Valuable Lesson Learned: Confined spaces, cell phones, etc..

[Tidybuoy]

So I had a very close call this weekend. Now that I finished my sheetrock in the garage, it was time to install the new LED lights. These lights are surface mount with a short set of wires that pass thru to the attic and then connect to the lighting wiring.

Seemed simple. However when I got into the attic, there are a couple of 2x4's along the top and bottom that I needed to pass thru to get to the wires. This is in the section of the garage that is getting narrower as it gets to the edge of the roof.

The space seemed big enough to fit thru but I quickly discovered I was too fat to fit thru. I tried raising my arms first and I got through until the 2x4's hit my chest. I only had about a foot more to go and I could reach the wiring. I squirmed and squirmed and finally wormed my way thru those 2x4's. I hooked up my wires and then proceded to back out of the hole. Oppps. I don't fit.

I spent the next hour trying & trying o back through this small space and concluded that I was spending the night in the attic. It would have been nice if I had brought my cell phone. Dumb!

After an hour contemplating how uncomfortable it was going to be sleeping in the attic with a 2x4 pressing into my stomach. I finally decided to pull myself all the way thru the hole. If I was stuck behind these 2x4's, I could at least stretch out. Instead, I made a couplete U-Turn and proceded to squeeze myself thru. This was not easy as I seemed to have swelled up. I had to take off my shirt and squeeze my boobs around the bottom 2x4 and then keep squeezing all parts until I mad it out.\

I'm happy to report that my new lighting looks great. I'm sore as hell right now. Oh, for the remaining 3 lights, I drilled a larger hole under the light and then fished the attic wires down the hole; connected below and then pulled up thru the hole.




Had to squeeze thru the two horizontal 2x4's. Picture does not look accurate, they are closer than they appear but still looked like there was enough space to squeeze thru. I'm a 48" chest.

[Rikao4]

oh my..
always wondered how the guy / remains they find during renovations got there..
long wk-end , some high temps, voila..

Rika

[Neilk]

Sorry, I shouldn't have been laughing. Glad you got out ok.

[1990C4S]

Sounds a lot like a Winnie the Poo story to me....

Would you have called the Fire Dept?

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Would you have called the Fire Dept?

I probably would have called them if I had my cell phone with me.......I'm dumb! My other choice would have been to break thru my brand new garage ceiling but that would have been my last resort.

[unclebilly]

You might have to go back in there...

I think this connection needs to be in a junction box.

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

You might have to go back in there...

I think this connection needs to be in a junction box.

I bought 4 of the junction boxes that have brackets that spread between the joists. I don't know how I will get them installed but I will work on that. I may have to bribe one of my skinny friends.

[Jeff Higgins]

Hah hah, I love it! I only say that because I spent a career crawling into confined spaces on large commercial aircraft. You made one of the most common mistakes - humans are like molly screws, in that anything we have to squeeze through head first can never be exited belly first. Just doesn't work. Everything bunches up when it's pushed up, and there you are, stuck fast.

Reminds me of the time we built a mechanic into the wing of a 767 and he couldn't get out. We cut out a piece of the front spar web to replace it due to corrosion. When it came time to put the new piece on, he crawled in through that big gaping hole to buck rivets and react bolts from the inside while his partner was on the outside. When they finished, he found he couldn't get out through the little oval access hatch on the bottom of the fuel cell. Had to take the whole damn thing back apart and put a smaller guy in there to re-do it.

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Reminds me of the time we built a mechanic into the wing of a 767 and he couldn't get out. We cut out a piece of the front spar web to replace it due to corrosion. When it came time to put the new piece on, he crawled in through that big gaping hole to buck rivets and react bolts from the inside while his partner was on the outside. When they finished, he found he couldn't get out through the little oval access hatch on the bottom of the fuel cell. Had to take the whole damn thing back apart and put a smaller guy in there to re-do it.

That's funny. How long did it take to take it apart to let him out?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Hah hah, I love it! I only say that because I spent a career crawling into confined spaces on large commercial aircraft. You made one of the most common mistakes - humans are like molly screws, in that anything we have to squeeze through head first can never be exited belly first. Just doesn't work. Everything bunches up when it's pushed up, and there you are, stuck fast.

Reminds me of the time we built a mechanic into the wing of a 767 and he couldn't get out. We cut out a piece of the front spar web to replace it due to corrosion. When it came time to put the new piece on, he crawled in through that big gaping hole to buck rivets and react bolts from the inside while his partner was on the outside. When they finished, he found he couldn't get out through the little oval access hatch on the bottom of the fuel cell. Had to take the whole damn thing back apart and put a smaller guy in there to re-do it.

This is sort of like the human equivalent of making sure you can get the fill plug out before draining the fluid.

[Gogar]

You're lucky! Envision that space filled with loose-fill fiberglass from the mid 1940's. Then you would be at my house.

+1 put that splice in a box.

[JD159]

Realistically though, you could have stayed up there for a few more days. No food + no water would have slimmed you down. Would have fit no problem after!

You may have just discovered a new weight loss routine. Keep installing slimmer and slimmer doorways

[Evans, Marv]

My house has a semi-flat roof, to the clearance varies from maybe 22" to 30" more or less. I've only had one occasion to have to get up there & crawl around in a limited area. I have a couple of those little Motorola walkie talkies and took one with me in case I had to talk to somebody down below. No way would I like to have to snake through all of those trusses unless I absolutely had to.

[911boost]

Worst case just break the drywall, grab the pipe thingy and monkey roll to the garage floor...

[T77911S]

the good thing is after a few days laying there you would have lost enough weight to get back thru.

thought I was the only one that noticed no junction box.

tip: run wiring and put in Jbox BEFORE you put up sheet rock.


question: do I see slat boards on the roof?? but yet the one "old" 2x4 has a new bracket on it.
that's also a VERY strange way to attach 2x4's to rafters
that's really old school if so.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by BSiple

Worst case just break the drywall, grab the pipe thingy and monkey roll to the garage floor...

Exactly why I never climb in trusses without a cold steel Katana...

[berettafan]

man I would've had a panic attack like no other.

[VincentVega]

Originally Posted by Gogar

You're lucky! Envision that space filled with loose-fill fiberglass from the mid 1940's. Then you would be at my house.

+1 put that splice in a box.

x10

I spent way too much time in a similar spot, old insulation does not taste good. Dust mask?

[911 Rod]

Wow. Glad you were able to stay calm.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Neilk

That's funny. How long did it take to take it apart to let him out?

Oh, probably only four or five hours. The biggest PIA was cleaning up all the still wet, gooey seal from all of the mating surfaces. That, and I think it must have been 120 degrees inside that fuel cell. We kept the water going in to him, though. Funny, though, none came back out...