Home Improvement Today?

Id kill breakers on the 3. Take off the switches and mark with tape. Pull/cut bottom 2 boxes out (might have to put new construction switch box in top), unlock the wires from boxes,trim and run wires through (new) top box and into appropriate location on new switch. Drywallpatch old holes

 

Amazing! No room but still..........

Are any of them 3 way switches (controlled by another switch as well0?

Wire length may be OK if all from top and use top box...........

 

the hard part is can you get all the outgoing wires into one box (assuming you want to plaster over the 2 unused boxes and not just cover plates and the feeder is chaining from box to box)

probably best to take off the wall board so you get in there

 

Agree. Yes make sure all three dead...........may be separate or two or one breaker.

IF none are 3 way

 

A big issue is going to be wire length. If you need to lengthen any one of them, you will (legally) need to have a junction box that is accessible from outside the wall. In other words, a box with a blank cover plate.

 

I was thinking this as well, just as easy to just re-do the that narrow section and certainly makes the e work easier.

 

He may be OK if he uses the top spot and they all come from the top.

Never saw a house like that! Why not use the wall to the immediate left? Maybe too many studs.

 

If I may suggest a different rout
Smart Switches, yes you would still have the WTF layout but both the flood and porch lights could be on a timed program and/or connected to a motion sensor and you could have a remote for the fan so you don't have to get up to turn it on

 

"Should" drop from the top.

 

@wilcam47 Yes my first step was to kill the breaker, mark and number the hot, ground, and load wires for each of the switches. My gut said the top box would be best so I'm glad you said that.

From what I can see, these are all controlled here, no other sources of on/off for any of the lights or fan. I can't wait till I show you guys the pictures of my wiring in the attic.

@CraigF if I can get to there, I'd much prefer to just drywall and patch. Plan is to cut any/all dry wall material an inch above and an inch below the top and bottom boxes. You'll also notice that sparky didn't fucking center any of them either...........

@Scott B. Apologies for my ignorance, do you know what I should be looking for in my junction box? Like a common picture or something that would indicate that?

@CraigF Yeah, I do want to also go the "smart home" route, but this is just an embarrassing thing to deal with. My dad was a GC and I think he'd kill me if I left it like this so I'm trying my best to make it not look like a chimpanzee wired this house, which has proven difficult!

 

@Pablo8 it's a planned sub-development outside of Austin, so I don't think we're necessarily dealing with the best and the brightest here. The room that this is in literally should not exist at all and I'm planning to blow out the back wall that houses this at some point in the future to replace with french doors.

 

Yup on it. I got a $50 credit. I plan to donate the value to Ukraine as they have bigger challenges than a cold shower.

 

True. Or the power may be daisy chained down to the other boxes. Let's hope.

I've seen similar situations where wires come from multiple directions. Never fun....

 

In this case, a junction box would be a box like the switches are mounted in. You would have a wire coming in from the bottom attached to a new wire going out the top (to get to the upper switch). The box would need a cover plate - usually a blank plate.

Having to use one would negate one of the main reasons you are doing this - to eliminate some of the boxes on the wall.

Let's hope all your wires feed from the top - then you won't have any need for a junction box.

 

Back in the day they would twist the ground wires like that, and you've now found out why that isn't the best way. If you check the other outlets in the house you might find more with the same problem. The one you have fixed is fine for now.

The correct fix would be to put a wire nut on the ground wires. The wire nut bites into the wires, compressing them together creating a tight bond preventing moisture and air from getting into the connection, causing oxidation and poor connections. I'd buy something like this. Since the the wires are already twisted together it's a quick permanent fix.

 

They also make small copper sleeves that crimp around the twisted wires (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner...r-Crimp-Connectors-100-Pack-10-310C/202526312)

 

Keep up the good work

It's like a hard uphill hike for hours finally getting to a look out point
Hard to get there
But the payoff in the end is a great reward

 

I'd have to take another look at it but it seems the ground there is continuous coming out of the romex and going to the next outlet in the room circuit and there's just a little short ground piece from the outlet plugs that's twisted onto the passthrough piece.

I could wire nut it but that would require cutting the continuous ground.

If I have another issue or get a wild one about it I may have another go but I'm satisfied for the time being.

Appreciate the info though!

House was built in '95 so dunno if that was standard practice for the day or not, I do know that my inspector told me it's the cleanest looking runs he's ever seen behind the panel and the panel is twice the size/rating my little house would normally have but it is also feeding the little work shop to the side.

 

That was not NEC for 95.

 

Unless your house was wired in some really strange way there is not a continuous strand of wire running from outlet to outlet. Starting at the beginning, the electrician will pull the romex to the next box, cut it off leaving enough to make the connections. Then start to the next box by leaving enough to make the connections and so on. Looking at your picture the electrician used the standard 14 gauge wire and back stabbed them into the outlet. That is an approved way and often used in new construction because it's faster. They also save a few pennies and seconds per box by not putting in a wire nut to hold it all together.

So you don't need to cut anything to install the ground wire nut. Just unscrew it from the outlet, slip it over the wires, twist with your hands until you can't twist anymore, pull on the wires to make sure they're tightly connected, tuck it neatly in the wall making sure to keep the ground wire away from the outlet terminals.

You didn't say how you identified the outlet as defective, but if one is bad there's a good chance there are more. The ground wire is literally the seat belt of your electrical system. You don't need it until you NEED it. Because the wiring in a normal house is basically a daisy chain of connections one failed ground can effect many outlets down stream.