Shoutout to the guy at Home Depot who laughed at my paint choice

I was rewiring my living room lights last weekend and thought I'd save $50 by doing it myself. Found out the hard way that my 1970s house has aluminum wiring, not copper, after I tripped the breaker 3 times and nearly started a fire. Has anyone else run into surprise wiring in an old house?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_blair2mo ago

And yeah you gotta get those little purple wire nuts made for aluminum to copper.

danielmartinez1mo ago

100 things in a house got shortcuts put in during the 70s. Aluminum wiring, single-pane windows, asbestos tiles. Seems like every 20 years we discover the last generation's "innovation" was really just a fire hazard waiting to happen.

aarons362mo ago

Wait you actually had that happen too? I read on some old electrician forum that aluminum wiring was really common in the 70s but most people don't find out until they crack open a box. Copper and aluminum don't play nice together. They expand and contract at different rates so connections can get loose over time. That's why those purple wire nuts exist - they have a special compound inside that stops corrosion. Saved my ass when I found the same crap in my parents' house.