That week in 2012 when we had to rewire an entire 1920s theater in Bellingham with the original cloth insulation still in place.

3 comments

3 Comments

You think that was a bad week? Honestly, that sounds like the coolest job ever. Working with that old stuff is real history, not just some boring new construction. Paige427 is right about the fire risk, but that's exactly why it needed doing, and doing it careful like that is a real skill. I'd take a week of careful, interesting work over a month of slapping in new romex any day. Getting to save a piece of the past like that is worth the slow pace.

paige42710d ago

Oh man, that sounds like a special kind of nightmare. Cloth insulation from the 20s is basically just fancy dust waiting to catch fire. I can only imagine the stress of trying to update that without the whole place going up in smoke. You must have been moving at a snail's pace, terrified to breathe wrong. Honestly, that's a week of your life you're never getting back, but at least you got a good story out of it. Bet you slept for a year straight after finishing that job.

the_nathan10d ago

Remember the part where the old knob and tube wiring was held together with literal newspaper and hope? We spent two days just gently taping it back together every time we bumped a joist. The whole crew developed this weird, tiptoe walk that week.