![]() ![]() On this job, I had to be particularly creative with fishing wire, transferring circuits from one sub-panel to another (one in the basement and one in the garage) so that the newer panel would have the available and lower cost GFCI and AFCI breakers. things they can actually do proficiently) like helping to pull wiring in certain locations, finding the glow rod or chain, turning off a switch or breaker, then that's ok - that means I don't have to bring someone in to do those types of things (i.e: low end helper stuff). If the HO wants to help with simple things (i.e. If I have bring in one of my electrical contractor partners or one of my associate contractors, then the cost for the HO goes up (substantially). The other factor is the cost of extra help on a job. Also, if you want me to keep costs down on a project, then we agree that little things that take time and money will be either done by you (The HO) or another contractor. Do I sometimes sand it down, yes - just not this time as the HO said he would do. I don't sand it, I don't paint it - that is made clear to the HO. There were definitely some holes, in which I put the cutout drywall back, secured it, then patch the seams. This HO is also in the "housing" business, being an appraiser. He definitely wanted to use any other method to avoid cutting into walls to fish wire ( ie: cutting holes just for fishing wire and not for additional outlets and switches). Nonetheless, the HO didn't want any patching or painting, even though it is written into the contract that channeling, patching, painting would be necessary in this type of work. ![]() I went ahead and did the house myself, since I knew it would be a PIB and I didn't want to have extra workers out there having to deal with this. A sawzall works faster and plenty electricians use them, but they can make an awful mess. Very precise cut, not much risk of busting up the lath, so it makes for a neat job. My favorite way of cutting in for boxes in plaster is to use one of the multitools. It's fastest to drill up through this than down through it. I mentioned that you can have a bunch of plaster inside the base of wall. Go easy when you're breaking through the lath with a hole saw - it can break the lath up pretty bad. A lot of times it's sawdust, but I've found bricks, broken bottles. Also, if this is balloon framed, you can find all kinds of stuff in the outside walls. I once watched a Journeyman spend 45 minutes drilling through a beam with an 18V drill and a dull bit - works fine if you're paid by the hour. I only use heavy duty plugin tools - higher drilling speeds. You're going to be dulling a lot of them, so keep plenty on hand, and change them out when they start slowing. Thanks.įew things slow the job more than using battery drills and dull bit / saws. Even if the client is not a cheap, demanding jerk. These are usually hidden in blown in insulation or some other places where they are not readily apparent.Īny advice on how to handle these kinds of jobs from some more experienced sparkys would be appreciated. Oh, and don't let me forget that almost always, an HO, Hack or Handyman has run Romex from the panel up into the attic to one or more Jboxes where they spliced in the K&T when things got tough. ![]() This gets really interesting in multi story homes, and, I find a lot of the old K&T goes down the inaccessible outside walls that have multiple fire breaks. Also, the HO's don't want to channel the walls and ceiling (red flag), don't want to spend much money (red flag), don't want the expense of permits, new panel, etc (red flags). Typically, these home are older, and, tend to be lathe and plaster, but not always. But here is the scenario: HO wants the old K&T removed because they heard it's old and possibly dangerous, or, they want to put in insulation - which is not so great if you have K&T, or, they have just had too many electrical problems and they blame the K&T. There are a lot of sparkys that have much more residential experience than me and maybe you have some ideas on rewiring homes that have knob and tube wiring.ĩ5% of our work is commercial so residential comes along every now and then. ![]()
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