Alarming Electrical Hazards Hidden in DIY Home Renos

We are working on a “new” home built in the 1960’s. Its a 2 story ranch in decent shape for its age.

The homeowners who just bought the house, asked us to come in for a lot of projects all over. In particular, we are focusing on a great paint job, refreshing hardwood floors, tweak an existing kitchen, rework a laundry powder room, and a gut remodel of the master bedroom suite.

While working in the kitchen it was discovered that the electrical wiring in the kitchen was really dangerous. It was a surprise that no fires had been started. Many hidden splices were found and illegal junction boxes. You should know that junction boxes must be accessable, and covered to be legal. There were not enough lines to the various outlets either. Our electricians corrected all these problems. But encountering them set a tone for us. We were going to remain on the look out for further dangerous conditions!

Sure enough when we opened up the existing master bathroom, last renovated at about the same time as the kitchen, the same types of electrical issues were found! Our electricians had some new splice connectors worth showing you. These allow us to make legal splices without junction boxes.

If you look at the last photo you can see the HUGE hornet’s nest that was found in the corner of a small office closet floor space. What a noise that next must have made in summer!