What you need to know about house rewiring
If you have an older home, you may need house rewiring. Perhaps you’ve experienced some indicators there’s an electrical problem and your local electrical contractor has advised house rewiring. What do you need to know?
House Rewiring 101
To avoid violating any electrical codes, creating any unnecessary fire damage risks, or potentially injuring yourself or others, please do not attempt to rewire your home yourself. – EasySafetyCert
When an HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) professional says you need an expert to change a basic AC filter; be wary. When a professional electrical contractor says house rewiring is not a DIY (do-it-yourself) project, believe it.
Rewiring is a complex renovation that can have safety issues and hazards not worth risking by doing it yourself. Clues you may need house rewiring include:
- Appliance source lights flicker
- Breaker flips off often
- Can’t run certain appliances at the same time
- Electrician says there’s wiring without “grounding” or “earthing”
- Flickering lights
- The fuse box has no circuit label, a wooden back, cast-iron switches, and/or confusing panel of switches
- House has old-fashioned, black rubber-covered wires
- Socket outlets are old-fashioned round, pin-type
- Socket(s) warm to the touch
Factors Influencing House Rewiring Costs
Sometimes rewiring is isolated to one room or the garage. Whole-house rewiring depends on many variables, especially square footage. Your cost may be somewhere between $1,500 to $20,000.
Some of the factors that affect rewiring cost are:
- Commercial wiring (ex: home walk-in business) vs. residential)
- Community, city, state codes
- Inspections
- Knob, tube wiring removal
- Labor
- Materials needed – type and quantity
- Permits
- Preparation
- Rough-ins (installation of boxes, breaker panel, fixture mounts, sub-panels, wiring)
- Running electric to separate building
What Your Electrician Will Do
House rewiring requires a lot of planning. You and your electrician may need to decide where new outlets should go. After a preliminary inspection, your electrician will begin making chalk notations to position new outlets.
There are 2 methods of house rewiring installation:
- Concealed wiring over wires and ceilings
- Wiring passing through or behind walls and ceilings
Important considerations for outlets and wiring methodology are:
- Accessibility
- Energy use
- Safety
The entire house rewiring turnaround time – and again, there are many variables – can be anywhere from 3-10 days. The job is also inconvenient.
You can’t use some electrical appliances for a while and may have unlit rooms. You’ll have to move furniture around for the electrician(s), and even though they will clean up after themselves, you’ll still have a mess to manage and additional cleaning after they leave. If it’s not a risk to wait, some families schedule a vacation during their house rewiring.
You Can Trust 24/7 Local Electrician
Are you considering electrical rewiring for your commercial or residential property? The electrical professionals at 24/7 Local Electrician work in a culture of integrity and take pride in their work. Our primary motivation is to ensure safety for homes like yours. Contact Local Electrician to learn more about house rewiring options.
