I’m still waiting for the seismic retrofit design to be completed but in the meantime, I’m exploring the structure with a bit of delicate crowbar work. One of the first things I discovered had me running for the breaker box. This photo is of the main connection that powers the second floor. Can you say EEEK! boys and girls?
It was simply stuffed into a wall cavity with no junction box and I expect more of same throughout the rest of the building. The plan is to completely replace the old electrical so that I don’t have to trust wiring like this.
On a better note, the only vermin that I’ve found inside so far has been this little fellow. I suspect he won’t be much of a problem.
Oh, and there’s also mud swallows nesting in the bathroom light fixture but they’re too cute to be counted as vermin.
The best news is that I opened up the second floor ceiling to check the roof structure and I was amazed at how solidly it was built. The ceiling joists are 2″ x 10″s of knot free cedar and they are all 24′ long! They just don’t make trees like that anymore.
You can also see that the roof is sheathed with full cedar planking and that the attic space has plenty of room for the new HVAC ducts. Looking at how fresh the lumber looks, it’s mind boggling to consider that this was cut 150 years ago.
great info!
That electrical stuff looks like a Giger illustration from Alien. Equally disturbing and twice as dangerous!
Haven’t found any face huggers yet.