The Demolition continues.... A Little bit each day. Like mentioned before.. Pull on a small thread and the entire "Patchwork Quilt" unravels.
And that is a pretty good analogy of what I am dealing with here. A "hodgepodge" of skills and materials for some unknown objective. I think the unfinished "Finished" basement was a dream of someone who lacked the skills or knowledge or resources to complete it. I mean, it looks like they knew how to put down tile.... they just forgot hot to keep the basement dry.
And now I pulled on the thread of the Wiring. I was kind of forced to do this when I discovered a wall plug in the make-shift wall I was trying to remove. The plug looked broken. ( And it was! 50% was missing!) But when I checked it for electricity, it was LIVE!
So... I played around with the breaker box until I found the Unmarked Breaker for that room and flipped the switch. I went a little further and removed the wire entirely from the Box.
I big shout out to Youtube for giving me the confidence to attempt such a thing. (And you thought I only used Youtube for Subaru Repairs! ) Not wanting to fry myself, cut the wire and began pulling it out. It allowed me to remove the wall "safely", ( there are still lots of rusty nails and splintery 2x4's to be aware of.) And now I can see light from the other side of the house! Slowly, the maze of make-shift rooms is opening up.
So now the clean up begins. Garbage man came today so I now have a fresh, empty bin to fill back up. I 'm sure that will take about 5 minutes. That means I will have to wait another 7 days for it to be empty again. So I bought several garbage bins to sweep up the junk as I wait. (Rather than keeping a mess or neat little piles of drywall and timber on the floor.
As for the electricity, I thought I could simply remove that plug and be done with it. And the wire that ran to the box was the only circuit I would have to worry about.
Turns out... That "Unmarked Breaker" runs power to my washer, Basement lights, and half of my living room AND kitchen! Honestly, the "Organization" and grouping of the lines make no sense. My guess is that rather than run a new line to the box, they just "spliced" into an existing line where ever they could find a hot wire. (At least they used a Junction box... Kind Of) And that would explain why the microwave trips the breaker and why there are several plugs up here that do not work and are boxed over. My guess is they would constantly overload the circuit and the would just cover them up rather than run new wire to unload the system.
But what do I know? I'm no electrician. But I am I DIY-er... with an imaginary degree in Youtube.
The sunny side of all of this is it now provides the motivation I need to get dirty and get busy. I won't live with things this jumbled! And I need Internet Access to blog! ( And electricity to do Laundry!) So hopefully I will find the time to continue to chip away at the project(s) Because every second counts....
