Knob and Tube Pulled Out of a Vancouver, WA Kitchen Rewire

Knob and tube wiring usually hides above the ceiling and behind the plaster in older houses until a remodel opens a wall. On this home in north Vancouver, the kitchen rewire was the time to get the last of it out, and we replaced the panel while we were at it.

Why knob and tube has to go

Knob and tube was standard for decades, and plenty of it is still live. It wasn’t bad work for its time. It just wasn’t built for how a house runs today:

• No ground wire. Modern appliances, GFCIs and surge protectors all need a ground, and knob and tube doesn’t have one.
• It can’t be covered in insulation. The wires need air around them to cool off, and most houses that still have it have insulation packed around it.
• The insulation on the wires is worn out. Rubber and cloth don’t stay flexible for a hundred years.
• Splices are often out in the open. The original splices were soldered and taped in the air, not in a box.

Insurance companies know this, which is why knob and tube wiring replacement shows up as a condition on policies and a lender requirement when you sell. Our post on why knob and tube has to come out covers what inspectors look for.

Start with the kitchen

You rarely rewire an old house all at once. You do it where the walls are already open, and a kitchen remodel is the best chance you’ll get:

1. The cabinets are off the walls, so you can reach the hardest runs.
2. The kitchen uses more power than any other room, so that’s where old wiring is working hardest.
3. Kitchen circuits have the strictest rules, so the new work has to be done right anyway.

Doing the kitchen gets rid of the worst of it, and you know what’s left in the rest of the house.

Moving the panel while replacing it

We replaced the panel and moved it in the same visit. That’s the time to move a panel. It’s almost never worth doing on its own.

If a panel’s been stuck in a closet or behind a door for sixty years, moving it costs very little extra when it’s coming off the wall anyway. Doing it later means paying for the whole shutdown and re-landing all over again.

What went back in

The finished kitchen got six recessed cans, under-cabinet lights along the counter, a fan-light, and the outlets and switches the room really needed instead of the two the old layout had.

Under-cabinet lights are a good example. Fishing them into a finished kitchen is a lot of work. Running them while the walls are open costs almost nothing.

Older home in Vancouver with cloth wiring, no grounds, or a kitchen you’re about to open up? Call 360-828-7143 or get the knob and tube quoted before the cabinets go back on.