a basketball sized hole in your house for some reason?

And then chewed through the plywood.

romex stapled to the purlin stub above the uncovered junction box. With several wires in one box, the heat generated can be multiplied. Not only does the cover protect the wiring from accidental human contact, it also prevents the spread of a fire should the wires overheat. I don't think a responsible electrician would have left the boxes uncovered. My suggestion would be to hire a licensed and qualified residential electrician to check all the electrical systems and wiring that were added. .If a circuit's fuse or breaker failed, the wires inside an approved junction box with an approved cover would almost instantly burn in two and act as a fuse to stop the flow of current Where run parallel with the framing member or furring strip, the wiring shall be not less than 11/4 inches from the edge of a furring strip or a framing member such as a joist, rafter or stud or shall be physically protected. Further, the top of the purlin stub indicates a serious degree of degradation which could lead to a structural failure. Recommendation is that a licensed structural engineer evaluate and recommend repairs ** Edited by PhotoHokieNC at 6/5/2024, 11:45:56 PM

there were 3 or 4 uncovered junction boxes. And due to the obvious age of the boxes and the wires I could tell they were from the original construction (house was built in mid-60's). Of course that's still better than what happened afterwards. At some point the previous owner added a dozen recessed lights to the living room and kitchen. And they didn't even believe in junction boxes. I had wires attached with just nuts sitting loose on top of the insulation. They didn't even wrap them in electrical tape or anything. So the insulation project took 10 times longer than it should have while I dug through all the old fiber fill insulation and corrected all the electrical problems.

Had one in the woods behind my house in Iowa, every year she'd have a couple pups, I'd trap a couple each year, but never her, she was too big for my trap. So one year I buy the extra large trap and put it under the tree I know she lives in (and had seen her fall 20ft out of when a hawk dive bombed her, but she walked away). That night, not soon after, but that very night, a massive windstorm blew through, sheared the top half of that tree down onto my stone fire pit and patio. After I cleaned up the tree I found the trap, crush beneath it and a couple days later, saw her waddling around. That was it, I never messed with her again...she was protected by something well above my pay grade.