Rant: A simple attic job in Phoenix turned into a real mess

I was pulling a new circuit up to an attic fan in a 1970s house. The attic was packed with blown-in insulation. I thought I had a clear path, but my fish tape hit something solid. I pulled it back and the end was melted. Turns out, the previous guy had run a 12/2 cable right through the middle of a junction box for the bathroom lights, and the insulation had packed around it, trapping heat. I had to cut power, open up the bathroom ceiling, and redo the whole splice. Has anyone else found a hidden junction buried like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_keith19d ago

Wow, I used to think buried boxes were no big deal, but that's a real fire hazard.

tara_palmer19d ago

I saw a fire marshal on the news say over 20% of electrical fires start from overloaded buried boxes.