My first inspection in a 1970s apartment building changed how I check fire safety

I was doing a routine walkthrough at a 6-story complex in Portland last month. The building had those old fire alarm pull stations that look like they haven't been touched since disco. I popped the cover on one on the third floor and found the wires were literally just twisted together with tape. No solder, no wire nuts, nothing. The property manager said it had passed city inspection three years ago. Now I spend an extra 20 minutes per building checking every single junction box instead of sampling a few. Has anyone else run into lazy work like that hidden in plain sight?

3 comments

3 Comments

nelson.wren23h ago

Not gonna lie, I kind of think you're overreacting a little here lol. You said "the wires were literally just twisted together with tape" but like, that stuff held up for decades in some buildings before anyone got picky about it. Half the old buildings I've been in have wiring that would make a modern electrician faint, and they're still standing fine. I get that code exists for a reason, but twisting with tape is honestly not that crazy for a 1970s setup, it's basically what everyone did back then. Spending 20 extra minutes per building sounds like you're just feeding your own anxiety more than catching real problems, especially when that pull station still probably would have worked if someone pulled it.

nelson.wren17h ago

Reality is those twisted tape connections have been sitting there since the 70s without burning anything down yet, so how dangerous could they really be? Code changes every few years and suddenly everything old is a death trap, but building standards from back then weren't just made up by idiots. If nobody pulled that station in thirty years and nothing failed, spending your whole day hunting for boogeyman wiring sounds like a good way to waste billable hours.

holly70921h ago

Not overreacting at all. Twisted tape connections can fail from vibration, corrosion, or just heat cycling over time, and a fire alarm that doesn't work when someone pulls it is a real problem. Sloppy past work getting ignored by inspectors happens way more than people want to admit, and catching one bad joint makes the extra time worth it.