Whole-house rewiring for older homes
Whole-house rewiring means we replace the old wiring in your home with new copper. Old wiring wears out. It was built for a different time, when houses had a few lights and a radio. Today your home runs computers, AC, big appliances, and more. Bruce has rewired many older NJ homes. He has been a Master Electrician since 1988.
If your home is old, the wiring may not be safe. It may not be legal to insure. A full rewire fixes that for good.
Signs your home needs a rewire
Some homes clearly need new wiring. Watch for these signs.
- Two-prong outlets with no ground
- A fuse box instead of breakers
- Cloth or rubber covered wires you can see in the basement
- Lights that flicker or dim
- Breakers that trip again and again
- A burning smell near an outlet
Knob and tube wiring
Homes built before about 1950 often have knob and tube wiring. You can spot it by the ceramic knobs and tubes that hold the wires.
This wiring has no ground wire. That is a real safety gap. The insulation gets brittle and crumbles with age. It was never made for the load a modern home puts on it. People also bury it in attic insulation, which traps heat and is a fire risk.
Most insurance companies will not cover a home with knob and tube wiring. Some will not write a policy at all. If you have it, a rewire is the fix.
What a rewire includes
A full rewire replaces the guts of your electrical system. Here is what you get.
- New copper wire run through the walls and ceilings
- A new electrical panel with breakers
- New outlets and switches throughout
- New grounded three-prong outlets
- GFCI protection where code requires it
- Proper grounding for the whole house
What it costs
A whole-house rewire is a big job. The price depends on the size of your home and how easy it is to reach the walls.
For most homes the cost runs about 8,000 to 30,000 dollars. A small two-bedroom is at the low end. A large multi-floor home is at the high end. Older homes with plaster walls cost more than homes with drywall, because the wire is harder to run.
We give you a clear price after Bruce sees the home. No surprises.
You can usually stay home
Many people worry they have to move out during a rewire. Most of the time you do not. We work room by room. We keep the power on in the parts of the house we are not working in. You may lose power to one area for a day. We plan the work so you can still live there.
For a bigger home the job can take a week or more. We talk through the schedule with you up front.
Drywall repair is separate
Here is an honest point. To run new wire we sometimes open small holes in walls and ceilings. We make the holes as small as we can. We do not patch and paint the drywall. That is a separate trade.
We leave the holes clean and ready for a drywall crew or painter. We tell you up front where we expect to open walls. That way there are no surprises on cost.
Permit and inspection
A rewire needs an NJ UCC permit. We pull it. The town inspects the work in stages. This protects you and keeps your insurance valid. We work with PSE&G and JCP&L on the service. When you call Harrelson Electric, you get Bruce. No subcontractors come to your home.
Call (800) 732-0585 for a whole-house rewiring quote.
