Author Topic: Need some help removing some perfectly good electrical wiring -_-  (Read 1890 times)

sethdrebitko

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So the prior owners of my mostly good house were... completely fucking terrible handymen. We are primarily interested in giving the house a face lift not so much diving in wallets blazing.

Thankfully their work is primarily in the realm of being awful looking and needing to be re-done. One thing they wanted to do was finish the basement.

They ended up running a bunch of wiring to the far end and hooking up outlets and some florescent lighting. Additionally they replaced some wiring in the main section of the basement.

I'd love any thoughts on how to approach detecting what wires are no longer being supplied power so they can be removed. Things loop around and are pretty tangled so pulling something that happens to be attached someplace is a concern.

I'd also like opinions on the extra wiring running to the far side of the basement. I have zero intention of finishing the basement so I want to take all the extra out. My initial thought is that it wouldn't look nice to prospective buyers to have a clearly partially finish basement. Is there any reason you would leave extra live wiring?

paddedhat

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Re: Need some help removing some perfectly good electrical wiring -_-
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2015, 05:21:29 AM »
No, as an electrician, it isn't something I would accept in my own house. If you decide to start tracing and removing circuits, I would recommend a non-contact voltage tracer. This is an inexpensive ($10-15) pen like device the can detect voltage by holding the tip against the side of the Romex. They are stocked at Lowes, and Home Depot. Couple of things to keep in mind when using one. First, always check it on a known live circuit before using. Typically I stick it in a hot outlet to check. Second, in a typical Romex, one side is the hot, the other the neutral, so you have to rub the tip down both sides of the cable to see if it's hot. If you start removing a bunch of tangled up shit, you need to decide if you are going all the way back to the panel and removing it all, or if you are just going to end it at a junction box. If you remove it in the panel, remember to remove the romex connector and close the hole with a knock-out closer. If you want to cut it back to a junction box, install a 4" square metal box on the side of a floor joist. Use a ground screw to properly bond the box to the ground wire, and safety the individual conductors off with small wire nuts. Mark the cover of the box with the circuit breaker number. If you are salvaging any of the wire, the best way to pull staples is with a pair of diagonal cutting pliers. Get a small bite on one leg of the staple and pry it up, then do the other side. Some clowns drive staples like they are framing nails, as in, half way through the wire. If the existing staples are driven into the wire, I would not reuse it.

Your thought about potential buyers is correct. My mom had her kitchen remodeled. The crack head that did the rewiring left the basement area, under the kitchen, looking like a study of code violations. It was so extreme that he was apparently too lazy to drill joists, and looping wires under them, in a few places. After she died, I flipped the house for resale. One thing I did was to spend a few hours removing the tangled mess, and redoing the work correctly. It's not only helpful for buyers, who typically are pretty clueless, unless something is glaringly screwed up, but it keeps the home inspectors from seeing a red flag. I have found that properly marking junction box covers is a really smart thing to do. I use a label maker with 1/2" tape and put the voltage and circuit numbers on, IE  " Water Heater  240Volts  Circuits # 36&38 " It may seem a bit over the top, but I have never had an inspector fail to comment on it, which makes the whole inspection go smoother, be it a home inspector hired by potential buyers, or a municipal inspector. Good luck.


lthenderson

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Re: Need some help removing some perfectly good electrical wiring -_-
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2015, 07:31:48 AM »
I would add that you should trace the circuit and understand it before removing it because you didn't find it had power with the non-contact tester. It may be connected to a switch that is in the off position. Also, when removing circuits, make sure any wires left have been properly protected, i.e. wire nuts, etc even if they don't have power to them in case someone in the future hooks that circuit back up and the wires become energized.

sethdrebitko

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Re: Need some help removing some perfectly good electrical wiring -_-
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2015, 11:22:51 PM »
Thanks for the advise folks! I've gotten myself a non contact tester and have begun slowly removing wiring :)