How do I rewire my house?

Rewiring a house is one project that many homeowners face after the purchase of an older home. Old wiring simply may not handle a modern owner's demands. In addition, older wiring is often a fire hazard. If you plan to rewire a home, you need to consider several things, as there are a variety of ways to complete the job. In some cases, less is more.

Assess the Wiring

First and foremost assess your home's wiring. If it is over 40 years old, chances are it needs replacement. That does not mean you have to gut the entire home and strip out every piece of wiring. If you have no idea how old the wiring is, there are several indications that will tell you if it needs to be replaced. If there is no equipment grounding conductor, which is the wire that provides a ground for the circuit, or the system has too few circuits to run your appliances, then you should replace your wiring.

Outlets

Make sure your home has all the outlets you need to properly function. Each should run on a separate circuit, if not, make a note of which outlets are on the same circuit. Your circuit panel should provide you with this information. Next, write down how many new outlets you will need. Then write down the number of high power outlets, for instance an oven and dryer outlet. Use graph paper to chart where the new outlets will go as you develop your plan.

Rewiring the Home

Every house is different in structure and design so each wiring project is unique. In general, wires are strung through the framework of the walls from the main circuit board. The incoming power wires are connected directly to the circuit board. From here each wire is then sent to the proper outlet. Determine if the wiring itself is usable, if not, you will have to run new wires, following the same paths as the previous installation. If this is not possible, new holes will have to be drilled in your framework. Conduits may also be installed along the floor joists of your basement to run the ground floor wires.

Source:

Park Publishing: Modernizing Old Wiring

More Information:

Costhelper: Wiring Costs for a Home