Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Toys "Stuff" In My Attic...

"The trouble with owning a home is that no matter where you sit, you're looking at something you should be doing."


So on a whim I went up into my attic this afternoon. For some reason I hadn't had reason to make that journey since we had the home inspected prior to closing in 2008.

The visit lasted about 15 minutes but only covered the area that the previous owner had decked out with wooden planks for storage...I didn't feel like sticking a knee or foot through the hall or dining or kitchen ceiling and/or having to tape and mud "Virgil shaped holes" in the sheet rock.

I just got through climbing back down, dusted the insulation off my elbows and knees and folded the attic staircase back up into it's hole in the ceiling and as usual with home ownership my head is spinning with ideas and a list of things I need to do up there.

The real purpose of the journey was to look at the wiring in the master bedroom and at how hard it would be to add a light or lights in the expanded walk-in closet I'm planning on building this spring.

The good news is that adding lighting will be a piece of cake, the bad news is that I just can't leave it at ten feet of 14/2 wire and a 4x4 ceiling box...I noticed another half dozen things that need to be done before the temperature returns to spring/summer daytime levels.

Heck, I've got plenty of time on my hands...all I need is THE MONEY...
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5 comments:

Ed Drew said...

14/2 wire will not pass code for that application. you can use it for switch wire if it is non-load bearing (only the switch goes thru it)

but I'm sure you know that.

I hate those damned attic crawls.

12:38 AM
Virgil Rogers said...

Good point Ed...I try to be tantilizingly technical but not overly so here on the blog, and in reality I forgot the length of the switch drop wire and the 2x4 handy box if I switch the light separately from the master ceiling fan...which I will.

I just checked my copy of the IRC and they also no longer allow keyless pull chain fixtures with open bulbs in closets although I was already going with a cheep surface mount on a 4x4 box tied to a joist.

I really usually buy 12/2 but I might have used a little 14/2 once last year for some stuff in the basement in my old 1963 house which is already full of old funky cloth covered copper with no ground wire.

I've been planning on adding ground legs to things like the new basement 220 and 110 volt feed circuits (with a new 8' ground rod I've already driven) and I'm grounding the range and a replacement microwave/vent hood in the kitchen and will rework the basement laundry circuit this spring.

At least the old existing wire isn't aluminum, and the insulation is in pretty good shape as long as you don't start jerking on it pulling it through the tiny holes the monkeys that wired the place drilled in the joists and studs.

1:17 AM
Virgil Rogers said...

Wait...I ALWAYS use 12/2...I've used 10/2 some in the past before Copper prices exceeded Gold and Platinum and then went crazy trying to stuff giant wire nuts in standard boxes and twist things together with cheep plyers...Alzheimers is in full force these days...

1:22 AM
Virgil Rogers said...

...OK you had me worried...code issues aside...I just went down into the shop and checked and the half a 100' roll left over that I bought for the latest basement lighting re-wire is 12/2 with ground Romex.

Remember I had a fire in a 1966 vintage house in 2001 caused by an electrical problem, so I'm extra cautious when it comes to fooling with Amps and Volts.

No crappy long thin extension cords or cheep surge protectors in my house either...

1:32 AM
Ed Drew said...

I knew you had it right. I'm a little bit of a stickler also on wanting it 'done right'. I've seen a lot of things that 'pass code' that don't pass 'my code'. I even like ground fault more than most people seem to

9:40 PM

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