Months like this one can be very discouraging. This last month has had the goal of getting the south wall (work wall) of the garage re-done. It has not only been the typical rabbit hole but, a giant one with so many tunnels in so many directions that it seems to never end.

As the old Sheetrock was removed the discovery of over compressed fiberglass insulation was the first if many discouraging discoveries. Next was that the electrical that was not a “stock” home circuit but rather one of the added ones from the sub panel. The more I looked, the more I found. Junctions with a combination of Copper and Aluminum wiring, Junctions that were not in boxes, electrical ran through receptacles instead of “T” connections and soo many extra wires.

After all these and more discoveries, it was clear that there was a lot to do starting with evaluating the plans and “Stock electrical”. The lighting can be integrated with the existing electrical in the Office and Laundry so that will be a quick fix. (YEA!) the receptacles however will need a new leg from the stock breakers on the opposite end of the house. ( a whole new can of worms)

The new leg involved cleaning up the mess that was already there. As of today, it is still not quite where I want it but it is ready for the new leg. The downside is that means a lot of attic time. For those of you that do not know, that is time is very contortionistic movements, confined spaces, and high temps.

Starting with feeding electrical into the north wall, I embarked on the attic experience of traveling 60 feet with a slow contortionistic movement of 16 inches at a time. Pulling wires along the journey and enduring temps STARTING at 126º F (52.2º C). If you are not aware, these temps are extremely dangerous and staying in these temps to long can result in Heat exhaustion, Heatstroke and ultimately death. The biggest difficulty is that these times are measured in minutes, not hours or days.

At this moment, the new leg is above the garage but there is still so much that has to be done before it can be added, starting with removing the tons of excessive electrical that was discovered in the attic above the garage and just a good overall cleaning.