1/2 Electric in rental unit is out and can't get it fixed!

[Jeremy Bloom]

Hello and thank you for your brilliance in advance. There's a lot to this electrical story but I'll try to focus on what I'm here for which is a practical and more immediate solution to a much bigger problem of a building built in 1911.

Upon purchase of a 4 unit building I find the first floor, and much of my basement, is dark. There was power, but now there's not. It's an old old building and we suspect this happened from pulling some knob and tube in the basement during the sale for insurance purposes. I'm told by a couple of electricians that the "neutral wire" is missing. The woman living here is also section 8 and I'm suprised I'm not in trouble and losing money yet. If she hadn't lived in a tent in africa most her life I am fairly sure they would take her funding away until I fix it. Or even shut the building down as unlivable. If that happens I am in big big trouble as I am not wealthy and don't have the resources in this moment.

"Dark" means 4 of 6 ceiling lights are out. The dryer outlet in her storage space used to work, but no longer so no dryer. And like we said 1/2 the lights and outlets in the basement no longer work and the hall light and front porch light are out. 

I had a couple electricians come out and they look for 30 minutes and say "you are gonna have to rip out and replace all the wiring. And in an old place like this, you gotta do the whole building because knob and tube is going to always knock out something else when you do one apartment. I agree with this idea but again not practical because I wouldn't know how to afford the place if I have to remove the tenants to redo the building.

Now... generally I've had an impossible time getting electricians out here due to busyness in general which I'm sure we all have trouble with. And while electric people say I have to rip the place apart, I see something else. In some places I see conduit moving electric from one place to another. As low income housing, I don't see needing to be perfect. I see needing to be safe, and to have things work. So my brain says "hey... why not just run conduit everywhere since we need new outlets and new everything anyway?". This is my conversation going forward with the guys who I bring in.

All that said this is going to take some time to work out and this apartment on first floor is mostly without power for the last 3 months. With crappy outlets and a bigger project needing to be the main focus, I'm not getting anyone with ideas of how to give this woman lights without saying "just use lamps". Clearly I can't expect anyone to magically connect a neutral wire but I'm wondering if anyone has ideas past battery powered lights to give these guys some light.

Of course... being from Africa living in a tent they live that way here too and cover the windows and walls entirely. This doesn't help with no natural light coming in, but we are in Maine and it's sunset about 4:13 right now. The nights are long. They continue to seem ok but I'm horrified and know that if anyone wants to they can get me in some serious trouble.

On that note that's the thing... what to do when you are on the way to getting in trouble and can't get a contractor on board?

Thanks for reading and any ideas you have are welcome.