This One's a Shocker

Knob & tube. Insurance companies don't like it. Not one little bit. So, when my parents were still living in Port Hope, Ontario, my Dad Bill came out for a 2 week re-wiring visit. Being a retired building inspector for the city of Toronto for many, many years, he's a stickler for code. We're pretty lucky, Derek and I, having Dad's that know all about renovating and codes, plumbing and installing dishwashers...

The Chubbs was less than 3 months old, and not yet known as The Chubb, when my Dad arrived. Having to nurse every couple of hours, and entertain a 4 year old who doesn't know the neighbour's kids yet, I couldn't help much. My sister, Johanna, came to the rescue. The permit was picked up the first day, and work began later that afternoon. The hardest part was getting to the light in the nook where the roofline is much lower. We used a space beside the chimney as a chase for the upstairs wiring. The upstairs bedrooms required an arc-fault breaker, by far the most expensive component. The panel has already been updated, it's only 100 amps, but it's doing us fine so far. We plan to switch to a gas stove, so we still have plenty of juice. There's still lots of holes in the plaster, we're planning to fix those, as we fix each room.

After the 2 weeks was almost up, we had the inspection. No pass. We didn't put up the label of what all the circuts are where, some wiring was against the heating ducts and needed insulation between them, the dryer plug needed to be higher, and a few other stupid things that just got forgotten. They wanted us to remove all the old unused knob and tube, that was easily accessible too. But, we did what was asked and many months later (after a call from the inspector) we finally got the electrical passed.

Now that the insurance companies are satisified with the approved permit, life is much less shocking!







we found this one wired in the dormer... could you imagine trying to turn it on or off?