Knob and Tube Removal or Rewire

Has this ever happened to you?

You hire an electrician to hang up a new light fixture, one to replace that hideous light fixture that came with the house.  He takes it down only to find Knob and Tube wiring connected to the light fixture.  But wait – that can’t be true, you were told by your home inspector that your home has no Knob and Tube.  This scenario is something that I’ve seen take place time and time again.

You see, if you were to remove the switch that controlled that light, you would find new modern wiring.  Most likely your home inspector performed this check. Considering that, along with all the new wiring present at the panel and no Knob and Tube present in the ceiling of your unfinished basement, he likely deemed that your house must have been rewired properly.  But why the Knob and Tube at the light?

You see, unfortunately, there are a lot of contractors out there who are illegally attaching newer wiring to the old Knob and Tube wiring that leaves the switch box and runs to the light.  Next they stuff this “open splice” connection in your wall and install a new switch box with the new wiring in it.  So yes, when the home inspector opens that switch box all he sees is new wiring. And no, he is not going to pull out his ladder to remove that antique light fixture to insure that its new wiring all the way through.

Why do they do this?  I’m not sure. I couldn’t even imagine doing something like this.  The only reason I could think of is that they made a promise not to make any holes in your walls?

The reality is that when you re-wire your Knob and Tube filled home, you will most likely have holes in your walls.  NO – not stud to stud, floor to ceiling holes if your electrician knows what he is doing.  We make holes smaller than two fingers and yes we can even patch our holes ready for paint.

We will also take out a permit with the Electrical Safety Authority (E.S.A.) and you will receive a certificate of inspection upon completion.

Where to go from here?

Don’t despair! Call us today and receive a free quote to rewire your Knob and Tube.

GTA (416) 254-1161

Durham (905) 626-8449

Kawartha (705) 702-2799

Trust your knob and tube to a professional 

A letter from a Customer

We purchased a 100-year old semi in downtown Toronto, and had a few concerns with the electrical in the house. Home inspection revealed knob and tube in the master bedroom, and visually the outlets seemed old and misplaced. Light switch boxes were in strange locations, and the second bedroom didn’t have a ceiling light fixture. Enrico was so thorough, so patient explaining all the work he suggested should be done (not in a pushy way – in a “if this was my house” way), and the quote came back with options … I was very very impressed with the process, with his professionalism, and his knowledge – especially of older homes. I hired him immediately upon receiving the quote.

Enrico was scheduled to come in the following week, so I never had to wait for the work to be done. He was super punctual. They were the most conscientious workers. Booties over their shoes, drop sheet where they kept the tools, and even bags taped to the wall under areas they had to cut/drill to minimize dust. They even cleaned up afterwards!

My impression was that Enrico went above and beyond what was quoted for my job. I had knob and tube removed from the master bedroom. The house has no attic, so there were holes cut out in the walls to fish out the wires. But then Enrico plugged the walls back up and put drywall compound over it to patch it right back up! Completely unexpected and done in a professional manner. They installed a ceiling light outlet in the second bedroom where there was none. Perfection.

They replaced an old macgruber hack job in the upstairs hallway (outlet with three plugs…?! from previous owner’s “electrician”) with an updated plug and again, they filled in the hole that was left. It was cut into the wainscoting, and Enrico even put a groove in the plastered area to make it look like the wainscoting was intact where they had cut. Amazing!!!

They installed an astronomical timer for my front porch light (automatically changes on/off time according to almanac/longitude/latitude), and changed my front hall 3-switch panel that had been installed INTO the doorframe into a standard 3-switch panel outside the doorframe … And then yep, you guessed it, they patched up my doorframe with some putty to keep the frame intact. As I said, above and beyond!

Now the best part… It only took two days! These guys are machines. Enrico – THANK YOU

Toronto, ON