Has anyone seen the whites used as line and travelers with 3 way and 4 way switches?

[Scottwilson26]

A friend had a contractor remove a half wall with 2 can lights, multiple 3 way switches and a receptacle. By the time I was involved everything was disconnected and 3 cables of 12-3 were hanging out of the ceiling along with several cables of 12-2. There are a lot of things going on in this house; but my main issues is this. I removed the corresponding switches from the wall and noticed a white wire tied to a black in the of the box. Further, the reds and whites were the only wires going to the 3-way and 4-way switches. The blacks from these switches were all tied together the back of their respective boxes. The white that was tied to a black, mentioned above, is the source for that box. I removed the panel cover a d the panel is wired as expected. All blacks to breakers, all whites to neutral bar, all grounds to ground bar. I have never seen this before. The home is a manufactured home built around 2000 by American Homes.. I was able to trace 2 of the 12-3 wires back to to boxes, but could not accurate power the light to work properly with the switches. Any advise as to where to research?

 

[westward10]

White can be used for a traveler but it must be identified. Some pics would help.

 

[Megawatt]

A friend had a contractor remove a half wall with 2 can lights, multiple 3 way switches and a receptacle. By the time I was involved everything was disconnected and 3 cables of 12-3 were hanging out of the ceiling along with several cables of 12-2. There are a lot of things going on in this house; but my main issues is this. I removed the corresponding switches from the wall and noticed a white wire tied to a black in the of the box. Further, the reds and whites were the only wires going to the 3-way and 4-way switches. The blacks from these switches were all tied together the back of their respective boxes. The white that was tied to a black, mentioned above, is the source for that box. I removed the panel cover a d the panel is wired as expected. All blacks to breakers, all whites to neutral bar, all grounds to ground bar. I have never seen this before. The home is a manufactured home built around 2000 by American Homes.. I was able to trace 2 of the 12-3 wires back to to boxes, but could not accurate power the light to work properly with the switches. Any advise as to where to research?

Scott to start with usually when you see a white and black it’s normally a switch. I get upset when electrical people don’t wrap the white wire with black tape to identify that it’s being used as a live conductor. Good luck on putting all them wires. Better yet call your friend back since he cut everything loose he should be able to wire it back up.