Toronto Knob and Tube Wiring

Toronto Knob and Tube. Inspect Repair Replace

2010-05-12T17:07:00.001-04:00

Knob and Tube Replacement

Toronto Electrical Contractor

Best Service Low prices

Better, Safer Homes!

New wires are gently pulled behind plaster and drywall to protect your old house walls
All work is performed by licensed electricians strictly following the wiring code

Fast professional rewiring behind finished walls to:
make your home more comfortable and safe
increase house value & give you a peace of mind
dramatically reduce the risk of fire and electric shock
brand new wiring will greatly cut your insurance payments

We give you an estimate over the phone or come for a paid inspection:
Express Electrical Inspection for homebuyers. Homebuyers, know what you are buying!
Knob and Tube Certified Inspection in Toronto requested by your insurance broker
Electric safety inspection and formal report to reduce your insurance premiums

Good Knob and Tube Inspection Report is a great selling tool for sellers
Home seller, avoid unpleasant surprises or drastic price reductions

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

St. Clair Ave West house Electrician
Bloor Street West home Electrician
Dundas St West condo Electrician
Annette St Residential Electrician

http://electriciantoronto.ca/

Emergency Electrician in Toronto

Mississauga Commercial Electrical Contractors

Licensed Residential Electrician in Mississauga

Electrician in Etobicoke

http://customkitchencabinetswoodbridge.blogspot.com/

http://stouffvilleelectricalcontractor.blogspot.com/

Toronto Custom Kitchen Cabinets

Avoid Trouble while Removing Knob and Tube

2010-03-12T13:28:00.001-05:00

What you should NEVER do if you decided to replace the old Knob and Tube wiring in your house.

Well, never use a handyman, a renovator, or even a general contractor to upgrade, remove, or repair your wiring. It's like hiring them to place ticking fire bombs into your walls and ceiling

Most handymen and even some electricians would do the job faster by cheating here and there. A DIYourselfer for example, would cut off and change just the exposed ends of the K&T or splice wires without a junction box. Temptation is very strong and there is no risk to lose "the handyman's license"

The Electrical Code states that all splicing, termination, and connection of wires should be done inside the closed boxes. Connecting two or more wires without one junction box would save a handyman from one hour to three hours and instantly put from $30 to $90 into his pocket. What if your rewiring crew did not install 20 boxes? It's so easy to hide and very difficult to detect, unless you watched them closely. This and other tricks would save such renovators 50% - 80% of the time and create an even higher risk of the fire than before. You would end up with the incorrectly installed new wiring, which is much more dangerous than the original knob and tube

That is why a handyman, renovator, general contractor, and even a licensed electrician are neither allowed to do any electrical work, nor Knob and Tube replacement in Toronto and/or in Ontario

Only a registered with the ESA/ECRA Electrical Contractor and ironically you, the owner/occupant of a single dwelling unit (if it's also a fully detached house) could legally handle the electrical work in Ontario

You would lose the insurance policy, put yourself and others at risk of fire if you allowed a handyman or even a general contractor to do the wiring. It is considered a form of insurance fraud. If found guilty you can face severe consequences including huge fines

Electrical Safety Authority (the ESA) would order you to do the wiring correctly or cut off the house power. And you would have to endure again all the hardships of the second renovation/rewiring

Always check the name and picture against Electrical Contractor & driver licenses and call the ESA licensure in Toronto at 1-877 372-7233 then 1, then 3 to verify the contractor's license

It is obvious now that a licensed and honest electrical contractor could not compete in price with such handymen. But, of course you get what you pay for at the end of the day

The very least you should do after such wiring upgrade is invite an Electrical Contractor for advice, inspection and consultation on how to do knob and tube rewiring correctly. And do not forget to get a permit and pass the ESA inspection. You would pay a little extra and save yourself from those ticking bombs

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

Fire Alarm Electricians

Electrician and Plumber in Aurora, ON

Industrial Maintenance Electrical Contractors

Richmond Hill Drain Sewer & Plumbing Emergency

Low voltage wiring in Toronto: audio, video, data. Home & Office Automation in Toronto

Toronto Electricians at 2 Fieldway Rd., Etobicoke, ON M8Z 0B9

Toronto Electrician

Knob and Tube rewiring tips

2010-03-12T13:22:00.002-05:00

Plan it in advance!

Knob and Tube replacement in an empty unoccupied house would:

cost you 40% less

get finished much faster

protect your stuff from dust or damage

save you from unimaginable inconveniencies of residing in a renovation "war zone"

Do not move in if you just bought the house. Or go to Mexico if you currently reside in the house. Take a two week vacation, have fun, and be pleasantly surprised upon coming back!

Additional work: tell us what & where to install and we will

Save time and avoid mistakes or confusion. Place in advance, a piece of colored masking tape to mark each spot of an additional light location on the ceiling. Mark each additional switch/receptacle location on the walls. On each sticker write down which switch operates what. This is especially important in long corridors and big spaces/rooms like hallways, conjoined family-dining rooms, etc.

Make a list and hand drawing of all additional lights, switches, receptacles and their locations. From our experience: it could save an electrician tons of time, prevent mistakes, and save you big $$$. The more you mark, draw and write down, the fewer mistakes, lost time, confusion, and questions we will all have

Closer to the work completion place each light on the floor, just below the spot it should be installed at. Or thoroughly mark each light's box before leaving for that pleasant vacation

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

Toronto Energy Saving & Energy Efficiency

Home, Condo Electrician Office, Mall

Drain | Plumbing | Waterproofing

Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing Contractors

http://electricratestoronto.blogspot.com/

Electrical Contractor

Licensed Electrician

Residential Wiring

Toronto Network, Cable & Telephone Wiring

Toronto Knob and Tube Problems Exposed

2010-03-02T07:55:00.000-05:00

Is the Knob and Tube wiring in my house safe?

99% of old Toronto houses with Knob and Tube wiring do have various code violations, unless recently rewired. And the vast majority of them have more than one of the following problems: deteriorated wiring and insulation, illegal splicing, circuit overload and overfusing, incorrect configuration, thermal house insulation and debris covering the wiring, etc.

Some of these faults are outright dangerous, just waiting for a fire to happen.

Not seeing those problems does not mean they are not there. The rule of thumb: if there is Knob and Tube wiring in the house, there are hazardous things associated with it.

Just one positive note though. Knob and tube wiring on its own is not inherently a problem. Wiring that has deteriorated, been changed, over-fused, or abused is.

Therefore, if there were absolutely no changes to the original wiring in your particular house, you may have NO electrical issues. Sounds good. But it is highly unlikely that generations of previous owners did not do any DIY "improvements" to the 60 or 100 year old house.

Have a look for yourself. These are the evidence - pictures taken during the general renovation, when the walls and ceiling got opened up.

Apply what you see here to your house. For sure it has some, if not all of the displayed problems.

Dangerous or Deteriorated Knob & Tube wiring and Code Violations

Click on the picture above to look at each picture for as long a you like

Click here for the Full Screen Slide Show

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

Electricians

Electricians in Bridle Path

Etobicoke Commercial & Residential Electrical Contractors

Mississauga Electrician

Toronto Top Electrical Business for Sale by Owner

Toronto Small Electric Repairs and Big Electrical Projects

Woodbridge Electrical Contractor

Knob and Tube Rewiring Pricing. Fixed Estimate or Hourly Rate?

2009-12-14T11:55:00.000-05:00

This Electrical Contractor did so many Knob and Tube rewiring jobs in Toronto that we literary could do the job with our eyes closed

From our experience same job in two identical houses could take up to five fold less or more time to complete.

When we start jobs replacing just a few remaining knob and tube lights, switches and receptacles with alleged 10% - 50% of remaining knob and tube wiring, we often end up replacing 50% - 100% of the wiring. Intentionally or not previous renovators hide the knob and tube. Some previous owners, handymen or lousy electricians replace just the visible parts or ends with the new wire, hiding the rest of the Knob and Tube or use a bunch of other tricks.

In many old homes one, two, or three remaining K&T circuits supply power to 60% or more of the house, and usually they are connected to the most remote top floor. These lines are frequently over-fused, overloaded, deteriorated, or abused and present a high risk of fire.

And even recently replaced or installed wiring often does not conform to code or is outright dangerous. In most cases neither electrical contractor, nor estimator, nor inspector could find that without breaking walls or without extensive electrical tests.

Understandably when doing estimates contractors are only allowed to do visual examination without breaking walls just to have a look inside.

We think therefore, that no one could give the right estimate for the alleged percentage of knob and tube eplacement, the amount would depend of so many things. Estimate in such situation is a tremendous waste of time. Coming for an estimate makes no much sense because no one could see through the walls to find out what the exact scope of the work is. Figuring out the percentage of K&T, aluminum, ungrounded, and NOT to CODE wiring could take many hours. Illegal splicing inside the walls is often impossible to detect without breaking the walls and is much easier/faster to just replace (without breaking the walls).

That is why we would like our customers to consider giving us a job on the hourly rate basis + materials + inspection.

From our point of view it is the fairest deal when the customer pays by the hour exactly as much as the job is worth. And the contractor earns exactly as much money as time, effort and materials were required to do a good job in this particular house or building.

The final cost based on the hourly rate could be lower or higher comparing to the fixed price. Same job in two side by side houses/buildings, for example, could vary by 10% to 500%. And it's not a secret that to protect themselves from the worst case scenario, each contractor would give the highest estimate that is based on the worst case scenario.

Hourly payment method has great advantages for bigger, unclear, and/or complex renovation jobs. It gives the customer much more freedom and flexibility in deciding what to do and what NOT to do. Hourly method would practically eliminate the possibility of disagreement, dispute or conflict. And the customer could make as many changes and additions as he/she wishes. Such changes are unavoidable during most renovation projects and are highly problematic with the fixed amount contracts or fixed price jobs.

As an additional protection for the customer, contractor encourages the customer to exercise the strict control, keep meticulous time-sheets, do unexpected, unannounced inspections, to videotape, to invite an independent electrical contractor or an ESA inspector to check the work at any given moment.

As a contractor, we undertake to do the work to the best of our ability, honestly, to the code, on time, and without delays. Contractor promises to work hard, without unreasonable talking on the phone, coffee, or any other breaks, and without stoppages. Contractor shall not spend more than 40 minutes a day per worker on lunch and/or on all other breaks. Contractor encourages customer to closely watch, control the work and ask any questions.

Here is an example of benefits the hourly rate approach gives you, the customer:

As any other electrical contractor in Toronto we could upgrade only obvious, probable, or only suspicious wiring. We could replace all the wiring. Or we could rewire just those circuits that customer told us to, or those lines that are visibly or clearly detectable as Knob and Tube, aluminum, or ungrounded.

Hourly method facilitates discussion of all these options during the work. Hourly rate payment method allows you to adjust to the situation and make informed decisions. This flexibility could substantially speed up the process of rewiring and decrease the total cost to the customer.

We could still come, have a look, talk with our customers and give an estimate or take the job on the hourly rate basis. The choice is yours

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

60 amp Fuse Panel Upgrade to 100 Amp or 200 Amp

Electrical Contractors in Toronto

We Hook-up Appliances in Mississauga, Milton, Oakville

Toronto Plumber Drain Emergencies

Bolton, Caledon, Brampton Appliance Installation

Toronto Roofing

http://markhamelectriciantoronto.blog.ca/

Is Knob & Tube wiring in my house safe?

2009-08-03T16:34:00.001-04:00

An expert opinion of this Toronto Master Electrician is that:

Knob and Tube wiring is safe if:

the original wiring was properly installed
it has not deteriorated & is properly maintained
no new or extra outlets and plugs have been added

it was not tempered with during house upgrades & repairs
it is not overloaded & protected with a 15 Amp fuse or breaker
all three prong wall plugs on K&T circuits should be GFCI protected

Most houses with Knob and Tube would have one or more conditions inconsistent with the list above

Hire this Master Electrician to check your home wiring
Our inspection reports are recognized by the insurance industry
It would answer the most important question of whether or not your house is safe

The important fact is that Electrical Safety Authority & Ontario Electrical
Safety Code do allow & accept Knob and Tube wiring in houses at the present time

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

Exterior Restoration, Wall Painting & Building Repair in Toronto

www.electriciantoronto.ca

Electrical Contractors

Etobicoke Knob and Tube

Electrician Etobicoke

GTA Electrical Contractors

Toronto Knob and Tube Electrical Inspection

2009-01-06T19:09:00.000-05:00

Property Electrical Inspection Toronto

House Knob and Tube Inspection

Aluminum Wiring Inspection

Electrical inspection to reduce your insurance premiums

Electrical inspection in Toronto requested by your insurance broker

Express Electrical inspection for Toronto & GTA Real Estate and Insurance agents

A certified by a Licensed Master Electrician positive report could greatly reduce cost of home insurance

torontoknobandtubereplace@gmail.com

Electrician in Toronto

Bridle Path Licensed Electricians in Toronto

Etobicoke Commercial Electrical Contractor. High Park Residential Electrician

Mississauga Electrician

Toronto Top Electrical Business for Sale by Owner

Licensing info

2009-01-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

Info, links, resources, ideas, etc.

2008-08-15T10:47:00.000-04:00