Most insurance companies in Rhode Island won’t cover homes with active knob and tube wiring. Some give you 30 days to remove it or they cancel your policy. That puts you in a tight spot—especially if you own one of North Kingstown’s beautiful historic homes with original horsehair plaster.
Here’s the problem with traditional knob and tube removal: electricians cut open your walls to access the old wiring. Then you’re left patching holes, matching 100-year-old plaster, repainting entire rooms. The electrical work might cost $15,000, but the repairs after can add thousands more.
We do it differently. We insert a specialized camera system through your existing outlets to locate and remove knob and tube wiring from inside the walls. No cutting. No notching. No tearing apart your plaster. If there’s any damage at all, it’s minimal—small access points that get filled and painted. Most jobs leave zero visible holes because we work from attics and basements when they’re available.
You get a safer electrical system, you keep your insurance, and your walls look the same as they did before we arrived.
We’ve been working on Rhode Island homes for over 30 years. Our licensed master electricians specialize in older properties—the kind with horsehair plaster, original woodwork, and wiring that hasn’t been touched since the 1940s.
North Kingstown has plenty of these homes. Beautiful Victorians, colonials, and farmhouses built before 1950. They have character you can’t replicate, but they also have electrical systems that weren’t designed for modern life. We understand how to upgrade those systems without destroying what makes your home special.
Every electrician can replace wiring. Not every electrician can do it without leaving your home looking like a construction site. That’s why homeowners with historic properties call us—because we’ve done this work hundreds of times, and we know how to protect what matters while fixing what’s dangerous.
First, we inspect your home using our camera system. We insert the camera through existing outlets to see what’s happening inside your walls—where the knob and tube wiring runs, whether there’s mouse damage, if there are covered junction boxes or open joints. This tells us exactly what we’re dealing with before we start any work.
Next, we plan the cleanest route for your new wiring. If you have an attic above or a basement below, we can often drill into wall cavities from those spaces. That means zero visible damage to your living areas. For walls without attic or basement access, we make small access points—nothing like the large openings traditional methods require.
Then we remove the old knob and tube wiring and install your new electrical system. You can stay in your home during the work. We shut off power to specific areas while we’re working on them, but you won’t be without electricity for days. Most complete upgrades take one to three weeks depending on your home’s size.
When we’re done, you get a certificate of insurance and documentation that the work was completed by a licensed electrician and passed inspection. That’s what your insurance company needs to reinstate or approve your coverage.
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You get a complete electrical upgrade that meets current code. That means your home can handle modern appliances, electronics, and power demands without overloading circuits or creating fire hazards. The old cloth-wrapped wiring held up by porcelain knobs gets replaced with modern wiring that’s safe and reliable.
You also get minimal to zero wall damage. Our camera-based process is designed specifically for homes where preserving original plaster and finishes matters. North Kingstown has some of the most beautiful historic homes in Rhode Island—homes with horsehair plaster that’s nearly impossible to match if you damage it. Our method keeps that plaster intact.
And you get documentation for your insurance company. Once the work is done and inspected, most insurers reinstate coverage immediately. Some homeowners even see their premiums drop because the fire risk is gone. If your mortgage company was threatening to force-place insurance at triple the cost, that problem disappears too.
The timeline is straightforward. Smaller homes can be completed in a week. Larger properties with more complex layouts might take three weeks. Either way, you’re not living in a construction zone, and you’re not dealing with months of wall repairs after the electrical work is finished.
Most homeowners in North Kingstown pay between $12,000 and $36,000 for complete knob and tube replacement. The range depends on your home’s size, how much wiring needs to be replaced, and how accessible your walls are.
A 1,500 square foot home with straightforward access typically falls on the lower end. A 2,500 square foot Victorian with plaster walls and limited attic or basement access costs more. But here’s what matters: our camera system keeps costs lower than traditional methods because you’re not paying for extensive wall repairs, replastering, and repainting after the electrical work is done.
Traditional removal can add $300 to $900 per room just for patching and repairs, plus another $2,000 or more for interior painting. Our process eliminates most of that expense. You’re paying for the electrical upgrade itself—not for fixing the damage caused by doing the work.
Yes, when there’s an attic above or basement below the walls we’re working on. We drill into the wall cavities from those spaces, which means zero visible holes in your living areas.
For walls without attic or basement access, we make small access points—nothing like the large openings other electricians cut. If any holes are necessary, they’re minimal and get filled with lightweight patch for painting. The camera system lets us see exactly where the wiring runs, so we’re not guessing or cutting exploratory holes to figure out what’s behind your walls.
This matters especially in historic homes with horsehair plaster. That plaster is extremely hard to match if damaged, and few tradespeople know how to work with it properly. Our method preserves your original plaster completely in most cases, and when access points are needed, they’re small enough that repairs are simple.
Once you complete the upgrade and provide documentation to your insurer, most companies reinstate coverage immediately. Some homeowners see their premiums drop because the fire risk associated with knob and tube wiring is eliminated.
Insurance companies in Rhode Island either refuse to cover homes with active knob and tube wiring or require you to remove it within 30 days of purchasing a policy. That’s because knob and tube systems weren’t designed for modern electrical loads, and they create fire hazards when overloaded.
After we finish your upgrade, you get a certificate showing that a licensed master electrician completed the work and that it passed inspection. That documentation answers the questions your insurance company will ask. Most insurers accept it without issue, and your coverage continues or gets approved if you were previously denied.
Plan on one to three weeks for a complete upgrade. Smaller homes can be done in a week. Larger properties with more complex layouts take closer to three weeks.
The timeline depends on how much wiring needs replacement and how your home is laid out. A 1,200 square foot ranch with good attic access goes faster than a 2,800 square foot Victorian with multiple stories and limited access points.
You can stay in your home during the work. We shut off power to specific areas while we’re working on them, but you won’t be without electricity for days at a time. Most homeowners continue their normal routines with minor adjustments. And because our process doesn’t require extensive wall repairs afterward, the project timeline ends when the electrical work is done—not weeks later after plastering and painting.
The camera inspection shows us exactly where your knob and tube wiring runs inside the walls, whether there’s damage from mice or deterioration, and if there are covered junction boxes or open joints that create safety hazards.
We insert the camera through your existing outlets, so we’re seeing the actual conditions inside your walls before we start any removal work. This tells us how to plan the cleanest route for your new wiring and whether there are problems beyond just outdated wiring—like connections wrapped with masking tape instead of proper electrical tape, or cloth insulation that’s deteriorated.
That inspection also helps us give you an accurate estimate. We’re not guessing about what we’ll find once we open things up. We know what’s there, what needs to be replaced, and what the scope of work actually involves before we start.
Knob and tube wiring wasn’t designed for the electrical loads modern homes require. When you run multiple appliances, electronics, and HVAC systems on wiring that was installed for a few lights and maybe a radio, the system overheats. That heat damage creates fire risk.
The wiring itself is also old—often 70 to 100 years old in North Kingstown’s historic homes. The cloth insulation deteriorates over time. Connections that were originally secure come loose. Mice chew through the cloth covering. And many knob and tube systems have been modified over the years by people who didn’t know what they were doing, creating junction boxes hidden inside walls or connections that don’t meet code.
Insurance companies refuse to cover these systems because the fire risk is real. Homes with knob and tube wiring are significantly more likely to have electrical fires than homes with modern wiring. That’s not speculation—it’s why insurers either deny coverage or require immediate removal as a condition of your policy.
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