Re-wiring for Your Home’s Safety

Re-wiring for Renovations, Additions

Renovations can be tricky in older homes so it’s really important to make sure you have qualified people. In some cases older homes should upgrade their electrical service at the time of renovation. Each job is estimated on an individual basis and recommendations are made based on the actual site conditions.

Re-wiring to Meet Code

Rewiring to meet present code is very important especially for older homes. Some older homes have knob and tube wiring which was state of the art in its day. By todays standards knob and tube wiring is considered unsafe. As it deteriorates and frays it can become a fire hazard as well.

Another consideration is the panel itself.  Most electrical services are only good for 25-30 years. If you have knob and tube, it is probably at least that old. If you want to check to see if your panel is OK (there are a few brands out there that are serious problems), please check out ismypanelsafe.com.

If you have knob and tube wiring in your home and don’t have any problems with it (no fraying wires or fuse panel is not deteriorating) you are probably fine. If you would like more information, please visit knobandtubewireing.com. There may be other concerns involving your homeowners insurance. We advise consulting your insurance agent.

The type of wiring used today is called Romex, which by today’s standard is state of the art. Improvements are made all the time and someday Romex may be obsolete, but for now it’s the best available!  Re-wiring your house is a big job.  Basically it is installing all new wires just like when your house was built but new and improved and up to code. The biggest difference is that when your house was originally built the walls were not in place so it was easier to wire. With the walls in place they have to fish the wires through the walls which can be very difficult to do.

We used Paul Foley Electric on multiple occasions over the last two years. Paul was first recommended to me by the Sunshine Pool Company to do the electric work for our new in ground pool. At the time we had Paul and his crew do several other smaller projects and we were so satisfied with their work that we called him back to do all of the electrical work on our new kitchen as well. Paul not only did the work, but he made some suggestions that proved to be invaluable in making the kitchen even better than we had envisioned.
-Don, Bridgewater, MA