Your insurance company gave you 30 days to remove the knob and tube wiring or lose your coverage. You’re worried about what that means for your walls—especially if you’ve got original horsehair plaster that’s impossible to match.
Here’s what happens when we’re done: your home is safe, your insurance is back, and your walls look exactly like they did before we arrived. No patching. No mismatched plaster. No contractor parade trying to fix what someone else tore up.
You’ll have modern electrical capacity for everything your family actually uses. And if you ever sell, you won’t be the house that fails inspection or scares off buyers because of outdated wiring.
We’ve been doing electrical work in Rhode Island for over 30 years. We’re fully licensed Master Electricians, and we’re certified electrical inspectors. That means we know what passes code and what doesn’t—before we start the job.
Bristol has over 1,000 historic buildings. We’ve worked in plenty of them. Horsehair plaster, old framing, tight spaces—we’ve seen it all. Most electricians will tell you they need to cut into your walls. We don’t, because we use a camera system that nobody else around here has.
You’re not hiring someone who’s going to learn on your house. You’re hiring people who’ve done this exact job hundreds of times without destroying what you’re trying to protect.
We start by inserting a specialized camera through your existing outlets. That camera goes into the walls and shows us where every wire runs, where junction boxes are hidden, and whether there’s any damage from rodents or deterioration. We’re looking at everything before we touch anything.
Once we map it out, we remove the old knob and tube wiring through those same access points. No notches. No cutting. If there’s a spot where we absolutely need a small access point, it’s minimal—and we’re talking about something you’d barely notice, not a gaping hole that needs a plasterer.
Then we install new wiring that meets current code, handles your electrical load, and keeps your home safe. We pull permits, handle inspections, and give you all the documentation your insurance company needs. Most of our clients get their coverage reinstated within days.
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You get a full camera inspection that shows you what’s actually inside your walls. We’ll show you any covered junction boxes, open joints, or wiring that’s been chewed or damaged. You’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with before we start.
You get complete knob and tube wiring removal without tearing up your horsehair plaster. Bristol’s historic homes have plaster that’s nearly impossible to match if it’s damaged. Our process keeps it intact. Other electricians will cut your walls and hand you a plasterer’s number. We don’t work that way.
You get modern wiring installed to code, all permits handled, and full documentation for your insurance company. We’re not handing you a half-finished project. When we’re done, you’re done. No follow-up contractors. No waiting on someone else to patch walls. Your home is safe, insured, and ready.
Not the way we do it. We use a camera system that goes through your existing outlets to locate and remove the wiring. That means we’re not cutting into your walls to find where the wires run.
Horsehair plaster is fragile. Once you start cutting into it, small holes turn into big problems. The plaster is laid in three layers, and it’s nearly impossible to match if you damage it. Most electricians know this, but they don’t have another option—they have to cut to see what’s there.
Our camera shows us everything first. We map the wiring, identify problem areas, and remove it all without opening up your walls. If there’s ever a spot where we need a tiny access point, it’s minimal—nothing that compromises your plaster or requires major repair work.
Most jobs take between three to five days, depending on the size of your home and how much wiring needs to be replaced. A smaller home with less wiring goes faster. A larger historic home with multiple floors and more circuits takes longer.
We’re not rushing through your house. We’re doing a full camera inspection first, mapping every wire, and removing it correctly. Then we’re installing new wiring to code and making sure everything passes inspection.
The timeline also depends on permit approval and scheduling the final inspection, but we handle all of that. You’re not waiting around trying to coordinate with the town or figure out what paperwork you need. We manage the process start to finish so you can get back to normal as quickly as possible.
Insurance companies see knob and tube wiring as a fire risk. The insulation on the wires deteriorates over time, and the wiring wasn’t designed to handle the electrical load that modern homes require. That combination makes them nervous.
Most Rhode Island insurance companies won’t cover a home with active knob and tube wiring. If they find it during an inspection, they’ll give you 30 days to remove it or they’ll cancel your policy. Some companies won’t even insure the home in the first place if they know it’s there.
Once it’s removed and you have documentation showing the work was done to code, your insurance coverage gets reinstated. Some homeowners even see their premiums go down because the risk is gone. It’s not just about keeping your policy—it’s about actually making your home safer.
Yes. We do pre-purchase inspections using our camera system to check for knob and tube wiring that might be hidden behind walls or in areas a standard home inspection doesn’t catch.
A lot of Bristol homes have knob and tube wiring that’s been partially replaced. Someone might have updated the visible wiring but left the old stuff in the walls. You won’t know it’s there until you try to get insurance and they send their own inspector.
Our camera inspection shows you exactly what’s in the walls before you close on the house. If there’s knob and tube wiring, you’ll know how much needs to be replaced and what it’s going to cost. That gives you leverage to negotiate with the seller or budget for the work right away instead of being surprised 30 days after you move in.
Other electricians cut into your walls to find the wiring. They’ll make access holes, remove the knob and tube, install new wiring, and then tell you to call a plasterer to fix the damage. You’re coordinating multiple contractors and dealing with wall repairs that may or may not match your original plaster.
We use a specialized camera that we insert through your outlets. It shows us where the wiring runs, where junction boxes are located, and whether there’s any damage inside the walls. We see everything without opening anything up.
That means we can remove the wiring through existing access points without cutting into your horsehair plaster. No other electrician in this area uses this system. It’s why homeowners with historic homes call us—they want the wiring gone, but they don’t want their walls destroyed in the process.
Most Bristol homeowners pay between $12,000 and $36,000 for complete knob and tube replacement, depending on the size of the home and how much wiring needs to be removed. A smaller home with less wiring costs less. A larger historic home with more circuits and multiple floors costs more.
The price includes the camera inspection, removing all the old wiring, installing new wiring to code, pulling permits, and handling the final inspection. You’re not paying separately for a plasterer or dealing with unexpected repair costs because we’re not tearing up your walls.
We’ll give you an exact price after we do the camera inspection and see what’s actually in your walls. No guessing. No surprises halfway through the job. You’ll know what it costs before we start, and that’s what you’ll pay when we’re done.
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