Exploring the Cellar

Most people would probably avoid a dank cellar, but I've been intrigued by its mysteries, mainly because examining the structure can reveal details about the age of the home. I spent the past several weeks examining saw and ax marks, nails, joinery methods, and masonry. Those are the glamorous parts of the cellar. Today I dove headfirst into the decidedly non-glamorous, the electrical and plumbing.

Meet the nerve center to our farmhouse. From several feet away the electric panel doesn't look too bad for being 30+ years old. It's a 200-amp service panel, which is the standard electrical capacity for modern homes. In addition, there is a 30-amp panel on its own service, giving this old farmhouse a whopping 230 amps of power! Just ignore the mouse nest and the hole rusted through the bottom of the electric panel.

Closer inspection revealed some very old wiring and questionable wiring practices. The picture below is older sub panel that was supposedly disconnected from the main panel. This is the way I found it -- box open and wires hanging out. After tracing the wiring, I discovered it was live and connected to a 30-amp 220-volt fuse. For those unfamiliar with wiring practices, that is an ENORMOUS amount of power and it likely would have thrown me several feet across the cellar if I had bumped it. Oh wait. That never would have happened because access to the dangling wires was blocked by the heating oil tanks directly below. 

Here is some very old "Greenfield" cable that caught my eye the first time I entered the cellar. The amount of corrosion looks terrifying, but isn't really a concern. This is the oldest wiring in the farmhouse, circa 1920's to 1940's. The wires in the open junction box look very old and cracked. In addition, the junction box is missing its cover, but at least the wiring is in a box (later photos will reveal this isn't always the case). The most alarming thing about this wiring is that it is connected to two 30-amp fuses. To illustrate this point, items like water heaters require 30-amp fuses. This particular wiring is connected to lights and outlets, which usually only have wiring rated for 15 or 20 amps. A recipe for FIRE. Luckily, the yellow box contains contains the correct 15-amp fuses. I guess the former owner was too busy to install them or the 15-amp fuses were blowing and he decided to "fix" it by installing the 30-amp fuses.

The next several discoveries were less disastrous, but the disturbing number of poor wiring practices and code violations continue throughout. This junction box is missing the clamps where the wires enter the box. The sharp edges of the box have a high likelihood of cutting through the wire and causing an electrical short. In addition, you are not allowed to have two wires entering into a junction box through the same hole. Prime examples of how NOT to wire.

Here is a wiring junction that should be in an electrical box. It appears as though the wires may just be twisted together and taped. Maybe if I'm lucky they were soldered, but I don't anticipate that level of workmanship here.

Dear readers, please examine the next few photos and consider what may be wrong with the wiring.

I'm pretty sure you are supposed to put the wire twist caps under the cover.

I took a picture of this random thing before I tore it off of a joist. There were many other random things I tore off as well. I sure hope the house still works.

Here is the final pile of old electrical equipment, mainly comprised of unused and discarded wiring from decades of jobs. Maybe I will be able to afford some new breakers by recycling all this copper.

This is the crawl space under our kitchen. I know the two black wires are no longer used (they weren't connected to the panel), so I was itching to tear them out. Time to get the coveralls.

I shimmied into the crawlspace a couple body lengths and realized I'm much too large. My back was rubbing on the floor joists, my arms were batting at the spider webs, the ground was getting wetter, and the air was heavy and musty. Then the dishwasher drained and water puked out on the ground in front of me. That was odd and it smelled bad. I was warned that the kitchen sink drained into dry well, but it looks like the sink drain has been missing the dry well for... a while. I would have continued further into the crawl space, but it was getting late in the day and I wasn't up for a swim. Anyway, it's hard to see in the photos, but there seem to be two dry wells present and another odd looking 8" diameter pipe. Is that 8" pipe where a toilet used to lead to an old septic system? Perhaps.

After dusting myself off, I decided to look into the crawlspace under our living room. Unfortunately, the owner closed off all physical access to the space when it was built. Hopefully there aren't any plumbing or electrical issues in there. HA! This is a prime example of asbestos pipe insulation. Maybe it is better if I never access the living room crawlspace...

It was an exciting day, and I learned a bunch about the farmhouse. Time to make a plan.

Edit from Alissa: no, Andy is not being sarcastic. This was the happiest I've seen him in weeks. He's a strange puppy.