inaccessible crawl space rewire house

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rob12013

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Hello thanks for comments
I looked at a 1400 sq foot house 2 wire and k&t costumer wants it rewired. she has a 200 amp service and breaker panel put in with new hvac. I thought I'd run out of the outside panel with three 1" conduits put Jboxes in good areas pull thwn and start one room at a time taking nmb back to my homerun jboxes. eventually the old fuse box would be removed and all circuits would be from new panel. I had a good plan and waiting for permit to be issued. but I crawled under there today, I did go under when I looked at the job but I can't get around to much hvac stuff and just not able to get around, I'm 6'1" thin but I can't do it. question is how could this house be rewired? maybe I'm just to big I estimated it at 5,000.00 thought it was worth my trouble. could a whole house be rewired from the attic? of course she doesn't want her base removed or any walls really damaged. I have been in a lot of crawl spaces this area just seemed doable at first but now it just doesn't.
thanks again
 
rob12013 said:
Hello thanks for comments
I looked at a 1400 sq foot house 2 wire and k&t costumer wants it rewired. she has a 200 amp service and breaker panel put in with new hvac. I thought I'd run out of the outside panel with three 1" conduits put Jboxes in good areas pull thwn and start one room at a time taking nmb back to my homerun jboxes. eventually the old fuse box would be removed and all circuits would be from new panel. I had a good plan and waiting for permit to be issued. but I crawled under there today, I did go under when I looked at the job but I can't get around to much hvac stuff and just not able to get around, I'm 6'1" thin but I can't do it. question is how could this house be rewired? maybe I'm just to big I estimated it at 5,000.00 thought it was worth my trouble. could a whole house be rewired from the attic? of course she doesn't want her base removed or any walls really damaged. I have been in a lot of crawl spaces this area just seemed doable at first but now it just doesn't.
thanks again
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Can you get past a few major obstacles by digging the dirt out a few inches deeper? As long as you stay away from structural supports like concrete chunks supporting piers, that should not be a problem, just a hassle.
 
Hard to tell by your profile, but looks like you are mostly commercial?

Also without seeing the crawl space I'm just guessing. How much HVAC stuff is down there? Did the HVAC guy crawl in there to do his work?

I crawled in a lot of tight spaces in the early 1980's that I would not fit into today. I have had to take a shovel with me on more than one occasion.

Are you planning on doing this alone, or do you have help? We always had help and the smallest guy went in the crawl. Back then that was usually me.

Depending on the house, outside walls are easier to get wire to from the crawl than the attic. Inside walls can go either way most of the time. Is this a one story house?
 
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if the hvac wasnt there it wouldnt be so bad. its like a maze with all the duct. I've been a one man show since 2010 mostly residential. It would just be me mostly doing the work. I'm going to give it another try tomorrow the shovel is a good suggestion I just need to make routes.
 
All I did in the early 80s was rewire old houses and we always worked with 2 men. It takes a lot of the going back and forth out of the equation.

I've since changed full time jobs and only do the electric gig part time. I started my part time business in 2010 also and I am a one man outfit. I just do small jobs here and there and would hire a helper if I was going to do it full time. Even a minimum wage gopher can save you some time.

I would never consider doing a whole rewire alone unless maybe it had an unfinished basement. And the digging would only be for a few tight spots, I wouldn't dig a path all over a crawl.
 
the attic is accessible the k&t is up there under that new type of knee high white snow looking insulation. I think cutting plywood in peaces to get up in attic and stand on would work. maybe there isn't any fire blocks.
 
REMOVE THE DUCTS

REMOVE THE DUCTS

I faced a similar dilemma , replace a few floor joist in a rent house.

solution...

A: Hire someone else to do it .

B: remove a few ducts obstructing the path, then, repair and re-insulate the ducts to better than found condition.
 
rob12013 said:
Hello thanks for comments
I looked at a 1400 sq foot house. I estimated it at 5,000.00 thought it was worth my trouble.
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1400 sq ft at $5K? I think I would just look for a different project to work on.

What I normally do is I bid these hard jobs so high that I'm sure someone else will under bid me. If you do get one after bidding high then you have a little money to spend.
 
Tongue in cheek, but you could always go past the HD or Lowes parking lot on a weekend and see if there are any small agile persons at the far end of the parking lot looking for minimum wage work? Could even be one of them might even have some wire pulling experience for a few bucks an hour more ?
 
growler said:
1400 sq ft at $5K? I think I would just look for a different project to work on.

What I normally do is I bid these hard jobs so high that I'm sure someone else will under bid me. If you do get one after bidding high then you have a little money to spend.
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I would agree 5K is way to low. 1400 sq in our area, which is not a high priced area, i would not touch for less than $8,400.00 I would not be under bid by many. I doubt that you can do a complete rewire with no damage.
 
Daja7 said:
I would agree 5K is way to low. 1400 sq in our area, which is not a high priced area, i would not touch for less than $8,400.00 I would not be under bid by many. I doubt that you can do a complete rewire with no damage.
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I think just the cost of materials will be upwards of $1800.00. Arc faults, GFI's, 4wire range and dryer, smokes etc.

In our area any exposed wire in the crawl space must be UF so placement of J boxes would be critical or the cost of materials just went up again.

I don't think we have rewired a house that size for less than 10K.

Good luck.
 
cpinetree said:
I think just the cost of materials will be upwards of $1800.00. Arc faults, GFI's, 4wire range and dryer, smokes etc.

In our area any exposed wire in the crawl space must be UF so placement of J boxes would be critical or the cost of materials just went up again.

I don't think we have rewired a house that size for less than 10K.

Good luck.
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in your area UF is required if no splices in the crawlspace?
 
Where there's a will, there's a way. If you haven't done anything yet, and didn't sign any kind of contract, you can just NOT do the work.

Or you can tell the customer that the job changed when the HVAC guys did their thing. Or you can find somebody to crawl around the stuff. The inspector sure isn't going to climb around the HVAC stuff, guaranteed.
 
Instead of untrained helper, see if any employees of other electricians want evening or weekend work, get more done and less aggravated in 4 hrs than working with new help for 8. If you run into this again, bid high enough that you can get another one-man-show to split work and profit.

I used to could fit through 8 1/2" high space if it was wide enough, hope I never find out if I still can.
 
you guys are always a great resource when I'm confused and need support. I'm going to try to get a good game plan in the attic. The outside panel has the meter right over it I could take conduit out the side and into the attic. that insulation is not even close to being a problem as the crawl space. maybe I can talk her into removing baseboard she knows my carpenter friend might want to give him work. I did meet another one man show then found him written up in our state board's newsletter yikes
 
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