Rewiring Knob and Tube

[LVBebe]

Hello! There are a number of older threads asking for recommendations for an electrician and I am just trying to get some updated recommendations for someone to rewire our knob and tube to bring it up to standard. Does anyone have some recs?

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[schwaggy]

Have you called Brad at Expert Electric?

http://www.expertelectric-us.com/

Give him a shout and let us know what you find. I’ve been wondering how much this would cost for our 1940s house.

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[LVBebe]

Schwaggy – have you used them before?

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[squareeyes]

I got a ballpark figure of $10-$15K to rewire my 800sf house. Sadly I’ll probably have to do that in order to turn my house into a rental next year.

Neighbor’s house is a little larger than mine, maybe 1000sf and cost $13K a few years ago.

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[LVBebe]

squareeyes – who did you use?

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[squareeyes]

I haven’t used anyone yet; Brad at Expert Electric has done some minor work at my house and is high on my list should I go for it. I won’t pursue any written quotes until I’m ready to start.

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[anonyme]

I used Greenlake Electric 10 years ago to replace knob & tube in a 650 sq. ft. house. It was close to $6k and they were HORRIBLE. I’ve had Kemly do some other work (installing a new convection heating system), and they were fantastic – but expensive.

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[schwaggy]

I have had Brad from Expert Electric out for a small job but could tell he has depth for any job. He was awesome.

However, I now see on his Website that he only schedules one knob and tube remediation per year.

Seeing some of the prices listed in this thread, I think I’ll pass and hope the knob and tube in my attic lasts another 15 years. Wow, quite a lot of money to get it removed!

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[mark47n]

Knob and tube is costly to remove for a variety of reasons. One is that removal can bump up against abatement requirements for asbestos, it’s frequently found in the insulation surrounding the conductor. Another is that older houses, generally, don’t have main services large enough to support the requirements under current code and RCW/WAC rules and they may even have fuse panels rather than breakers. Doing this will require a full service upgrade in most cases and installing many more receptacles and circuitry to support modern electrical loads. When you commit to something like this you can’t just pull in new wiring to support existing receptacles, you must bring the building, or parts serviced, up to current requirements. The upside to this is that electronics work better and frequently have a longer life due to more robust grounding requirements that would have been nonexistent 80 years ago.

Things to be aware of when having this work performed is ensuring that the WHOLE job is permitted, not just the service/ Ensure that smoke detectors, as required by law, are installed and connected to a dedicated circuit. Also, if there is no permit for the work that was signed of by a city inspector and there is a fire or other catastrophe then insurance companies probably won’t pay out.

Electrical work is costly. Rewiring a whole house is significantly more expensive than wiring out a new build and I would urge people to not go looking for a bargain as electrical fires are devastating.

Another electrical contractor to consider is Keithly Electric. They are primarily an industrial contractor but also have a talented group of dedicated residential specialists.

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[LVBebe]

Thanks all. I will keep you posted on what we find. We definitely are looking for best service for a fair price rather than just the cheapest. With a 90+ year old house we want to upgrade not only to help things run better but run safer!

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