My garage outlet project turned into a full wall tear-out

I was just trying to swap out a busted outlet near my workbench last Saturday. When I pulled the old one, I saw the wire was melted right at the connection point, and the insulation was crumbly for about 18 inches back. After turning off the breaker and opening up the drywall to trace the line, I found the previous owner had run undersized wire for a 20 amp circuit. Ended up having to run new 12 gauge and patch three holes in the wall. Has anyone else found scary wiring hidden behind a simple outlet swap?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan6326d ago

Pulled a similar stunt last year and found knob and tube stuffed behind a 90s outlet, nightmare fuel for sure.

morgan5126d ago

That knob and tube was probably original to the house, not some hack job from the 90s.