I am looking at a renovation of a 40 unit apartment building. The building is probably from the 1920's. It is slated for a major electrtical renovation. We will likely go from a 400 amp to a 1200 amp service entrance.
There is quite a lot of ungrounded cloth covered romex, and several ungrounded panelboards, only having conduit providing the equipment ground. There is also some newer plastic-covered romex installed with metal staples, just like the ones that caused my house to burn down in 1975. I can still see the image in my memory - a squashed Romex wire under a metal staple, the one the fire marshal showed me had a burn mark on it but didn't actually catch fire.
There is evidence that there once was knob-and-tube, and I have a suspicion there is still K&T inside the walls. That's gotta go.
I'd like to insist that all the old wiring has to go, and I anticipate the owner will try to go cheapskate and save the old wiring. I am also tempted to say I won't work ont he job if the old wiring stays, and he can find another sucker to wire it.
Any good solid code references that would hold some water? What does the Code say about reusing old wiring in a major renovation? Is there a threshold crossed where the whole building has to be up to modern codes? Does anyone know any real facts about how safe or unsafe cloth covered Romex is, even if it was properly grounded (which it isn't) ?
There is quite a lot of ungrounded cloth covered romex, and several ungrounded panelboards, only having conduit providing the equipment ground. There is also some newer plastic-covered romex installed with metal staples, just like the ones that caused my house to burn down in 1975. I can still see the image in my memory - a squashed Romex wire under a metal staple, the one the fire marshal showed me had a burn mark on it but didn't actually catch fire.
There is evidence that there once was knob-and-tube, and I have a suspicion there is still K&T inside the walls. That's gotta go.
I'd like to insist that all the old wiring has to go, and I anticipate the owner will try to go cheapskate and save the old wiring. I am also tempted to say I won't work ont he job if the old wiring stays, and he can find another sucker to wire it.
Any good solid code references that would hold some water? What does the Code say about reusing old wiring in a major renovation? Is there a threshold crossed where the whole building has to be up to modern codes? Does anyone know any real facts about how safe or unsafe cloth covered Romex is, even if it was properly grounded (which it isn't) ?
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