The Importance of Rewiring Your Home

The Importance of Rewiring Your Home

Old wiring, at worst, can present a serious threat to your home and family; at best, it can reduce your home’s function and value. Rewiring your home can be a complex, and expensive, undertaking. However, it can pay off in many ways. By enlisting a local electrician to inspect and replace your home wiring when necessary, you can:

Increase Electrical Capacity

Older wiring systems generally have a 60-amp capacity, which is nowhere near enough to support modern-day appliances. High loads can cause serious damage. An electrical overload can burn out devices and cause house fires, but updating your electrical system to 100 amps can improve safety and reduce costs.

Safety Improvements

A home rewiring project can dramatically improve your safety. Old, uninsulated wires create shock and burn hazards and can cause dangerous fluctuations in power. An overload can heat up the wires so much they can melt and burn. Bad wiring can also render your appliances unsafe to operate and cause your smoke detectors to fail.

Protection Against the Elements

New wires are better insulated. Brittle plastic insulation or insufficient coatings can be dangerous if conditions get to hot. Newer wiring is shielded from the heat, so you don’t have to worry about malfunctions during heat waves or even during normal summer days.

An Opportunity to Improve Your Home Electrical System

A rewiring project is a chance to complete other improvements, such as wiring each appliance to its own circuit. This decreases the chances of that circuit becoming overloaded, since you don’t have multiple devices on one line. You can also install ground fault circuit interrupters and interconnected, hard-wired smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

Reduced Costs

Despite the costs of upgrading your home wiring, you can get cheaper insurance rates by installing newer, safer wiring. The risk of accidents is lower, so it’s less expensive to insure a rewired home. If you’re planning to sell your house, getting it rewired first can add thousands of dollars to its value. The property is more likely to pass an inspection as well, which can convince a buyer to close on the deal.

Peace of Mind

Constantly worrying about something going wrong and dealing with power outages, faulty appliances, and potentially failing wiring can impact your well-being. Your home should be a place of enjoyment and sanctuary—not somewhere you feel in danger. Rewiring your home can leave you and your family in a better frame of mind as overloads, appliance damage, and potentially catastrophic events such as house fires are much less likely.

The Older Your Home, The More Important Rewiring Is

If your wiring was installed after 1960, it is insulated and has ground wires. But wiring does not last forever and yours may be deteriorating. Aluminum wiring used in the 1960s and 1970s is susceptible to failure and can create many hazards. But if your home goes back to 1945 or earlier, it may have a knob-and-tube wiring system, which is a serious safety hazard and will not support the demand of modern electronics and appliances.

Contact Express Electrical Services

The older your home is, the more likely it is to have deteriorated wiring. If you suspect this is the case, contact Express Electrical Services and we will send a licensed electrician in Los Angeles to inspect your home and replace any wiring as needed. Available 24/7, we can perform rewiring, install new wiring for kitchen appliances, or replace outlets, switches, and dimmers. We even replace knob and tube wiring. To schedule a visit, request service today.