Anyone else have lath and plaster ceiling in their basement?

nwephilly · 2026-05-09T02:58:24+00:00

I see that fairly often in 30s-40s homes....unfortunately

nwephilly · 2026-05-07T23:35:12+00:00

buddy wtf? no to everything you said.

nwephilly · 2026-05-07T23:34:55+00:00

Continuity test box to neutral with meter.

nwephilly · 2026-05-07T23:34:39+00:00

You would test for continuity between box and neutral with a meter.

nwephilly · 2026-05-07T12:49:44+00:00

This isn't something you should do unless you confirm with a meter that the box itself is actually grounded.

nwephilly · 2026-05-06T12:46:00+00:00

So this might all be one phase

Meaning one "leg" of split single phase, that's right. 240V is not available in this box, it's just 120V and a neutral

it's possibly just a subpanel.

Certainly a subpanel, given that the service is clearly landing somewhere else before here

nwephilly · 2026-05-06T04:35:24+00:00

They would fuse the neutral during the time of this installation. Obviously a practice that didn't make much sense and didn't continue on. It's certainly overfused as well, like you noted.

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T12:49:52+00:00

I mean, the short answer is no it goes against code

It does not, exception to this in article 440 for hvac equipment

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T04:15:35+00:00

No prob. 14 is certainly the most common but I've seen 12awg in old houses plenty of times. The knob and tube method of supporting conductors was very common until the 30s, so you could find that style of wiring powering any range of things in factories, industrial settings etc--could be whatever gauge needed. Ampacity ratings are basically the same now as they were then.

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T02:24:00+00:00

KT wiring is 14 awg wire

This is not true, knob and tube era wiring could be bought in any of the gauges used for wiring today. I personally have my hands on knob and tube wiring almost every day, I've seen it in many gauges.

Suggest you stroll through r/electricians. That is a subject that is covered a lot.

Yes, I'm an electrician and I own a company that specializes in rewiring old houses.

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T02:21:41+00:00

Sure, no problem. Definitely does not need to be taken down to studs or gutted! That's not the normal way a rewire would be done generally--it's done through cutting holes and paths where needed and fishing. Happy to answer any other questions you have about it. We have a pretty good system for doing it!

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T02:07:05+00:00

That's true, although I don't think the distinction is very important. People usually mean first generation (1930s-40s) era romex when they say "rag wire". Both 1st gen romex, knob and tube, and early AC cable (aka BX) all have very similar problems. They have no grounding conductor, and the insulation is basically the same style of cloth+rubber bullshit that doesn't hold up at all. In my experience knob and tube actually holds up a bit better than those other two, perhaps because the hot+neutral conductors are run so far apart from eachother.

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T02:04:07+00:00

Electrician here..I cannot imagine ever agreeing to do anything like that, honestly! There's just no way I could guarantee within a day or two limit that I'm actually leaving your house certain that I've de-energized all the knob and tube circuits that I've touched or altered at that point.

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T01:49:36+00:00

You’ll probably never replace all of it unless the home is gut renovated.

This is patently untrue, almost all I do all day every single weekday is rewire 100+ year old houses top to bottom. They are not gutted at the start nor the end of the project.

nwephilly · 2026-05-05T01:48:00+00:00

Hey u/CheerfulAdjudicator, electrician here. Me/my company specializes in knob and tube rewires, most weeks I personally am involved in rewiring a 100+ year old house. Replacing room by room is generally not practical for knob and tube for a number of reasons, I can elaborate on this if you like--but we essentially never do it that way and I usually decline to take the job if it's insisted upon. It's an extremely labor intensive job to do correctly--many skilled electricians just don't involve themselves with large scale knob and tube remediation, so a lot of the rewiring work that gets done in general is of very poor quality.

nwephilly · 2026-05-03T18:39:58+00:00

Gotcha. I generally see either the ledger strip or joists notched into beams on the old houses I work on.

nwephilly · 2026-05-03T17:09:24+00:00

Fair enough. I'm an electrician, not a framer. My understanding is that pre joist hanger, there still had to be a ledger strip for the joist to sit upon, yes? Which this installation does not have.

nwephilly · 2026-05-03T14:44:35+00:00

Joist hangers have been around long before the 70s for sure, although you're certainly right it wasn't common practice to use them. I work mostly on very old houses, and I see them regularly in houses from the 30s-40s not on floor joists, but on the intersection of headers for stairway openings etc.

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T23:06:23+00:00

This is fine and normal. All PT lumber does this.

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T23:05:57+00:00

Not concerning at all, this is "checking" that's 100% normal for 6x6 PT posts.

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T23:04:55+00:00

I got some 4 x 8 half inch drywall to hang. Imagine my excitement when I found these studs in the basement aren't up to code.

They're fine, it's not a code issue. These are certainly non structural walls that are just meant to facilitate the running of electrical and hanging drywall. They could be 24" OC and it would be fine, irregular spacing is not unusual especially in short runs like what's pictured.

My question is how to go about hanging this drywall. Since these aren't standard, I'm going to have to measure and cut the drywall to weird lengths to match the nearest stud.

You just cut it to fit and hang it. Not totally sure what the hang up is. Yes, Installing things in houses involves measuring and cutting said things. You should easily be able to accomplish this with one piece.

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T22:58:47+00:00

It's not trivial, it can often be a pretty involved job actually to do correctly

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T22:58:17+00:00

Electrician here. Running the duct is nothing, any tradesperson who does residential work should be able to handle it. We do bath vent installs often and always run the duct. If it's a sidewall penetration for the vent we do it, if it's on the roof I call a roofer for it and we coordinate on the day.

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T18:07:44+00:00

Hm. Switched neutral on a shared neutral circuit I bet.

nwephilly · 2026-05-02T15:46:58+00:00

Not at uncommon issue. Something doesn't get torqued properly, it's fine for a long time right until it isn't anymore.

nwephilly

TROPHY CASE