There’s no doubt that your electrical system is the backbone of your modern household. From giving power to all your appliances and lighting systems to charging your electronic devices, it’s an absolute necessity. One thing you may not give a whole lot of attention to is your actual wiring. However, issues like flickering lights and frequent circuit breaker trips can indicate that it’s time to rewire your home.
Patch Repairs vs. Home Rewiring
It’s common for homeowners to have issues with their electrical systems from time to time. Typically, patch repairs are a cost-effective solution that can handle minor issues that you may have in your older home. For example, if you have a wiring issue with one electrical circuit, an electrician can restore functionality to that individual wire.
However, patch repairs simply don’t address the root cause of bigger electrical issues. Many aging homes have a mix of all different types of wiring, like knob and tube and aluminum. A lot of the time, these patched-up electrical systems can have unsafe areas that can lead to issues, like fire hazards and electrical shocks.
Signs You Need Whole-Home Rewiring
One of the best things you can do as a homeowner of an aging property is to understand the key signs that indicate you need whole-home rewiring service. One of the most obvious is that you experience frequent circuit breaker trips. This is typically a sign of an overloaded electrical circuit, which means you’re placing too high a demand on it. Sometimes these breaker trips may be due to outdated breakers that have simply reached the end of their lifespan.
Another key sign is flickering or dimming lights. This typically will happen when you turn on an appliance that’s pulling a lot of energy to start. It’s very common for modern-day appliances in older homes to experience poor performance or malfunctions due to electrical issues. You may need rewiring if you notice that your outlets and light switches seem to be warm or discolored. This typically signals overheating of the wiring behind it.
Homes that were built many decades ago typically have wiring that isn’t up to current safety standards. Some of the most dangerous wiring includes aluminum, knob and tube, and non-grounded electrical circuits. These all pose a higher risk of electrical fires than more modern-day wiring.
It’s important to note that if you’re planning on doing home renovations or even an expansion, you may want to consider upgrading your electrical system at that time. This is because many of the walls will be exposed, making accessing your wiring easier for electricians. This can reduce the installation cost by minimizing the labor involved.
The Many Benefits of Whole-Home Rewiring
Taking the plunge to rewire your entire home comes with many great benefits. One of the most important is that it increases your household safety. Continuing to rely on outdated wiring like knob and tube or aluminum can be highly dangerous. When you upgrade your wiring, it significantly reduces your risk of experiencing electrical fires and even shocks.
If you have an older home, it’s likely that you have less than 200 amps of power going to it. When you opt for rewiring your home, we can upgrade your panel box to accommodate the standard 200 amps of power. This is necessary to power all the modern new appliances and electronic devices that we rely on.
When you opt for rewiring your home, it increases the reliability of your electrical system. You’re less likely to experience issues like tripped circuit breakers, flickering lights, and appliance malfunctions. You can rest assured that your home is up to current electrical code standards. This will go a long way in future-proofing your home and increasing its overall resale value.
The Planning Process
If you’ve decided that it’s time to invest in whole-home rewiring, it’s important to consult one of our electricians. You never want to try to DIY whole-home electrical projects, as it typically isn’t compliant with local building codes. Additionally, it can be dangerous if you don’t understand what you’re doing. Our electricians are highly trained and have hands-on experience in rewiring households safely.
When you’re planning to rewire your home, it all starts with an electrical inspection. This is where our licensed electrician will come out and do a comprehensive inspection of your home’s existing electrical system. They’ll be able to identify what’s necessary to upgrade your electrical system. We’ll listen to what your needs are, take a look at your different appliances, HVAC system, lighting, and understand any planned home expansions you have. This will allow us to recommend the appropriate equipment to meet your electrical needs.
Once we understand what you need, we’ll apply for permits from the local building authority. To legally and safely replace your electrical wiring, you must have a licensed electrician do the job. Once we have your permitting ready to go, we’ll schedule a timeline to do your rewiring service. Rewiring can take anywhere between a few days and a few weeks, depending on the size of your home and the complexity of the project. We can provide you with an estimated time frame during our initial consultation.
The Rewiring Process
When our electricians come out to rewire your home, they follow a standard process to ensure effective results. It all starts with shutting off the power supply to your home. We remove all the old, outdated wiring from your walls, ceilings, and even your attic. We run new code-compliant wiring to all the locations throughout your home.
These include going from your circuit breakers to all your outlets, switches, and appliances. We ensure proper grounding and bonding for optimal system safety. We always test and inspect new wiring installations to ensure proper functionality, safety, and electrical code compliance.
Properly Maintaining Your New Electrical System
There’s no doubt that investing in whole-home rewiring service can be quite expensive for any homeowner. It only makes sense to do everything possible to properly maintain your new electrical system for as long as possible. One of the most important things you can do is to schedule regular system inspections.
We recommend getting inspections about every three to five years. This will catch any potential problems with your system so that we can repair them before they turn into major issues. As a homeowner, it’s important to pay attention to what you’re plugging into your electrical circuits.
Try to avoid overloading any of your circuits by plugging in multiple heavy-use devices into one electrical circuit. Major appliances should have their own dedicated electrical circuit for adequate safety. Anytime that you experience a malfunction with your electrical system, it’s important to get prompt repair services. You never want to let issues go, as they will likely just lead to bigger and costlier issues.
Expert Whole-Home Rewiring Service
Davis & Green offers expert whole-home rewiring service for the Richmond, VA area. We can also assist with all your electrical installation, repair, and inspection needs. Just call us today to book an appointment with one of our fully licensed electricians.
