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That time a junction box in a 1920s house in Tacoma almost got me
I was rewiring a kitchen in an old craftsman last fall. Opened up a junction box that looked original, and it was a mess of knob and tube spliced with cloth Romex, all wrapped in ancient electrical tape that crumbled to dust. The second I moved a wire to trace it, a hot leg arced against the box. Sparks flew, the 15 amp breaker for that circuit tripped, but the main panel was a Federal Pacific, so who knows if it actually worked right. My heart was pounding. I killed power at the meter, took a breath, and spent the next three hours carefully disconnecting and labeling every wire before running all new 12/2. It was a solid reminder that you can't trust old work just because it's been 'fine' for a hundred years. Anyone else have a close call with a vintage box that looked okay until you touched it?
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ross.angela1mo ago
Disagree completely. People get way too scared of old wiring. That knob and tube stuff was built to last, way better than some of the cheap Romex they push out today. Most of those old boxes have been working fine for a century, which is more than you can say for a lot of new construction. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Messing with it is what causes problems, not the wiring itself. Just leave it alone and it'll probably outlive you.
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uma3062mo ago
Ever hear about my buddy's reno on a 1915 bungalow? He found a box where the old wires were basically held together by cobwebs and hope. Poked one with his probe and got a flash bang that scared him half to death. Totally get what @rosew37 means about it just being a normal day. He said the insulation just vaporized when he breathed on it. Had to redo the whole circuit back to the panel.
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