Home Rewiring

When rewiring makes sense

Wiring does not wear out on a fixed schedule, but some older systems were never built for the way people live now. Signs a house may need partial or full rewiring include knob-and-tube wiring, cloth-covered cable that crumbles when touched, lots of two-prong outlets, warm or discolored cover plates, frequent tripping on circuits that were added onto over the years, and earlier do-it-yourself work that does not meet code. An insurer or a home inspector flagging the wiring is another common reason. We start with an inspection and tell you what can stay, what should be repaired and what should be replaced.

Knob-and-tube wiring

The oldest homes around Denver, mostly built before the 1940s, may still have knob-and-tube wiring in the walls or attic. It was installed with care in its day, but it has no ground wire, its insulation can turn brittle, and it was designed to shed heat into open air. Buried under modern attic insulation or spliced into by later owners, it can overheat. Some insurers will not cover a house with active knob-and-tube wiring. In most cases we recommend replacing it, starting with the circuits that carry the most load and the ones that are easiest to reach.

Aluminum branch wiring

Some homes built from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s were wired with aluminum branch circuits instead of copper. The wire itself is not the main concern. The connections are. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper and can loosen at outlets, switches and splices, which can lead to overheating. If your house has it, you do not necessarily need a full rewire. A common repair is to add short copper pigtails at each connection, using connectors specifically approved for joining aluminum to copper. We can confirm whether you have aluminum wiring and price both approaches.

Two-prong outlets and missing grounds

A two-prong outlet usually means the circuit has no ground wire. Swapping in a three-prong outlet without a ground is unsafe and misleading, because it suggests protection that is not there. The code allows a few fixes. We can run a new grounded circuit, add a ground where one can be reached, or install GFCI protection, which guards people against shock even without a ground and must be labeled to show there is no equipment ground. Computers and sensitive electronics still do best on a grounded outlet, so we look at how each room is used.

How a rewire works

Most rewiring can be done while you live in the house. We plan the new circuits room by room, then fish new cable through walls and ceilings from the attic and basement, cutting small openings where we must. Old wiring is disconnected and left in place where removing it would mean tearing out walls. A full rewire of a typical house takes one to two weeks of work, plus inspections. We pull the permit, and the inspector checks the new wiring before the openings are closed. We patch the openings we make, and painting is quoted separately if you want it.