olivia_rivera88•1mo agoTop Commenter

Had a day where every wire nut I touched felt like it was cursed

Last Tuesday I was swapping out old outlets in a 1940s house and every single box had brittle cloth wire that crumbled the second I touched it. Took me 4 hours to do what should have been a 2 hour job. Anyone else run into ancient wiring that just falls apart no matter how careful you are?

3 comments

3 Comments

zarar671mo ago

Stick a little tape on it before you go twisting and you'll save yourself some headaches. But honestly, those cloth wires from the 40s are just plain bad. The insulation gets dry and brittle, so even with tape it can still crack right where you're working. I've had luck using heat shrink tubing instead of tape for some spots, gives a cleaner hold. Still takes a few tries to get it right, but beats fighting with crumbling wire all day.

shaneb161mo ago

Wrap a foot of fresh tape around the base of each wire before you touch it, that keeps the crumbling insulation from getting worse while you work. Also invest in a good pair of wire strippers with a real sharp cutting edge, they slice through that old cloth without peeling it back like a banana. You're not wrong though, some days those old houses just fight you every step of the way.

the_ryan1mo ago

Old cloth wire is the devil's own creation, no doubt about it. @zarar67's heat shrink tubing tip is actually solid, I've done that on a few jobs and it holds way better than tape for those cracked spots. The biggest problem is you can't even tug on it without the insulation flaking off like dried mud. Worst part is you never know if you're making the problem worse until you've already snapped something. Only real fix is replacing the whole run, but that's a whole other can of worms. Some days you just have to accept the house is going to win.