Walked into a remodel last month and saw the wildest wire job I've ever witnessed

I was doing a kitchen rewire in an old house near Spokane and the homeowner had a before photo from 1985. The original work had wire nuts just dangling loose behind the drywall, no boxes at all. Thirty eight years later, we pulled it all out and put in proper junction boxes with pigtails and everything neat. The difference was night and day, like going from a rat nest to a tidy little hallway. Has anyone else run into old work that made you just stop and stare for a minute?

4 comments

4 Comments

shanelee25d ago

Pulled knob and tube out of a 1920s place last year that made that look clean. @robert_bell knows the drill.

the_emery25d ago

What was the worst hidden splice you found in there?

robert_bell25d ago

And they wonder why houses burn down.

martinez.kim25d ago

Oh man, loose wire nuts behind drywall is a classic fire starter right there. I've seen that exact mess more times than I can count, usually from old handyman specials where they thought hidden splices were fine. Best practice if you're ever dealing with that situation? Always double check your box fill calculations and use wagos or properly torqued wire nuts in actual junction boxes. And seriously, label everything with a sharpie before you button it up, future you will thank you when you have to troubleshoot anything. That 1985 knob and tube era was wild, people just did whatever they felt like.