Adding/replacing lights to knob and tube

[mikeh1159]

Hi everyone. I hope that someone can point me in the right direction. I have done some remodelling in the bsmt which included doing all of the walls first (by a contractor). That left me with the ceiling. I was planning on doing suspended ceiling throughout but lack of clearance prevents me from doing that. Therein lies the problem. I have framed in my pipes (old home with boiler and pipes that are very low) and have started the drywall. I have 2 ceiling lights (currently just plain fixtures) that are going to be buried by the drywall that I am doing. I have purchased one section of track lighting and the other is a dual bulb type of dealy. My problem is that the current wiring to these 2 lights is Knob and Tube. The wires are too short to use them to install the new light fixtures to. I am just moving them from the ceiling to a 'facing' wall of the box job.

What can I do? I think that if I use a junction box, it has to be accessible which might be another issue due to the shortness of the existing wires.

I don't really want to run a new line from the breaker box (had a subpanel put in a while ago for the hottub so there is room for expansion) if I don't have to. I would 'like' to use the existing setup if at all possible. I don't know what other information is needed to give me advice. Let me know and I will try to provide it. I WISH that I had the cash to redo the whole house but the funds have run short to do that.

Appreciatively,

Mike. (Saskatchewan, Canada)

[Jimmer]

Mike,

I would suggest that you bite the bullet and spend a few extra $$$ to run a new supply line from a new breaker in the subpanel and connect the lights and switch using proper grounding.

Good luck, Jim

'Just a handyman trying to help'

[mikeh1159]

Thanks for the input Jim. I guess my question now then is 'how do I terminate the wires at the two lights that will be replaced. If I use a junction box, the wires aren't long enough to get them to the drywall face. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mike.