Appreciation post: A live wire under the flooring shifted how I handle tear-out

I pulled up some vinyl planks and spotted a bare wire still hooked to power. It clicked that trusting old installs is a fast track to getting shocked. How often do you test for hot wires when starting a demo job?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nina2mo ago

See I would've just assumed everything was dead before... that kind of find would definitely make me buy a tester. Guess you never really know what's live until you check.

aaron_cooper2mo ago

Totally agree @the_nina, it's the old stuff that gets you. I grabbed a tester after almost screwing a cover plate into a live switch in my grandma's house. Her place had ancient wiring that looked completely dead, just a tangle of old cloth-covered wires. Flipped the breaker and everything, but that one random hot wire was still live. Ngl, I almost jumped out of my skin when the tester lit up. You really can't tell just by looking.

hunt.miles1mo ago

Honestly how often does that really happen though? @the_nina I get being careful but most old wiring is just dead ends from past work. I've seen plenty of those cloth wires that were cut and left in the wall for years. Tbh a lot of people panic over stuff that's not even connected anymore. Unless you're messing with the main panel, the chance of a random live wire hiding is pretty low.