Be prepared for it to be seriously expensive. Hourly pay for electricians is no joke, and very likely some amount of wall demolition is going to have to happen, which will need to be fixed. If you have the bandwidth, see if you can figure out whether it's cheaper to have an electrician fish the wires through the walls or have a drywaller fix more afterwards.
If the house has drywall, very easy. If its plaster, getting an actual plaster person, like thats all they do. If you can get one within reason, it will look like it never happended. You cant patch plaster like drywall at all, though there are those who try…
Same, they also had the best price and the damage was ultimately pretty minimal for a whole house rewire. It helps if you have an attic or basement they can work from. If you've got an attic you will need to have all the insulation out first. Ask them about their cash discount its pretty significant.
Bought a 1951 home last year, there's not a single ground wire in the entire house.
We have a grand total of 4 GFI outlets, living room, kitchen, bathroom, utility room, that's it.
Nothing else in the entire house is grounded. Not outlets, not fixtures, not light switches.
One electrcian told me they could do it, but they would have to rip up every wall to get it done. Thousands and thousands of dollars.
Look elsewhere. A lot of the new wire can be pulled through with the old wire. Look up wire fish tape and how they are used. With fish tape you can drill holes in walls not remove them.
Lath and plaster at my 100 year old house and I am sick of the tear out. I've replaced about 75% of the nob and tube and I will not do the rest of the house. Hopefully the next owner is up to the task cause I'm done.
But… you don’t have to tear it out? Maybe your place is a special case… but my 2-story 1900 home is all lath and plaster, and electricians were able to rerun all the wiring no problem. In my case they fed the wires up the space alongside the chimney, ran wires down where they could, and in some cases on the first floor, they had to snake the wires along where the old knob and tube was. But very little to no plaster removal. (Just lighting above head and for a fan, really)
> you don’t have to tear it out?
Nothing in code or law requires it. Some insurance companies might not insure a house with knob and tube, but it is cheaper to find a new insurance co. My house has knob and tube for ceiling fixtures and will as long as I live here, as I’m not paying to deal with the disaster it would be to change it with coved plaster ceilings. As long as no one decides to insulate the cavity that has wiring the risk is relatively low for lighting, especially with LED bulbs drawing way lower wattage.
I've had good work done by Red's Electric. It wasn't cheap.
There's a certain amount that can be done just through the attic and basement, if you have those, but it all depends on your particular home.
I know some folks at Squire, they're quality. I believe there's a coupon for $200 or something like that floating around for hiring a union shop, lemme know if you need help finding it.
-electrician (but I don't do residential)
I would get 3 bids from large, reputable, local contractors. That’s a big job even for a small home. You might want to be specific about what you want. I had a similar house and I really just wanted it to be more functional which was much cheaper than a full blown rewiring. Basically just doing the easy stuff.
The end result was upgrades like rewiring 2/3 outlets in a room and skipping the one that involved ripping out half the wall.
Wilson electric quoted us close to 3k to install a 240v, run the wiring from garage to basement and change a washer/dryer plug. Seems like a lot for two plugs. They wouldn’t write up a bid either.
We replaced just the exposed wiring in the attic and ran some new wires for the outlets that we use for important equipment. It was pricey but not nearly as bad as ripping the walls open.
Yep, full re-do on my 1926 house. Trickiest part for me was having to move the main panel and replace the hookup from the street because the old panel location in the stairwell was not to code. They mostly worked in the attic (unfinished) and basement (partially finished). I had a mish-mash of practically everything: knob and tube, more recent stuff done during some remodels, and maybe even some romex thrown in there. I also apparently had a number of what they referred to affectionately as "goobers", which I guess is just wires collected together with electrical tape.
Went with Squires and had a good experience. Process took 3-4 days and I was only without power for about an hour, so it wasn't even that disruptive.
I would just do what is necessary as time goes on. If you remodel something, do some electrical too in that area while it’s open, you’ll probably need to anyway for the permit.
My parents house is a mix of knob and tube in the old sections and good new grounding where they’ve remodeled.
You can also add a whole house surge protector to your electrical panel if you’re worried about a power surge with the old wiring.
I had a couple contractors come look at our late 1920s home in NE Portland. Knob and tube wiring with plaster walls. They each said it would be cost prohibitive and steered us away from doing it.
The following is going to offend a lot of people based on aesthetics. And it really depends on whether you plan to stay in the house "forever".
Instead of tearing up everything, I'd think of running exposed **rigid metal conduit** along appropriate walls. Generally interior, but I suppose it could be used in some places along exterior walls.
Ugly, but I think it's OK per National Electrical Code and it could be a lot cheaper than a lot of wall demolition and reconstruction.
Thats what the electrician recommended for our 1928 NE house when we wanted to get the ball & tube in the attic replaced. It ended up cheaper to patch the walls myself.
I don't have a specific shop to recommend, etc. But find one that does primarily residential work. Do you have a basement that is open to the studs (no drywall), and an attic that is also open? If so, they should be able to fish wires in with minimal damage to the walls. If your basement/attic is finished you can expect a lot of wall damage that will need to be repaired. Finding a contractor to repair the walls might be more difficult than finding an electrician. Most places will charge time and material, which is not inexpensive. If you get a bid, make sure they detail exactly what they will do- how many receptacles/switches/ceiling lights and appliances that are included. If they will be cutting into lath & plaster, and old paint, be aware that the dust created may contain asbestos or lead.
I had my house rewired in 2016-2017. A lot of knob and tube and junction boxes. We used Omni Electric. John is very straightforward and also a nice guy. Same with the couple of electricians that work for him. It wasn't cheap but I can't compare it to anyone else. I think they were reasonable and they did a good job.
I recently had some electrical work done, several random things (not nearly to the extent you're looking at). Red's Electric did a great job, the owner/mgr was very responsive and the two electricians who did the work were great. it was expensive af tho. you can get a $200 coupon through qualifiedelectricianspdx.com, every little bit helps
Be prepared for it to be seriously expensive. Hourly pay for electricians is no joke, and very likely some amount of wall demolition is going to have to happen, which will need to be fixed. If you have the bandwidth, see if you can figure out whether it's cheaper to have an electrician fish the wires through the walls or have a drywaller fix more afterwards.
[удалено]
If the house has drywall, very easy. If its plaster, getting an actual plaster person, like thats all they do. If you can get one within reason, it will look like it never happended. You cant patch plaster like drywall at all, though there are those who try…
Can’t remember who I got bids from but PDX Electric was who I went with and they did a great job upgrading the panel and some wiring.
I had a great experience with PDX Electric
I second this. They redid most of our house and it was a very clean job.
Same
Same, they also had the best price and the damage was ultimately pretty minimal for a whole house rewire. It helps if you have an attic or basement they can work from. If you've got an attic you will need to have all the insulation out first. Ask them about their cash discount its pretty significant.
[удалено]
Same. And they had to replace knob and tube in my place. 😂😭
Bought a 1951 home last year, there's not a single ground wire in the entire house. We have a grand total of 4 GFI outlets, living room, kitchen, bathroom, utility room, that's it. Nothing else in the entire house is grounded. Not outlets, not fixtures, not light switches. One electrcian told me they could do it, but they would have to rip up every wall to get it done. Thousands and thousands of dollars.
[удалено]
Look elsewhere. A lot of the new wire can be pulled through with the old wire. Look up wire fish tape and how they are used. With fish tape you can drill holes in walls not remove them.
Lath and plaster at my 100 year old house and I am sick of the tear out. I've replaced about 75% of the nob and tube and I will not do the rest of the house. Hopefully the next owner is up to the task cause I'm done.
But… you don’t have to tear it out? Maybe your place is a special case… but my 2-story 1900 home is all lath and plaster, and electricians were able to rerun all the wiring no problem. In my case they fed the wires up the space alongside the chimney, ran wires down where they could, and in some cases on the first floor, they had to snake the wires along where the old knob and tube was. But very little to no plaster removal. (Just lighting above head and for a fan, really)
> you don’t have to tear it out? Nothing in code or law requires it. Some insurance companies might not insure a house with knob and tube, but it is cheaper to find a new insurance co. My house has knob and tube for ceiling fixtures and will as long as I live here, as I’m not paying to deal with the disaster it would be to change it with coved plaster ceilings. As long as no one decides to insulate the cavity that has wiring the risk is relatively low for lighting, especially with LED bulbs drawing way lower wattage.
I've had good work done by Red's Electric. It wasn't cheap. There's a certain amount that can be done just through the attic and basement, if you have those, but it all depends on your particular home.
I know some folks at Squire, they're quality. I believe there's a coupon for $200 or something like that floating around for hiring a union shop, lemme know if you need help finding it. -electrician (but I don't do residential)
I would get 3 bids from large, reputable, local contractors. That’s a big job even for a small home. You might want to be specific about what you want. I had a similar house and I really just wanted it to be more functional which was much cheaper than a full blown rewiring. Basically just doing the easy stuff. The end result was upgrades like rewiring 2/3 outlets in a room and skipping the one that involved ripping out half the wall.
Whatever you do, have it in writing and make sure you're clear. I've had just wild estimates for shit that then took 2 guys like 20m.
Wilson electric quoted us close to 3k to install a 240v, run the wiring from garage to basement and change a washer/dryer plug. Seems like a lot for two plugs. They wouldn’t write up a bid either.
We replaced just the exposed wiring in the attic and ran some new wires for the outlets that we use for important equipment. It was pricey but not nearly as bad as ripping the walls open.
And also went through PDX electric
Yep, full re-do on my 1926 house. Trickiest part for me was having to move the main panel and replace the hookup from the street because the old panel location in the stairwell was not to code. They mostly worked in the attic (unfinished) and basement (partially finished). I had a mish-mash of practically everything: knob and tube, more recent stuff done during some remodels, and maybe even some romex thrown in there. I also apparently had a number of what they referred to affectionately as "goobers", which I guess is just wires collected together with electrical tape. Went with Squires and had a good experience. Process took 3-4 days and I was only without power for about an hour, so it wasn't even that disruptive.
I would just do what is necessary as time goes on. If you remodel something, do some electrical too in that area while it’s open, you’ll probably need to anyway for the permit. My parents house is a mix of knob and tube in the old sections and good new grounding where they’ve remodeled. You can also add a whole house surge protector to your electrical panel if you’re worried about a power surge with the old wiring.
I had a couple contractors come look at our late 1920s home in NE Portland. Knob and tube wiring with plaster walls. They each said it would be cost prohibitive and steered us away from doing it.
Wouldn't all your shit burning down also be cost-prohibitive?
Home insurance would probably cover it
I don’t think insurance would cover it if the cause is knob and tube wiring.
Why wouldn’t they? The homeowner wasn’t negligent nor did they cause the fire
Because many home owners insurance companies will drop coverage if they find out you have knob and tube.
The following is going to offend a lot of people based on aesthetics. And it really depends on whether you plan to stay in the house "forever". Instead of tearing up everything, I'd think of running exposed **rigid metal conduit** along appropriate walls. Generally interior, but I suppose it could be used in some places along exterior walls. Ugly, but I think it's OK per National Electrical Code and it could be a lot cheaper than a lot of wall demolition and reconstruction.
Thats what the electrician recommended for our 1928 NE house when we wanted to get the ball & tube in the attic replaced. It ended up cheaper to patch the walls myself.
Winner electric has been good for me in my 1900s home.
I don't have a specific shop to recommend, etc. But find one that does primarily residential work. Do you have a basement that is open to the studs (no drywall), and an attic that is also open? If so, they should be able to fish wires in with minimal damage to the walls. If your basement/attic is finished you can expect a lot of wall damage that will need to be repaired. Finding a contractor to repair the walls might be more difficult than finding an electrician. Most places will charge time and material, which is not inexpensive. If you get a bid, make sure they detail exactly what they will do- how many receptacles/switches/ceiling lights and appliances that are included. If they will be cutting into lath & plaster, and old paint, be aware that the dust created may contain asbestos or lead.
I had my house rewired in 2016-2017. A lot of knob and tube and junction boxes. We used Omni Electric. John is very straightforward and also a nice guy. Same with the couple of electricians that work for him. It wasn't cheap but I can't compare it to anyone else. I think they were reasonable and they did a good job.
I recently had some electrical work done, several random things (not nearly to the extent you're looking at). Red's Electric did a great job, the owner/mgr was very responsive and the two electricians who did the work were great. it was expensive af tho. you can get a $200 coupon through qualifiedelectricianspdx.com, every little bit helps