Why does nobody talk about buried junction boxes in remodel work

I spent the whole day Tuesday chasing a dead circuit in a 1970s split level in Oak Park and it turned out to be a junction box buried behind drywall in a bedroom closet. That discovery alone ate 4 hours of my day dealing with drywall repair after I finally found it. How do you guys even find these things without tearing the whole wall down?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_wilson8719d ago

Has anyone ever tried using a tone generator with an inductive clamp to trace these things before cutting? It's saved my butt more than a few times on remodels. You hook it up at the panel or a working outlet, then wave the wand over the wall and listen for the beep. It won't find the exact screw head but it'll narrow down the general area so you're not guessing. Some of those old buried boxes are hidden behind multiple layers of drywall or even tile, so even after you locate the stud or joist bay you might still miss it by a few inches. I've started taking pictures of every junction box before the drywall goes up on my own jobs, but that doesn't help us on the buried ones from 50 years ago.

richard_mason18d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah that tone generator trick actually makes a lot of sense. I used to think it was overkill but you sold me.