My first big panel change in an old house

I swapped out a 1960s Zinsco panel in a bungalow in Orlando last week and it only took me 8 hours. Learned that old cloth wiring can be super brittle, so I had to re-run three circuits where the insulation just crumbled. Anyone else deal with surprise issues like that on older homes?

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coleman.derek5mo ago

That part about the cloth wiring crumbling really hit home. I had a buddy, Mike, who bought this little 1950s ranch near Gainesville. He was just swapping out a light switch, nothing major, and when he pulled the old box out, the cloth insulation literally turned to dust in his hands. He ended up having to rewire the whole living room because every time he touched a wire, the insulation just fell off. Took him a whole weekend, and he said the worst part was crawling through the crawlspace where it was about a hundred degrees and full of spider webs. He told me he finally just cut the power to the whole house and ran all new Romex, learned the hard way that you can't trust any old wiring in those Florida bungalows.

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josephs265mo ago

Your buddy Mike's story is a perfect example of how a simple job can turn into a huge project when you're dealing with old houses. @coleman.derek, it seems like whenever you buy a place built before 1960, you're basically signing up to discover one hidden problem after another. Those Florida bungalows might have charm, but they sure test your patience with their tired old wiring.

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