Great video. For all the young folks getting the trade or buying/renting an older home, knob and tube wiring was cutting edge technology in the early 1900s and was the most common type of wiring system in homes built before WWII, and was used occasionally as late as the early 1960s. Today there's a high likelihood of repairs and alterations done by unqualified personnel, leaving things like unsafe splices, circuits with reverse polarity, light switches placed on the neutral instead of the hot, oversized or bypassed overcurrent protection and other serious fire and shock hazards. As a result securing a mortgage and homeowners insurance policy becomes very difficult and expensive if not impossible. Old homes are beautiful and have charm, but did not always take consumer safety into consideration.
you build a wooden frame using lath. You then take a piece of metal mesh the same size as the hole and cut the switch box out, it should look like a doughnut. Then spray the plaster around the hole with water, then apply your brown coat(heavy). Let cure for 2 days, apply skim. I’ll make a video at some point, but there’s a good explanation.
Hi, Donald! Referencing a home built, in 1930, can I add 14 gauge hot & neutral to the knob & tube wires, in an outlet, to extend the wires to a new receptacle, until an electrician comes, this week? Also, I was attempting to determine why an outlet, in the kitchen, keeps tripping the breaker, when the microwave & coffee pot are going, at the same time (15 amp breaker). When I removed the receptacle, I noticed that there was 14 gauge hot & neutral, (not knob & tube wiring), and no ground. I was going to put in a GFCI, but the outlet box is too small, for the GFCI to fit. Do you know if there are smaller GFCI receptacles, to fit the metal box, in an old home? Lastly, the whole situation is freaking me out, because my son is renting a portion of this home, as well as 5 other couples, as the home has been set up with kitchens, bathrooms, etc, for each “apartment”. Do you recommend having AFCI/GFCI breakers, since I’m sure the landlord has no plans of rewiring?
I’m in a process now where I’m demoing the whole interior of a home. It’s all knob and tube so I’m going to run new wires. Will I be able to get away with running 12/2 NMB throughout
