I got my electrical work done yesterday and just about everything works now. I say "just about" - there's a single light that was connected in a way I didn't expect and doesn't work now, because it was connected to a section of old knob-and-tube wiring that isn't there any more. What it does mean is that what I previously called "big ugly circuit" on the breaker panel is now the downstairs lights and nothing more. Some of the circuit is still pretty ugly but it's well on the way to being replaced. In the attic I had an elderly fuse box that used screw-in fuses. For the longest time I figured it was a historical artifact because I had a proper breaker panel in the basement, until I managed to blow one of the fuses in it. Anyway, now that is totally disconnected as well. It's still physically on the wall but now has no wires leading in or out of it. The single core of knob-and-tube that used to run across the attic, joining one circuit into the neutral of another, is now coiled up in my box of dead cable. And another section of nasty armored cable that was just hung loosely across my basement is now also coiled up in the box of dead cable.
What this also means is that I can proceed with the next job of lifting the floor over the next upstairs room to get trashed. And once that room is trashed and rebuilt I can rebuild the room below it, move some things back into it, and gain some living space back. I'm just going to need to get some more boards because I need to lift the floor above to get the cellulose insulation out and then, once the ceiling comes down, there's nothing to stop the few bugs that are still getting into the attic from getting into the room below. I've mostly stopped the bugs getting into the attic but still get mud wasps in there every once in a while.
