Junction Box Trouble

[hibb]

When I took out the walls of the bathroom I am working on, I found a junction box with five wires running to it. Here is a picture.

The power to the junction box is routed from the switch that runs the overhead light. This thing is on the East wall of the house. I removed power to the junction box and now I don't have power to the outlets in the upstairs West Bedroom and and the ceiling lights in the kitchen which is downstairs under the West Bedroom.

I don't see an easy option to fix this except to leave the junction box there and run power back to it but that seems like a bad idea to me.

I've been trying to come up with a way to run power to that circuit to another point in the circuit but that would leave one or two dead end hot wires still in the wall of the bathroom.

I think the wire that feeds the rest of the circuit runs under the bathroom floor. Since I need to remove part of the floor, maybe I will find a solution if I can follow that wire for a ways. If I have to install another junction box, hopefully I can get it away from bath tub and other water sources.

I would love to replace all that old wire but it looks like there will still be a bit of it left until the next remodel.

David

[dpb]

... Only you can tell what you can do as far as running a new circuit route.

As you're aware, having a junction box hidden like that is a Code violation so if you're under onus of inspection you're likely going to be forced to do something to eliminate it or make it accessible.

It's a bugger but what, specifically, to do to fix it is impossible to say w/o far more knowledge of the house layout, circuits, etc., ...

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[RBM]

It looks like Knob and tube, but I can't exactly tell from the picture. Before you start removing any wires, you really need to know where all the other wires are going, and what their doing. You need to identify hot legs and neutrals as well. Once you've determined what you have, you'll have a better understanding of what to do to reroute it.

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[Colbyt]

From your earlier description it appears to be on an outside wall so turning a new one around to open into another room does not seem likely.

3 of the wires go down so maybe you can locate on the wall of the room below or even in the ceiling if you have to. Another new run from the attic to take care of the single wire.

Once found I could not enclose it again with a clear conscience. Even though it has been hidden for all this time working fine. I have found and replaced more than one of these.

[hibb]

Well, I have the junction box apart and now only have two of the five wires to deal with. One wire went to an old outlet I found hidden under the wallpaper. I removed it and the wire. Two of the wires dead ended in an adjacent room and I was able to pull them out and remove them.

I applied power to the two remaining wires and found out which one fed the rest of the circuit. The other one doesn't seem to power anything. I'm thinking it is another dead end but I don't know where.

I'll keep at it and see what else reveals it's self.

Thanks, David

[hibb]

I only have to worry about one wire now and it runs through the floor all the way to the other side of the house and splits off a couple times to run to all the things it supplies power to.

The other four wires have been removed except for one and it doesn't seem to be hooked up to anything anymore. But I will keep an eye on it in case I do something and it starts getting power somehow.

I am going to pull up part of the floor anyway so I am hoping I can pull enough of that wire through and have enough to reach up to the light switch for the bathroom. I can supply power to that circuit from there.

We'll see when I tear into the floor and see what path it takes.

Thanks, David