Nightmare in a Crawl Space

[Dennis Alwon]

Here are pictures I took today of a crawl space. HO had no power to the bath receptacles. No GFI's so I began to crawl.

The first picture is a close up of the floor joist and the foundation block wall. Wire is very visible.

The second photo shows the plastic that was run up the face of the block and nailed to the floor joist. The plastic was full of holes.

At first I thought something had eaten threw it then I saw the wire and realized that sparks were flying everywhere at some point in time and it burned holes in the plastic.

The last picture is of the crawl space floor and the block walls. You can see that the arcing burned holes through the plastic here.

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

What's the prognosis? Looks like some transition between old construction and newer. Is there no insulation between those joists or did you peel it back?

 

[Dennis Alwon]

No insulation--- In this area this is a new concept. Take out the insulation and vapor barriers the floor of the crawl right up the walls. They usually seal the seams with a cement paste like they use on duct work.

The guy who put up the plastic drove a nail right through the wire. When I got there it was still hot but only the neutral wire was connected. I yanked it off the nail assuming I would blow the breaker. It did not blow.

I worked it hot and just added a piece of wire and 2 boxes. What was amazing was the blackness on 4 joists. That sucker must have been spewing sparks for awhile.

Any guesses on the panel brand. You got it ----Federal.

 

[1793]

​

One more "nail" in the coffin for Arc-Fault.

 

[realolman]

Egads...that's a scary thng .

2 things... when I first moved into my house, it was pretty crappy. At one point during the remodel, I found a place in the walls that had several inches of dead flying squirrels in layers of decomposition from dried skeletons on the bottom to fresh dead on the top. They had chewed all the insulation off of the romex between two studs. I have no idea why, but there was no evidence of sparks. The paneling was cheap ...about 1/8 inch thick, but they tried to chew through the studs where the romex went through. The whole thing was pretty disgusting... and sobering.

Other thing ...when I lived in Georgia in a pool house, somebody wired it by driving finishing nails through the middle of the romex. I can't imagine... why wouldn't you just get some staples?

 

[dlhoule]

Realoman said

Other thing ...when I lived in Georgia in a pool house, somebody wired it by driving finishing nails through the middle of the romex. I can't imagine... why wouldn't you just get some staples?

You mean they make staples for holding the romex in place?:grin: :grin: