Your insurance company sent another letter. They want proof the knob and tube wiring is gone, or they’re dropping your coverage. You know it needs to go—the fire risk alone keeps you up at night—but you’ve heard the horror stories about electricians tearing into walls, leaving dust everywhere, and creating repair bills that rival the rewiring cost itself.
Here’s what’s different. We use a specialized camera system that goes through your existing outlets to locate and remove old wiring from inside your walls. No cutting. No notching. No need to hire a plasterer afterward. If there’s any damage at all, it’s minimal—maybe a small notch here or there, nothing like the traditional approach.
Your home looks the same when we leave. Your electrical system meets modern safety standards. Your insurance company gets the documentation they need. And if you’re in one of Tiverton’s beautiful historic homes with original horsehair plaster, you’re not facing impossible-to-match repairs or losing the character that makes your house special.
We’ve spent over 30 years working in Rhode Island’s older homes. We’re licensed Master Electricians who understand what you’re dealing with in Tiverton—homes built in the 1950s or earlier, original plaster that can’t be replaced, and insurance companies that won’t budge on their deadlines.
The camera system we use isn’t something every electrician has. It’s specialized equipment that most don’t invest in because the traditional cut-and-patch method is what they know. We bought it specifically for homeowners like you who need the wiring gone but can’t afford to destroy their walls in the process.
Tiverton has incredible historic properties—homes in the Four Corners area, near the Bourne Mill, all over town. We’ve worked in dozens of them. We know how to move through these spaces carefully, and we know what’s at stake when you’re trying to preserve something that’s been standing for generations.
First, we insert our camera system through your existing outlets. The camera goes into the wall cavity and shows us exactly where the old knob and tube wiring runs, where it’s damaged, and whether there are any hidden junction boxes or open joints that need attention. We’re also looking for mouse damage or deteriorated insulation—common problems in older wiring that increase fire risk.
Once we map everything out, we remove the old wiring through those same access points. Because we can see inside the walls, we know the best route for new wiring without guessing or cutting exploratory holes. We’re not working blind. We’re working with real-time visuals of what’s actually in there.
Then we install modern, grounded circuits that meet current Rhode Island electrical codes. Everything gets inspected and documented. You get a Certificate of Insurance that proves to your insurance company the work is done and done right. Most of our clients finish the whole process in one to three weeks, depending on the size of the home.
The difference between this and the traditional method is night and day. Other electricians will tell you they need to cut into walls, create access points, and then bring in someone else to patch and repair. That’s because they don’t have the camera system. They’re working the old way. We’re not.
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Tiverton’s housing stock skews older. The median year homes were built here is 1958, and plenty of properties go back much further than that. If your home was built before 1950, there’s a strong chance you’ve got knob and tube wiring somewhere in the walls—even if it’s not active everywhere.
Most Rhode Island insurance companies won’t cover homes with active knob and tube wiring anymore. Some give you 30 days to remove it before they cancel your policy. Others won’t insure the home at all until you provide proof it’s gone. That’s not scare tactics—that’s the reality of the insurance market right now.
The other issue is horsehair plaster. If you’ve got original plaster walls, you know how hard it is to find someone who can repair them properly. The materials are different. The technique is different. Most contractors don’t know how to work with it, and the ones who do charge accordingly. Our camera-based process protects that plaster completely. You’re not dealing with patching, matching textures, or repainting entire rooms because someone had to tear into the walls.
You’re also getting electrical capacity that actually supports how you live now. Knob and tube wiring wasn’t designed for the number of devices and appliances we use today. Upgrading means you’re not overloading circuits or dealing with breakers that trip constantly. It’s a safety upgrade and a functional one.
For a complete home rewiring, you’re typically looking at $12,000 to $36,000, which works out to roughly $10 to $20 per square foot. The range depends on the size of your home, how much wiring needs to be replaced, and how accessible everything is once we get the camera inside the walls.
That’s not a small investment, but compare it to what you’d pay if you had to hire an electrician to cut open walls, then hire a plasterer to repair everything, then hire a painter to finish it all. You’re saving the cost of those additional trades, plus the time and disruption that comes with having multiple crews in your home over several weeks.
We give you transparent pricing upfront. No surprises, no change orders unless we find something truly unexpected once we’re in there. And you’re getting documentation that satisfies your insurance company’s requirements, which means you’re not at risk of losing coverage or paying higher premiums because of outdated wiring.
Not with our camera system. We access everything through existing outlets, so your plaster stays intact. If there’s any damage at all, it’s minimal—maybe a small notch in a spot where we absolutely need a bit more clearance. But we’re not cutting large holes, we’re not creating access panels, and we’re not doing anything that requires a plasterer to come in afterward.
That’s the whole point of the camera technology. Traditional electricians have to cut into walls because they can’t see what’s in there. They’re working blind, so they create openings to figure out where the wiring runs and how to route new cables. We’re not guessing. We can see everything before we touch anything.
For horsehair plaster especially, this is huge. That material is almost impossible to match if it gets damaged. The texture, the composition, even the way it’s applied—it’s all different from modern plaster or drywall. Protecting it means you’re preserving the original character of your home without compromise.
Most homes take one to three weeks from start to finish. The timeline depends on the size of your home and how much wiring we’re replacing. A smaller home with straightforward access might be done in a week. A larger historic property with more complex wiring could take closer to three.
We’re not in and out in a day, but we’re also not dragging the project out for months. Once we start, we work efficiently because we’re not waiting on other trades to patch walls or dealing with the mess that comes from traditional methods. Everything we need to do, we can do ourselves.
You’ll have access to your home the whole time. We’re not tearing the place apart, so you’re not living in a construction zone. There’s no plaster dust covering everything, no plastic sheeting dividing rooms, no need to move out while we work. It’s as minimally disruptive as this kind of project can be.
The camera shows us the exact path of your existing knob and tube wiring, where it connects, and where it doesn’t. We can see if there are covered junction boxes that shouldn’t be covered, open joints that create fire hazards, or sections where the wiring insulation has deteriorated to the point where it’s dangerous.
We also catch things like mouse damage, which is more common than you’d think in older homes. Rodents chew through insulation and wiring, creating shorts and fire risks that you’d never know about until something goes wrong. The camera picks that up before it becomes a bigger problem.
It also shows us the best route for running new wiring. We’re not guessing where studs are or whether there’s blocking in the wall that’ll stop us from fishing cables through. We can see all of it in real time, which means we’re making informed decisions about how to do the work with the least amount of disruption to your home.
Yes. We provide a Certificate of Insurance and full documentation that proves the knob and tube wiring has been removed and replaced with modern, code-compliant electrical systems. That’s what your insurance company is asking for, and that’s exactly what we deliver.
Most Rhode Island insurance companies have gotten strict about this. They either won’t cover homes with active knob and tube wiring, or they give you a short window—usually 30 days—to remove it before they cancel your policy. We’ve worked with dozens of homeowners in your exact situation, and the documentation we provide has satisfied every insurance company we’ve dealt with.
Some clients even see their premiums go down after the work is done, though that’s not guaranteed. What is guaranteed is that you’re no longer at risk of losing your coverage because of outdated wiring. That peace of mind alone is worth it, especially if you’ve been getting those weekly letters threatening cancellation.
Because it’s specialized equipment that requires training and investment most electricians don’t make. The traditional cut-and-patch method works, so that’s what most stick with. They cut into walls, figure out where the wiring is, do the work, and then either patch it themselves or tell you to hire someone else to fix the damage.
We invested in the camera system specifically because we work in so many historic homes where cutting into walls isn’t an option—or at least isn’t a good option. When you’re dealing with horsehair plaster, original woodwork, or homes that are on the National Register of Historic Places, you can’t just tear into things and hope for the best.
The camera system lets us do the job right without compromising the integrity of the home. It’s more precise, it’s less invasive, and it gives homeowners a solution that doesn’t force them to choose between safety and preservation. No other electrician in the Tiverton area is using this technology. It’s one of the main reasons people call us instead of someone else.
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