# Pointers on 1950's home rewire.



## Monkeyboy (Jul 28, 2012)

If it were me; gut the walls. Re-wire, re-plumb, & insulate properly. You will have fresh, clean, & flat walls.


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## daveEM (Nov 18, 2012)

Walk around the house with a router. Drywall set it at 5/8 an inch, plaster 7/8. Snap a line 2 feet off the floor on every single wall in the house. Common walls you need only snap one side.

Rent a bin, smoke the bottom two feet of wall. If there is a switch or you wan't to put one take a 16" piece out to the ceiling. Install garbage in bin. Remove all the wiring. Install in bin.

Wire the place. get inspected. Hire slaves to re-drywall the bottom two feet, etc. Hire a smart guy to tape.

You can paint.

*Edit:* Careful in the attic. Old house might have a nice fancy ceiling that only 6 old guys in North America know how to do anymore. Might be worth saving.


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## CGW (Oct 14, 2014)

I have an older home that luckily was rewired before I can along. I used the method Dave suggests for the little bit of rewiring I've needed. I'd really like to rewire the whole house, but that will prob never happen.

I did see an older home once that had conduit running on the outside of the house to deliver modern rolex to the upper floors. Not sure how legal that is though. It was strategically placed to not be that obvious. I didn't realize it until we opened up the boxes.


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## don_resqcapt19 (Jul 18, 2010)

I would look at fishing the walls before I would cut into them. You should be able to removed the old devices boxes and fish new wire without a lot of problems. If the exterior walls are insulated they will be more difficult to fish, but not impossible.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

Fishing is such an acquired skill, sometimes i think the greater part of which is simply knowing how older homes where constructed.....~CS~


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

CGW said:


> I have an older home that luckily was rewired before I can along. I used the method Dave suggests for the little bit of rewiring I've needed. I'd really like to rewire the whole house, but that will prob never happen.
> 
> I did see an older home once that had conduit running on the outside of the house to deliver modern rolex to the upper floors. Not sure how legal that is though. It was strategically placed to not be that obvious. I didn't realize it until we opened up the boxes.



We were called by a RE agent to verify a rewire where UF circled the outside of the home

Aside from maybe physical damage ,or neat & workmanlike, i could find no specific code to paint it uncompliant

~CS~


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## readydave8 (Sep 20, 2009)

See if you can get part time work with contractor that has some re-wires going, I always needed occasional help on evening and weekends, maybe someone near you does too


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## Jay82304 (May 12, 2015)

Personally, if it is done in NM with ground I wouldn't rewire anything unless it needs it. I would just re-device everything and update the panel if it is outdated. Add new runs for updates like GFIs and other things. Generally 1950s houses are in drywall so hopefully it's that way for you. Just my 2 cents, I'd keep the older pipes too instead of pex but that's just me.


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

Jay82304 said:


> Personally, if it is done in NM with ground I wouldn't rewire anything unless it needs it. I would just re-device everything and update the panel if it is outdated. Add new runs for updates like GFIs and other things. Generally 1950s houses are in drywall so hopefully it's that way for you. Just my 2 cents, I'd keep the older pipes too instead of pex but that's just me.


Just add some circuits as needed and do what the gentleman post suggests


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## umadbro? (Jun 5, 2012)

Jay82304 said:


> Personally, if it is done in NM with ground I wouldn't rewire anything unless it needs it. I would just re-device everything and update the panel if it is outdated. Add new runs for updates like GFIs and other things. Generally 1950s houses are in drywall so hopefully it's that way for you. Just my 2 cents, I'd keep the older pipes too instead of pex but that's just me.


I like that idea. I'm not sure if the nm cable has a ground, but the outlets definitely don't so i'm guessing not. I do really like the idea of not going big if it's not necessary. I've read that what's the main danger in old wiring is the hazardous modifications. The only modifications that have really been done that I'm aware of is that what used to be an old porch was walled in and turned into a tiny bedroom, the oil furnace was ditched and baseboard heaters are used currently, and the fuse box was swapped for a breaker panel a long time ago. Also, someone mentioned, insulation was added to the exterior walls at some point. They must have done a decent job because the power bill is very reasonable considering the huge original windows and how damned hot it always is in there.

There are currently no electrical or plumbing issues as far as I know. I'm just worried about doing so much work twice if I have to do replace the electrical/plumbing later. The breaker panel is very old, don't recall if it's a 100A or 200A. The one big upgrade that would definitely be done is removing all of the baseboard heat and retrofitting a modern furnace/heat pump into the old central air system. So maybe a more reasonable plan would be to just put in a new panel and furnace? If doing a new panel anyway, what do you guys think about installing gfci breakers vs individual gfcis, when upgrading to grounded receptacles?


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## Pharon (Jan 20, 2014)

The 1950 NM in my house does have ground but it's not full size.


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