Knob and Tube Wiring

The last couple of days has been spent removing disconnected old knob and tube wiring. The house was rewired sometime before we purchased it. Unfortunately they left all the old knob and tube wiring.

So far we have not run into any that is active, which is great. I know when we had the home inspection, the inspector made a point to remark on every bit of knob and tube he could see. So we decided it had to be removed for future sale and our piece of mind.

The tube is easy to remove as it slides right off the wire. The knob on the other hand appears to either be nailed or screwed to the joists. I told R to keep all the knob and tube pieces because I have an idea for a craft project.

We are also removing any old nails, screws, boards, straps, etc that we come across that are no longer needed. Just in the room that was the coal room we spent 5 hours . We also removed the door since is has it's original glass but was hanging by one hinge. The door will go in the barn with all the other doors that are currently not in use.After dewiring the coal bin we moved to the furnace room. This room is much harder to remove the knob and tube since the vast majority of it is hidden above the heating ducts. We did remove the old security system wall box, old copper tubing that went to a long gone fridge, and some knob and tube. We came across about three junction boxes without covers and numerous places where the wiring is criss crossed and just a mess. That mess will have to wait until we can turn off the power and disconnect the wires to untangle and use Romex staples to hold in place.

R also did some crawling around in the crawl space under the family room/library. He says it will be a tight fit. We are hoping that most of the ducting can be assembled and fed though the opening.

The good news is that R said he didn't see any daylight leaking through anywhere. Yeah!!!

Also we have determined that if the family room/library was not original it was added soon after the house was built since we found knob and tube under the family room/library.

We also found out where the water was coming into the coal room. There was always a damp spot on the floor. Upon closer inspection we found that there was a deep hole, the size of a quarter, drilled into the floor. It was allowing ground water to seep into the coal room during rainy periods. That will have to be plugged with hydraulic cement. I have no idea why someone would drill a hole through the concrete basement floor but they did and now we will fix it.Tomorrow we will try and tackle some of the heat ducts under the family room/library. Yippee!

Knotty pine...nope, nodda, NOT!!!!

I know I have a before photo somewhere but until then, you'll have to trust me when I say...."this looks better than before the demo". No really...it does.

This is the current state of our kitchen at "The Gear".

I love knotty pine...........NOT!!!!!!!

This is our current project, removal of the many layers of ceiling in the kitchen. Originally the ceiling was plaster and at some time was covered in 1/2" drywall. On top of the plaster is blown cellulose insulation, half eaten walnuts, straw, twigs, and the most awful smelly dust in the world. No matter what kind of respirator you wear, you still end up inhaling the dust.

Ok, so what kind of ceiling are you putting up after this comes down???

Thank you for asking. I'm thinking bead board. The plan is to paint all the knotty pine white, lay absolute black granite tile for counter tops, and use stainless appliances. The kitchen faces the south but the dark knotty pine soaks up all the light. My plan is to get the kitchen brighter without spending a lot of $$$$$. I would like to eventually gut the entire kitchen. Walls...floor...everything, and rewire, reconfigure, and re everything....in 5 years. Currently the working triangle is more of a parallelogram or a rhombus (I get those confused) and the floor is pine not oak and it has seen better days.

By exposing the studs, floor joists, and ceiling we can rewire properly and make certain that there is no KNOB and TUBE wiring. We have already found one spot of knob and tube where the wire is melted. I would estimate that at least 80% of the house is new wiring. I really won't feel safe until it is 100% new wiring.

We decided last Sunday to remove the small section of upper cabinets on each side of the sink. Neither cabinet was wide enough for a full size dinner plate. We are going to use open shelves with thick brackets. I'll use these to display my vase collection (white pottery and black amethyst) and my dinnerware which is white and pink Fiesta ware. That will give me a reason to buy a 4 piece place setting in black. I know....did I really need a reason????

Here's Roger.......posing with his trusty hammer and standing on an aluminum ladder that someone threw in the trash just because the paint tray was bent. Hey....works for us and the price was right. We'll probably recycle it after we wear it out doing this restoration.


Roger....I think you missed a spot!!!