Your insurance company gave you 30 days to remove the knob and tube wiring or they’re dropping your coverage. You need it gone, but you’re worried about what happens to your walls in the process.
Most electricians will tell you they need to open up your walls and ceilings to get the old wiring out. If you’ve got horsehair plaster—and most Johnston homes from the early 1900s do—that’s a problem. Once you disturb that plaster, it’s nearly impossible to match. You’re looking at visible repairs, texture differences, and a restoration headache that costs more than the electrical work itself.
We remove knob and tube wiring without tearing into your walls. We use a camera system that inspects inside your walls through existing outlets. That camera shows us exactly where the wiring runs, where junction boxes are hidden, and whether there’s mouse damage or other issues we need to address. Then we remove the wiring with little to no wall damage—sometimes just a small notch if absolutely necessary, but often nothing at all.
You get the documentation your insurance company requires. Your home stays intact. And you’re not left with a plastering project that drags on for weeks.
We’ve served Rhode Island homeowners for over three decades. We’re licensed master electricians who’ve worked in hundreds of historic homes across Johnston, Providence, and the surrounding areas.
We know the construction methods used in these older homes. We know how horsehair plaster behaves when it’s been sitting undisturbed for a century. And we know that homeowners don’t want their Colonial cottage or Victorian home torn apart just to meet an insurance requirement.
That’s why we invested in camera-based inspection technology that no other electrician in the area uses. It’s a different approach because the standard approach doesn’t make sense for the homes we work in. Johnston has some of the most beautiful historic properties in Rhode Island, and they deserve better than the “rip it open and patch it later” method.
First, we insert a specialized camera through your existing outlets. This camera feeds video back to us in real time, showing us what’s happening inside your walls. We can see the knob and tube wiring, trace where it runs, locate covered junction boxes, and identify any other issues like rodent damage or open joints that need attention during the inspection.
Once we know exactly what we’re dealing with, we map out the removal plan. Because we can see inside the walls, we’re not guessing. We’re not making exploratory cuts to figure out where things are. We already know.
Then we remove the old wiring using access points that already exist or require minimal intervention. In most cases, we’re working through outlets, small access points in unfinished areas, or attic and basement entry points. If we absolutely need to make a small notch somewhere, it’s strategic and minimal—not the kind of damage that requires a plasterer to come in and try to match 100-year-old horsehair plaster.
After the knob and tube wiring is out, we install modern wiring that’s up to code. You get a new electrical panel if needed, grounded outlets throughout the home, and circuits that can actually handle the electrical load of modern appliances. Then we provide all the documentation and certification your insurance company needs to reinstate your coverage.
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You’re getting knob and tube wiring removal that doesn’t leave your home looking like a construction zone. That’s the main thing. But you’re also getting a complete electrical upgrade that brings your home up to current code standards.
Johnston has a high concentration of homes built between 1900 and 1950. Many of them still have the original horsehair plaster walls, which are incredibly difficult to repair once damaged. The plaster mix used back then included actual horse hair as a binding agent, and modern plaster doesn’t behave the same way. If a traditional electrician opens up your walls, you’re often left with repairs that never quite look right—different texture, visible seams, color variations that show through paint.
Our camera-based process preserves those original walls. You’re not dealing with plaster repair, repainting entire rooms, or trying to match historic finishes. The electrical work gets done, your insurance company gets the documentation they need, and your home looks the same as it did before we started.
You also get the peace of mind that comes with knowing all the old wiring is actually gone—not just the visible parts. Some electricians will remove what they can see and abandon the rest inside the walls. We use the camera to verify complete removal, so you’re not left wondering what’s still hidden in there.
Not with our camera-based system. Traditional electricians need to open walls because they’re working blind—they don’t know where the wiring runs until they start cutting. That approach destroys horsehair plaster, which is nearly impossible to match or repair invisibly.
We use a specialized camera that we insert through your existing outlets. The camera shows us exactly where the knob and tube wiring is located, where junction boxes are hidden, and what obstacles we’re dealing with inside the walls. Because we can see everything before we start the removal process, we’re not making exploratory cuts or guessing about wire locations.
In most cases, we complete the entire knob and tube wiring removal without any wall damage at all. If we absolutely need to create a small access point, it’s minimal—think a small notch rather than large sections of wall removed. You’re not calling a plasterer afterward. You’re not repainting entire rooms. Your historic home stays intact while the dangerous wiring gets removed and replaced with modern, code-compliant electrical systems.
Most knob and tube wiring removal projects in Johnston take between three to seven days, depending on the size of your home and how extensive the old wiring system is. A typical 1,500 to 2,000 square foot home usually falls in the four to five day range.
The timeline includes the camera inspection, removal of all knob and tube wiring, installation of new wiring and electrical panel, and final inspection for code compliance. Because we’re not tearing into walls and waiting for plasterers to come repair the damage, the project moves faster than traditional methods. There’s no coordination with other trades, no drying time for plaster, and no painting delays.
You’ll have access to your home throughout the process. We’re not gutting rooms or making the space unlivable. The work is focused and contained, and because we’re using the camera system to guide the removal, we’re efficient. You’ll know upfront how long the project will take, and we stick to that timeline so you can get your insurance documentation submitted before your deadline.
Yes. Most insurance companies in Rhode Island either refuse to cover homes with active knob and tube wiring or give you a 30 to 60 day deadline to remove it completely. Some will offer limited coverage with higher premiums, but that’s becoming less common.
The insurance industry classifies knob and tube wiring as a high fire risk. The wiring is 70 to 100+ years old, the cloth insulation deteriorates over time, and the system wasn’t designed to handle modern electrical loads. Insurance companies have seen enough claims related to knob and tube failures that they won’t take the risk anymore.
When we complete your knob and tube wiring removal, we provide all the documentation and certification your insurance company needs. That includes permits, inspection reports, and verification that the old wiring has been completely removed and replaced with code-compliant electrical systems. You submit that documentation to your insurer, and your coverage gets reinstated. If you’re buying a home and the lender requires proof of knob and tube removal before they’ll approve your mortgage, this same documentation satisfies that requirement.
Yes, and that’s exactly what our camera system is designed to do. Many Johnston homeowners have had partial knob and tube removal done in the past—someone upgraded the visible wiring but left the concealed wiring abandoned inside the walls. Insurance companies don’t accept that. They want complete removal.
We insert the camera through your outlets and inspect inside the walls to locate any knob and tube wiring that’s still present. The camera shows us the white ceramic knobs, the tubes running through joists, and the old cloth-wrapped wiring. We can also spot covered junction boxes and open joints that violate current code requirements.
This inspection happens before we give you a quote, so you know exactly what you’re dealing with. Some homes only have knob and tube in certain areas—maybe just the second floor or specific rooms. Other homes have it throughout. The camera inspection gives us accurate information so we can price the job correctly and show your insurance company that we’ve verified complete removal once the work is done. You’re not guessing about what’s in your walls, and neither are we.
You’ll have temporary service interruptions during specific phases of the work, but we don’t leave you without power for days at a time. We coordinate the electrical shutoffs so they’re as brief as possible and happen during times that work with your schedule.
Most of the removal and new wiring installation happens with power still running to unaffected areas of your home. When we need to shut down power to work on the panel or connect new circuits, we do that work efficiently and restore service the same day. If you work from home or have specific power needs for medical equipment or other essential devices, let us know upfront and we’ll plan around those requirements.
The final electrical panel upgrade typically requires a full shutdown while we make the connections and bring everything up to code. That usually takes a few hours, not a full day. Once the new panel is in and the inspection is complete, you have modern electrical service that can handle your actual power needs—not the limited capacity that knob and tube systems were designed for back when homes had a fraction of today’s electrical demand.
Because it requires specialized equipment and a different approach to the work. Most electricians use the same method they’ve always used—fishing wires through walls and making cuts where they think the wiring might be. It’s the standard approach in the industry, and it works, but it causes significant wall damage.
We invested in camera-based inspection technology specifically because we work in so many historic homes where wall damage isn’t acceptable. The homes in Johnston, Providence, and surrounding areas have horsehair plaster that can’t be easily repaired. Homeowners don’t want their Colonial or Victorian homes torn apart, and they shouldn’t have to accept that just to meet an insurance requirement.
The camera system costs more upfront and requires training to use effectively. You need to know what you’re looking at when you’re inspecting inside walls, and you need to understand historic home construction to interpret what the camera is showing you. But the result is knob and tube wiring removal that doesn’t destroy the home in the process. No other electrician in this area offers that because no one else has invested in the equipment or developed the process. It’s a one-of-a-kind service, and it’s exactly what historic homeowners need.
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