Ya, there is asbestos in the house. It is wrapped around the HVAC in the basement. We were told to get it removed now because it’s not yet a health hazard so I’m working on getting that done. It’s still in good condition and it’s not dangerous until it starts to flake away. But the insulation is newer from a remodel when the last owner turned it into a duplex. So within the last 10 years I am pretty sure
If it helps any fiberglass isn’t called that for funsies. It’s actually made of glass fibers in a resin. It’s not any more flammable or conductive than any other kind of glass/resin combination. The most important safety advice for using it is to wear gloves and protective glasses, because having lots of tiny glass fibers break off in you is super itchy, and your hands are right up in there, and itchy eyes are just the worst.
I knew it had glass in it but I wasn’t sure if that’s all it was made of. That and the paper backing just made me want to be cautious. But I do know how to handle insulation from tearing a room off my grandparents house a few years ago.
If everything you have read is saying that it is fine, then why does it not feel right for you? Looking around I do get the same impression, it is non-combustible so there is not really a concern there. Basically from what I gather as long as you use the proper wire for use in walls/isolation, leave enough space and generally take good practices in account like using conduit where needed you should be good to go.
I am not an electrician though and certainly not aware of your local code and regulations.
Talking about electricians, if you are worried about doing it not right, why not hire one to do it for you?
I’ve been through 6 electricians and 3 general contractors. Probably more but I can’t keep those numbers straight. They all show up to give a quote then never actually do the work. I’m tired of it.
That being said, the insulation just feels flammable to me. It’s clearly marked otherwise but the paper backing and stuff just made me want to double check
#14 Romex on a 15A breaker is simply not going to get meaningfully hot, even under worst-case scenario loads and even fully insulated in something entirely flammable. If you're very nervous, size it up to #12 -- it will cost slightly more but be even more totally safe. Overbuilding is (should be) the DIYer's creed.
12/2 is what I bought for the basement lights I’m working on. Everything I read said that was the appropriate wire to use so I never even co sidered #14
Make sure you’re buying 14/2 or 12/2 that has a ground wire and running that back to the breaker box. I saw the job you did with the big cable in the floor and it didn’t look like you ran a new cable that had a ground wire. It’s best to replace the old shoddy stuff with circuits that are up to code, even if you’re doing it DIY and your area doesn’t require homeowners to get it inspected. The codes are designed to prevent fires and loss of life.
That was a 240v circuit. It didn’t have a ground because it was 10/3. I had the money to get the stuff with a ground, but they were sold out and I couldn’t get anything for a few weeks so I went with the no ground but it is still up to code and manufacturer approved.
This does have a ground and black is going to the breaker with white and ground going to the ground bar.
Honestly just left it. Debating on putting carpet in the room where it’s pretty bad. But decided if I couldn’t do it well myself I’d just wait until I was ready to fork over money to have it done correctly.
I feel your pain. 140 year old house with 3 additions and several remodels over the years. Still had a coal cistern when I moved in!
The middle bedroom has a partial window where the addition was tied in but they couldn’t be bothered to seal up the hole fully… it’s about 8 inches wide and made of a custom storm window and nothing else (currently sealed up well with insulation until I can re-do siding).
Fireplace hearth (way overbuilt thing for a pellet stove -previous owner was a mason) was installed over a layer of hardwood flooring, which they didn’t realize wasn’t subfloor because there were 2 layers of hardwood flooring, old kind that was thick - the house sighed with relief when I ripped it all out and I gained 4 inches to my ceiling height.
Had to drill through a 4-inch thick cement wall to install my dishwasher. Someone moved the entry from one side to the other at some point, probably when they added the driveway and garage, and the walkway is still under my lawn. And my cabinets are different internal heights for some reason?
Weird stuff. Every project becomes 5-15 projects to do right.
Ugh, this is it entirely. And then add to the 15 that the final product is going to require imperfections to make it look like it fits the rest of the space.
And my cabinets are different internal heights for some reason?
Our ceilings are made for someone shorter than six feet tall, but our cabinets have spots that my 6’8" friend has to go on his toes to reach. Cabinet logic in old houses is bizarre.
You can get some premade pieces to add to this, I have one of these which they use to climb up and as a scratching post, and this bed which acts as a resting point along with my standard shelves. Neither were very expensive.
I dig that scratching post! The bed looks nice too, but I think I could make something like that. We don’t want to put anything quite that wide in the hallway though
You definitely could. Theres also these hammocky type beds. They look too small for my cats but don’t stick out from the wall very far and if you’re DIYing it then you could make them bigger.
I feel you man. Let’s not forget about hacked up electricity, shoddy repairs from the previous owners, lower building standards back then and other surprises that make a somewhat doable project turn full teardown.
Please please please go through and double check wiring and housing for your light fixtures if you haven’t. We’ve been here a while and have been renovating as we’re able to afford to (there’s a reason we bought an older house) but that was one of the first things we did and there were nightmares hidden in the ceiling
One of our friends found that wall severely browned and crisped behind the oven after it was improperly installed for decades, lol. Terrifying wiring mistakes too, the type that make your hair stand on end. They were remodeling after bad water damage and found all sorts of terrible surprises.
We had a mold issue stemming from a shower vent not connecting to the roof and just dumping humid air into the attic so we wanted to fix that. Found rotten newspaper from the late 40s as insulation mixed with vermiculite under a thin layer of cellulose, which we treated as asbestos and had that professionally removed. Under that found a whole spiderweb of live knob and tube which wasn’t connected to any devices, was disconnected from many of its knobs, and was missing insulation in many places while it was draped loosely over some metal plumbing up there.
The project started as a disconnected shower vent causing mold, and ended up with a whole rewire of the lighting and outlet circuits in the house. Wild stuff.
We were also swapping out the breakers for ones up to code since we had messed with the circuits, and one a/gfci breaker just kept tripping. Found a light fixture that had evidentially been sparking away up there for who knows how long.
Feels really good to have had eyes on every box in the house and know that what’s there now is leagues safer than what was there before.
Yup! We keep the dogs in the bedroom at night, and there is a cat portal in the door as well. That way they have 2 exits. I’ll post pics of the stairwell one when we get it done
This is a space that used to be two closets in our dining area. When we redid the bathroom to replace rotting subflooring we decided to enlarge the bathroom footprint from 22sqft (2.04m²) to 36sqft (3.34m²), which gave these closets only 8" of depth. They’re too shallow for what we used to store in there, and the swinging doors took up additional floor space with their clearance needs. In a <1200 sqft (111.48m²) home that stuff adds up quickly.
Our plan is to build in shelving to consolidate our book collection, which is currently overflowing from a number of smaller bookshelves and stacks. We picked up some great boards from a local sawyer that I’m excited to get to work on for this project. Once the initial demo and resheathing of joists is done I’ll be able to cut the boards for depth and get them installed. If folks are interested I’ll try my best to record steps in the build to share with the group.
The dogs don’t really pay attention to them. We put them above their head level, so unless there is a cat on the shelf, they just walk in past. Even then they are not too curious about them, which for us is a good thing. One of our cats (the closer one in that pic) is the biggest scaredy cat, so the shelves and portals have really helped him with being more confident around the new dogs.
Do It Yourself
Newest