baconbits Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Not to take over the thread, but I've been toiling away in the basement... one project spawns three, then those each spawn two more... the life of a homeowner, right? As soon as I started pulling down the 1/8" faux wood paneling, I was overcome with a smell of a garden or moist dirt... panel finally comes off the wall and what do I find? Mold. Lots. I pulled about linear feet of paneling off and each one had mold. Luckily, I found the source of the mold pretty easily - the bottom layer of mortar on one of my glass block windows was completely gone. I had dirt and even three leaf clovers in my basement. Cleaned that out as well as I could and while it was in the 50s here last week, packed that bish full of fresh mortar. Seems to be holding up... needs some touch up but all I was going for at this point was stopping the water. I'd post pictures but I'm horribly embarrassed by it. After that mold find stopped me, I started pulling down the ceiling. It was a wood... foam... almost. It was kind of like drop ceiling tiles but made of wood fiber instead. I was afraid it was asbestos at first but I'm fairly certain it's not. Finding the K+T and realizing half-modern electrical was run connected to the paneling (no idea what/where it's tied into a circuit) stopped me. Found knob and tube wiring above this ceiling. Pulled a drop ceiling down, more knob and tube. About half of my house is K+T and the rest is romex. The basement (three outlets, two light fixtures) and the kitchen fridge (1940s wiring brilliance) was on a single circuit, which then had 10-3 hacked into it to add more outlets and a couple light fixtures to a workshop area. Disconnected that garbage at the panel and set to tearing it out. $100 bucks later at Lowe's, I had a 250ft roll of 12-2 romex, a couple single gang and double gang steel junction boxes and cover plates, a couple new work plastic single and double gang boxes, connectors for romex going into metal boxes, a circuit tester, a proximity sensor (works like a stud finder somewhat... hold it close to a wire, it beeps if it's live), wire nuts, wire staples, and a 3/4" spade bit. Ran new wiring and intelligently laid it out (engineer in me). I'm about 90% done after working on it for 22 hours over the weekend. All I need to do is buy two new lights for the shop area (not reusing old ones), some more double gang covers for junction boxes, and connect it to the panel. Four florescent light fixtures (2 bulbs each, those 3-footers or whatever), a single 60w fixture for a half-bath, two outlets, and the fridge should be good on a 20A breaker... there was more connected to a 15A on the knob and tube. I realize it's not to code (outlets separate from lighting) but this is what was there before. When I overhaul the basement after I'm done with demo, I'll split everything up maybe. Pictures are all on my phone... I'll see if I can get some up here. Unfortunately, no pictures of the K+T mess aside from it sitting in separated piles - aluminum K+T wire in one, 10-3 and scrap 12-2 in another - along with all the old ceiling tiles and rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 old house wiring sucks. While I was checking mine during the house inspection, a couple of switches exploded in a blast of blue sparks. Couldn't believe ppl were living in the house with that going on. Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 No inspection for me... house was sold privately between family members so the bank didn't require it. Some of the 10-3 I pulled down had burn marks on the outer insulation... glad I got that out of there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasejase Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Home inspection is still a decent few hundred bucks to spend. Just tells you what's of concern. I still refer to our home inspection list as a check list for things I've always wanted to do! He was VERY thorough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I lived in the house for a couple years before I bought it... he could've found the knob and tube under the drop ceiling but wouldn't have found the mold without pulling the wall out. It'd be nice for some stuff, I'll give you that. Live and learn, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Pics is what we want so we know what to hate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeylord Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Fixed my tub drain. Again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Fixed my tub drain. Again. you need to talk to your supplied and get some high-pressure drains made. Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCHM1AN Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 The family who owned our house before us did a great job remodeling. I just dug up these "before" pictures from the internet Before: After: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrowNaza86 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 That's awesome. Job well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I decided to call in a mold professional. I found roughly 40 feet of floor-to-ceiling mold (7.5 foot basement ceiling) among other mold-related things (musty carpet, etc)... WAY over my head in terms of work and time needed. He's coming in on the 10th and 11th of April and should be done in less than 2 full days. Now that the basement man cave project is on hold, I'm going to start painting the main floor, pulling up the 70's shag carpet, and refinishing the original 40's oak hardwood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasejase Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 That's gonna be pricey. Don't forget to find out why it happened. No sense in putting back new Sheetrock, so it can just happen again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Considering all they're doing, it's not as bad as I thought. Decontaminating a 24x14 room including exterior walls (2x14 and 1x24), demolishing the remaining framed 24' wall, decontaminating another 20 feet of wall in another part of the basement, demolishing (but leaving plumbing and fixtures) of a half bathroom with mold in the walls, and pulling up 400sqft of carpet (along with decontaminating the floor)... removal of debris, etc etc etc... all for about $2600. I have already fixed the source of the water - two glass block windows had the bottom layer of mortar either completely or partially crumble away. I've patched them and the basement has since gotten noticeably drier since, even with 3 feet of snow melt and nearly a week of rain. The carpet down there used to get squishy soggy during snow melts and heavy rains but I had no idea where the water came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasejase Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 That's not bad at all. Are they setting up ventilation and/or containment barriers? That's within range of what a Servpro/ServiceMaster would charge (off the top of my head). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 My girlfriend's dad is a realtor and knows a guy for everything so I probably got a good rate. Family owned mold abatement and home inspection company. I had him out and he went over everything... containment barriers with HEPA filtration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeylord Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I replaced all 5 outlets in my daughter's room last night as we're painting. Only got electrocuted twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I only electrocuted myself once when re-wiring my basement after pulling out knob and tube. I want to re-wire the rest of the house as well but the knob and tube circuit layout is senseless. Front porch light, master bedroom outlets, kitchen light, hallway light, one living room outlet, and the basement steps light is one circuit for example. If anyone has a 1940s era brick house where the exterior walls are also brick framed, I'm going to need to pick your brain quite a bit. From outside to inside on my exterior walls: Brick veneer > 1" air gap > brick frame > 5/8" x 1" wide furring strips nailed to inner brick wall > 3/4" drywall The inner brick wall has holes cut in it to allow recessing of the outlet boxes. Rewiring is going to force me to run the wire between the furring strips I think which is going to require me trenching the walls to get the wire into the basement. Frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasejase Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 You guys are like cats with your nine lives and whatnot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Nah - just low voltage system... Come back when you have a system with 230V to ground... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Nah - just low voltage system... Come back when you have a system with 230V to ground... I worked for a family friend's home remodeling company one summer while in college. His brother was a bit... out there... and pretty aloof most of the time. went to strip a 240v live wire and shorted it to ground. The arc worked like a plasma cutter and cut the jaws off his pliers. Most importantly, he was fine. Didn't get shocked but got a good scare out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrowNaza86 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I worked for a family friend's home remodeling company one summer while in college. His brother was a bit... out there... and pretty aloof most of the time. went to strip a 240v live wire and shorted it to ground. The arc worked like a plasma cutter and cut the jaws off his pliers. Most importantly, he was fine. Didn't get shocked but got a good scare out of it. I've unfortunately seen people do this on an aircraft. I've also seen people arc weld multimeter leads to aircraft . Scariest was when changing some fuses on a IR countermeasure set; my boss said he had pulled the breakers, so I went ahead and started to swap out fuses...I learned my lesson that day...one, that boss was an idiot...two, I was a noob. OT, need more pics of remodeling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 No one wants to see pictures of me patching holes in drywall in a bubble gum pink room with brown shag carpet. I'm also cutting in holes for romex re-wire along with coax for TV and preparing for a future Cat6 run. I love old work, high/low voltage double gang boxes... I threw on a skim coat of drywall mud before leaving for work today. Should be able to sand one spot ready for paint but the other spot is going to need a couple more coats. Need to finish removing trim, sand as appropriate, then paint. Then pull up carpet. Then refinish hardwood. Then install trim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Romex wiring like this? http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc172/480sparky/Construction%20methods/romex1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baconbits Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 THAT is neat. Mine'll be relatively neat but it's tough around the box. Props to that/those electricians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasejase Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Reminds me of my low voltage runs. Not quite like that though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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