The Electric - Phase 1

Knob and Tube

March 2009 - When we signed our contract for the house, it was full of 1920's knob and tube wiring with a very old electrical service connection.  The 50 amp service panel only had six breakers for the whole house - which means that if I turned on my television, the house would have basically blown up and burned down (could have been an awesome 4th of July party effect though).  The old knob and tube wiring was a system of hot wires wrapped in cloth running through porcelain relays in the house.  It was basically one step more advanced than a kite string and a key.   It's potentially extremely hazardous if it gets disturbed, so that had to go.

Electrical Service Being Replaced Outside

So we negotiated with the sellers to have the service panel upgraded to 150 amp.  We wanted 200 amp and were willing to pay for it, but for some reason they refused.  We gave up and accepted the 150 amp. 



The Chandelier



During the month of March before we moved in, we had a team of electricians (Monica didn't trust me to do the wiring work - I didn't care for her lack of faith, but went along with it).  For many nights as we were sanding or working on other things, the electricians disconnected all of the wiring for the first floor and basement (we couldn't afford the second floor yet) and replaced it with modern lines.   They also installed several new light fixtures, including a stained glass chandelier and ornate ceiling medalion in the dining room.  Their work was capped off by wiring for a 7.1 channel home theater in the living room walls and speakers for the front porch and back yard.

The Plaster Horseman of Rogers Avenue

One of the unexpected joys of the electrical work being done came when the electricians started to cut into the old plaster walls.  On the first cut, one of the guys freaked out because he saw what appeared to be hair in the wall.  He jumped back because he thought it was some animal or mabye a dead body.  After some cautious investigation, we discovered it was actually horsehair that had been used in the old plaster for stability.  Ironically, for a little while after that discovery, Monica had dreams about horses in our house.  So far, we luckily have avoided any real life vengeful equine attacks.