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Tracking down some faults and found this buried under the drywall. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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How can I bring this forward so the junction box is accessible?

Do I just get enough single gang extension rings to bring it out far enough to sit flush with the drywall?

Or do I add an access panel on the drywall?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ouch, what a mess. No ground wire, un-jacketed wires, wires running into a metal box holes without protection, not enough slack in the junction box. I'm guessing that is copper wire, but there is a small possibility it is aluminum which if so you need extra care with, which wouldn't have been done in the day.

Best it to pull new romex through that FMC (it looks like there is sufficient space to do this, but pictures can be deceiving) , all the way from where the wires start to where they go. The junction boxes should be removed completely.

If you cannot do the above, the first box must be moved down. Both because it needs to attach to the FMC (with the proper connector) so the wire is protected and also to provide enough slack. When the house was built you probably were allowed to use the FMC as your ground, but that isn't current code - I'm not sure if you can legally say it was a minor change and thus the old code applies, but even if you can you really should put in a proper ground wire.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hell, I'm impressed someone ran the wire through FMC.

Is that the back side of sheathing with wallpaper on it? What's that other box for, exposed to the inside of the wall? Was the sheetrock added years later? So many questions, though I've seen this kind of stuff a lot (old houses and low income areas).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I'm in Chicago. The code here requires conduit. Which is funny that they would try and follow that but not how it connect it to the junction boxes.

This is (well was) a finished basement. I'm pretty that box inside the wall is in a concrete wall. When they finished the basement, my only guess is they didn't want to deal with that wall and just added a wooden framed one against it to hang the sheet rock and make pretty. The house is from the 1950s, not a low income area, just old. It all looks like someone who knows enough to be dangerous. When I moved in, I replaced just about every outlet and added GFCI since it didn't have any. That alone saved me from the house burning down while I was on vacation a few months later.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think the box that's sunk into the wall is in concrete. That's where the power comes in. I'm in Chicago and the code here requires conduit, so I don't think it's FMC.

The FMC I think I want to replace with some 12/2 FMC I have so I can get it to the correct length and have fewer junctions.

I'm not sure I can do much with the single gang box, but what I am thinking is extend that out with a ring, use new 12/2 FMC with a ground wire and put a cover on it. Then install an access panel in the drywall so it's not concealed. It only goes to a single outlet downstream. Would that be up to code?

Bonus: This circuit goes to the can lighting in the ceiling. This was hiding behind a bar a previous home owner installed. (And another concealed junction box)

This one I can't rerun the FMC, but I have a ground wire Im going to try to pull through.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

What are you trying to have access to? This just looks like they connected two runs of wire, possibly as part of a remodel, and added the box inside the wall to hold the connectors. If you wanted to add an outlet near there you could use that outlet box instead of the existing box in your picture. You could also just use an outlet box but cover it with a blank faceplate instead of putting an actual outlet there.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Hidden junction boxes are a no-go. There's no way for someone doing work later to know it's there, and it's a potential risk.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

From my understanding, NEC doesn't allow junction boxes to be concealed. So I can't just drywall this back up once I fix the jank wiring. I think my best move here it to add an extension ring to the single gang box, redo the FMC and properly connect everything and put a cover on it. Then put in an access panel in the drywall to try and meet code.