I was rewiring a 1920s house in Cincinnati and the old knob and tube felt like working with museum pieces compared to modern Romex.

The sheer difference in material and safety standards from that era to now, where we have clear color coding and sheathing, makes me wonder if any of you still run into active knob and tube and how you handle convincing homeowners to replace it.

3 comments

3 Comments

lindaj112mo ago

Honestly, it gets blown way out of proportion. That stuff lasted a hundred years, so it can't be all bad. If it's not messed with and the insulation is still good, it's often fine. I see people getting scared into a full rewire when maybe just updating the worst parts is enough. The panic costs a fortune.

elizabeth_mason282mo ago

You said "it lasted a hundred years so it can't be all bad"... but that's exactly the problem. It's a hundred years old. The insulation gets brittle and cracks just from age, even if nobody touched it. That hidden crack is a fire waiting to happen. Saving money isn't worth betting your house won't burn down. People panic because the danger is real and invisible.

patricia_wells1mo ago

So you're saying the age itself makes it fail, even if it looks okay? That's a scary thought. But then what about what lindaj11 said, that sometimes just fixing the bad spots is enough? How do you even know which parts are the bad spots if the cracks are hidden? Seems like a guessing game with really high stakes.