Attic: Project Creep - 1

“Project Creep” is that awful thing that seems to happen with almost every home project. We wanted to improve the insulation in our attic. The house is over 50 years old and the insulation in the attic is close to nonexistent. We called in a handyman to help out. While he was here to give us an estimate he found all of the electrical covers were off. He gave us an estimate but would not do any work until we had an electrician in to fix the problems.

Before the electrician arrived I was asked if there was anything I would like to add to his to do list. My husband wanted to add a second attic light. I decided outlets outside in the front and back would make using the weed whacker and other tools and lights much easier. I also the kitchen ceiling fixture had to be replaced. It was going though 2-3 sets of bulbs a year. And then there was the porch light. I had it replaced with one that goes much better with the house and has a motion detector so it wouldn’t be left on all night when we didn’t need it. So after a trip to the local Home Depot store we had all of the additional fixtures for th e electrician to install.

We had an electrician in and with the problems he found in the attic we were lucky the house hadn’t burned down. He had to put caps on all the wires and secure the box covers. When they went to install the second light they had to take down the first light and reinstall it since they didn’t use a box. All of it was fixed. Installing the two new light fixtures went smoothly. The new electrical boxes didn’t go as well. Nothing that will burn down the house but we now know that any simple home repairs will be involving rewiring just about every room in the house.

With the wiring done we were now ready to call in the handyman to have insulation and flooring put into the attic.