Day #48
October 7, 2018 – Today I completed the kitchen ceiling removal and started the electrical demolition. There was work on both the inside and outside of the cottage.
Inside Demolition
I removed the batt insulation and ceiling fiber board. The insulation was very dirty and covered with nut shells and mouse turds. I am really hoping that the mice are long gone because, as we know, mice are a real pain in the ass!
With the ceiling removal complete I started on some electrical demolition and re-wiring.
I removed the old school fluorescent light. This light fixture only worked about half the time! To take the place of the fluorescent light I rigged up some temporary construction lights.
One wall in the kitchen and one wall in the living room will be removed for the kitchen expansion. Therefore, on these two walls, the outlets and wiring were removed for demolition safety. With the living roo exterior outlet removed we will use the new exterior GFCI outlets.
In the process of removing outlets I opened several junction boxes in the ceiling. It is surprising to see the connections inside are soldered and wrapped in old style fabric electrical tape. I don’t know if this was common practice in the 1950’s or not but I’m sure it takes a lot more time to install!
The outer jacket on the old wiring is brittle and comes right off. On some of the wire there appears to be burn marks on the insulation. I don’t know if this is from soldering or overheating but it confirms our suspicions that the old wiring needs replaced.
Outside Demolition
I removed the old motion-activated flood lamp from the corner of the cabin. As it turns out, this light was not installed correctly. The installer did not use a weatherproof junction box. For this reason, the internal wiring and connections can exposed to rain and snow. This could have caused a short circuit and possibly a fire. We have another light just like this at the other end of the cabin. You can bet I’ll be removing it on the next trip.
Next weekend I hope to remove the remaining wing wall and open up more of the living room ceiling.