eldragon

We purchased a 115 year old house last year and had to have the electrical system completely redone.

Copper wiring has gone up tremendously in price, and the job cost over $8K. (Our house is 3000 sq foot.) I have to say that it's great having all the extra outlets and power that doesn't lag!

artapia

I did the same thing except my house is around 50ys old. It was a great investment, especially if you take time to plan out the electrical system

eldragon

I agree. For almost an entire year, the kitchen ran on one circuit I had one outlet in there! I couldn't run the microwave and the toaster at the same time. Ditto with the coffee maker and the toaster, and sometimes I forgot and blew a circuit. (Luckily we didn't have fuses....)


Now we have 4 circuits running our kitchen and more than enough outlets. It's wonderful!

mamab

Wow, I didn't know they made 3,000 sq.ft. houses 115 years ago! Surely some of it had been added on later.

I bet, more than all the extra plugs, you're most relieved to have the newer wiring for safety's sake. At least, I would be.

Have you tried to maintain the integrity of the original house? Or has it been updated to a more modern home?

eldragon

Oh, sure, they made large houses 115 years ago.

Actually, though, one room was added on at a later date. It was part of a wrap around porch that was converted to a second living area.

I'm absolutely relieved about living in a safer house, with electricity that actually exceeds the code.

Melos

My house is only about 60 years old but desperately needs a total rewiring job as well. We have plenty of outlets, oddly enough, but you can only use 1 or 2 things per room without the fuses blowing.

Luckily, the house is much smaller than 3000 sq. feet, so it won't cost that much!

eldragon

You might just need an upgrade, which could cost $1000.

When I say we did a re-wire, that means all the old wiring was removed and the entire house was re-wired with new copper wire. Every outlet was changed, every light and switch, inside and out. That's really a drastic measure and hopefully you won't need to to that to be up to code and get more power.

bra

Yeah, maybe if you changed to using breakers instead of a fuse box, you'd have a better situation. I don't know, I'm only speculating. But the upgrade idea sounds great.

I friggen HATE using fuses.

wayne

One of those big jobs that we all complain about but at least it should last our lifetime anyway and should mean we have little problems for many a year. Nothing worse than messing about with one room after another each year some other part of the wiring jungle playing up. You can rest easy now as far as the wiring is concerned.

kav

The cost will be high to do a total rewire, but it is important to get it done properly, no sense in getting a cheap job and then you will have to redo part of it in a few years to come.Get a professional who knows what he is doing.