I am in the plannnig stage of a basement remodel. I checked the breaker box and found that I have 2 circuits currently in the basement. One is for 8 overhead lights and one is for 4 GFI outlets located around the basement.

My question is, there are 5 open slots in the panel that I could use for new circuits but the bottom 2, side by side, have a sticker over them saying not to punch these out. Can anyone give me an idea why I wouldn't be able to use these last two.

All the breakers are 20 AMP and the house was built in 2002. Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance.

The space behind the breaker blanks labeled "Do Not Remove" do not have bus bar tabs ready to accept circuit breakers. This can be for a couple of reasons. Usually this is because the panel box and cover is be built for both a 20 circuit and a 24 circuit panel interior, and you have the 20 circuit panel.

If you had a 24 circuit panel, the box and cover is the same, with a 24 circuit interior installed.

To add more breakers, you will probably need to use either half size or tandem breakers. GE makes half size breakers so that two can be fit into a space for one standard breaker. Other brands, such as Square D , make one standard size breaker with two breakers built into one.

You will need to check to see if the panel can accept tandem breakers.

Thanks for the quick reply TK.

Using tandem breakers will give me 8 available circuits which will be plenty for my basement.

I'm sure to become a regular here as I get deeper into this project.