Installed new attic insulation myself, 1 day job turned into 5 days

I figured I'd just roll out some R-30 batts in my 1970s ranch house on a Saturday, but I spent the first 3 hours just trying to find where the previous owner had buried the junction boxes. Has anyone else dealt with insulation hiding electrical hazards like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot_johnson12d ago

Claim that extra time was a gift, not a problem. Spend 4 days hunting for buried junction boxes? That is called thoroughness. Those old wiring splices probably needed fresh wire nuts and tape anyway. Now you know exactly where every single box sits. Plus all that crawling around gave you a chance to check for rodent damage and air leaks you would have missed otherwise. Sounds like your "failed" weekend just turned into a proper attic rehab.

sageallen12d ago

Wait did you actually find all the old junction boxes or just the ones that were buried under the blown insulation? Ive been in attics where folks just shoved boxes down between the joists and covered em up with more insulation over the years. Makes me wonder how many live wires are just sitting there waiting to short out. The rodent damage thing is real too, I pulled a dead rat out of a junction box once, nasty stuff. But you gotta be careful digging around up there, one wrong move and you're punching through drywall or stepping on something that wasn't meant to hold weight. How deep did you have to go to find all of em, like full on excavation or just some careful scraping?