A while back, (around July, 2000) I ended up on a job where someone wanted to turn an old convalescent home, which had been turned to offices,.. into a private school. The original structure dated to the 50's & every do-it-yourselfer in Los Angeles county must've been in this place. anyways, the fun started right from the beginning, all done in steel flex, (not a single ground in the place though), old Zinsco subpanels, & LOTS of wiring that seemed to go nowheres.. I opened every recept, switch & light in that place, I'd tug the wires trying to find the other end & nothing... I'd hear the wires moving, but where was the ^&%$*%$ other end! I finally came to a room that had the plaster removed on one side & noticed 2- 4/0 boxes about eye level that were buried on the opposing side... Turned out that these were for the old "reading" lights from the conv hospital days & everything in each room junctioned there. Soooo, to avoid having to pay for one of us electricians to come in & rework things the right way, they stuffed each box full of the perfect insulator, The LA Times! dating back to Feb 1977! A couple of them had signs from burning, indicating to me that the building was still standing simply because of a lack of oxygen in those boxes... We finally talked the General & Property owner into gutting everything & starting fresh vs. the band-aid they thought they were going to get away with
