Rewiring Older Home in Northern Virginia: Do These 5 Things First

Northern Virginia has a wonderful heritage of beautiful, older homes, many with historical value. But their wiring hasn’t kept pace with modern electrical needs, so we frequently find ourselves helping homeowners rewire. Older electric panels, switches, outlets, and writing need to be updated in a safe, orderly manner, starting with these 5 steps:

1. Take an Electrical Usage Inventory

Go through every room in your home (including the basement, attic and garage) and list every single point of electrical usage. You can even make a map of it, with a list of each outlet, everything that’s plugged in, the lights, computers, appliances, outlets, etc. Don’t forget the heating, cooling and water heater systems.

2. Enlist Your Residential Electrician for Help with Building Codes and Pull Permits

Electrical work done on your home must be done by a certified electrician to comply with local and state building codes—and for safety reasons. Doing it on your own can invalidate your home insurance policy, get someone hurt or require you to pull out work that’s already been done, costing you thousands of extra dollars. So get professional help first!

3. Prioritize and Compare Modern Needs with Internal Infrastructure

Modern wiring gives you a lot more options for powering your life. Look at the inventory you compiled in step one and decide if you need to grow in any way, but also pay close attention to the home’s current infrastructure, paying attention to load-bearing walls, pipes, gas lines and historical aspects you want to maintain. Prioritize what’s most important and what could wait.

4. Prepare and Budget for the Dust and Reconstruction

A comprehensive rewiring of an older home will require some dust, banging and demolition. After the rewiring, those aspects will need to be rebuilt, restored or remodeled. Don’t forget this in your budget and schedule.

5. Get Everything in Writing

The best electricians will be very specific in their estimates and diagrams about what needs to happen and how much it will cost. They’ll warn you about potential “surprises” so they won’t be surprises. The only post-rewiring project surprise you should experience is how happy you are with the finished product.

Do not try to update your home’s electrical systems without a licensed electrician—for insurance, code, quality, resale and especially safety reasons! Root Electric has been updating the wiring in older Northern Virginia homes for more than 30 years, so contact Root Electric today at (703) 494-3989 for help.