and we were able to run all new wires to 5 outlets. That may not seem like a big accomplishment in itself, but keep in mind this old house has only 1 outlet in most bedrooms. So having 5 new outlets in the family room is a giant step forward. Being in the crawl space was a very interesting experience for me (Patrice). It was like being inside the beast. There was just enough space for me to lie down on the ground with the wooden joists almost hitting my nose. I had to pull myself using the cross bars between joists to move around while trying to navigate around HVAC duct work and plumbing drains. It was dark and it was dusty, but at the same time it was peaceful and quiet. And for someone as claustrophobic as I am, it was also a therapy to overcome my fear. But I did it and I can't wait to do it again. Next time I will bring a camera with me so I can show you pictures of what it looks like.

Old rusted breaker box with tangled wires

New breaker box with clean wires

Outlets on the ground floor can easily be changed with access from the basement and crawl space. Light fixtures on the second floor can easily be changed with access from the attic. But light fixtures on the ground floor and outlets on the second floors are a bit harder to change without opening up walls and ceilings. But with time we will complete the task and rewire 100% of this old house.

Hammer time.

Jackhammer that is.  Our first time with this rental, and definitely not the last of the near future (they gave us a frequent renter punch card.)  This also meant breaking out the new goggles and air filter masks purchased specifically for lead paint management.  

Hard (mentally) to break up the one bathroom floor that doesn't have big cracks through the middle.  But a foundation that's not sinking is sometimes more important. 

100 year old concrete is hard as rock.  And in that rock was something unexpected.  Charcoal.  Need to research a bit more to understand why but have some guesses.  With 6 inches of concrete below every tile floor, unlike the 1/4 inch backerboard we use today, there's a lot of weight in each bathrooms.  The charcoal bits seem to make it lighter.  But there may be even more reasons we'll discover. The craftsmanship is remarkable though - each joist is cut to a point across the top for even distribution of the first pour of concrete.

The floor below the toilet was already caving in under the concrete though you couldn't have seen it above.  Glad we didn't wait to be surprised.














And speaking of surprises, not sure what we expected to find under the tub but if you told me leaves and nuts packed so tightly up the sides we need a rake and shovel to remove I would have thought you were kidding.  Old homes have holes in weird places.  Holes in weird places invite curiosity in all sorts of small creatures. And though we may not like to share our space with them, they seem to take no mind to cozying up right next to us.  Even while we're relaxing in the bath. Ew.

Peeling the onion.

One layer at a time, we're uncovering what lies beneath.  The first wall is down.  Along with it some ceiling, then some more ceiling plaster that just was waiting to fall.  (Note to self - reciprocating saw vibration not good for plaster house.)

Now we heard there had been rats at some point, but had no idea our first evidence of any former trouble would be a small pile of baby rat bones in the ceiling of the breakfast nook.  Gross but not as gross as I thought it would be. Sad mostly.  Wonder where mom went.  Did she leave them behind to fend for themselves?  Or get lost in the maze of wall? At any rate she's gone and they would be fun to spend more time with a microscope.  For someone else. Mostly the find just became an awkward chore to figure out how to collect from overhead.

We are learning.  A lot of stuff happens to a house in 100 years. Most of which is not obvious.  They built houses in that day thinking they'd never come apart I'm convinced.  And we've yet to figure out how we are going to take some parts apart.  But we do want to ensure this house is still standing in 100 years so now's the time to help it get there.

Meanwhile upstairs it's beginning to feel a little more like home each time we arrive.  And with a move coming sooner than Santa that's a good feeling.