Question: I live in a beautiful home in San Roque that was built in the late 1920s and it still has the old original knob-and-tube style of electrical wiring.

The original fuse box was removed and replaced with a circuit breaker box years ago, and I have not had problems with any of the wiring.

I want to add several new electrical outlets and a light fixture, and I have heard and read different takes on the safety of adding any additional load to the old wiring.

Do you think this is a good idea?

Your Handyman: Prior to around the mid-1930s the electrical service in homes was provided by the style of wiring referred to as knob-and-tube, in which single insulated copper wires ran through framing studs via porcelain insulating tubes and were supported in runs by nailed-down porcelain insulating knobs.

When the wire entered an appliance or passed through a wall board to a switch box, it was insulated with a flexible cloth sleeving called loom.

This early insulation was typically an asphalt-saturated cotton cloth that eventually would be replaced with rubber insulation in later years.

Wire splices were simply made by mechanically twisting the wires together and then wrapping the splice with asphalt-saturated cloth tape.

Knob-and-tube wiring had only a black hot wire and a white neutral wire, and sometimes fuses were placed on both the hot and neutral line of a circuit, which created the dangerous situation of a neutral fuse burning out while the hot leg of the circuit remaining energized. 

The principles of grounding were not fully understood at that time, and the now standard green or bare grounding wire was not part of knob-and-tube. Many homes in Santa Barbara still have their original knob-and-tube wiring, but most all have replaced the old fuses with modern circuit breakers.

I personally would not recommend adding any additional load to your older wiring by installing new outlets or fixtures. However, there are electricians who might disagree with me on this point.

You do want to avoid or minimize the use of any high wattage appliances like space heaters, home theater hardware or a large flat screen TV.

The electrical demands of a modern house are much greater than what was required by homes in the 1920s. Many appliances need a ground wire for safe operation, and thus the demands on your wiring are substantially increased.

If you decide to go ahead with your electrical project, be sure to have the work done by a licensed electrician who has experience with knob-and-tube wiring.

In my opinion it would be a very worthwhile investment for you to have your house rewired with modern wiring and just be done with your old but still functioning knob-and-tube.

As with any home, you want to be sure that you have adequate smoke detectors throughout the house, and be careful not to overload the safe capacity of your wiring.

I wouldn’t lie awake at night worrying about the safety of your old wiring, but rewiring the house should be something that you place high on the to-do list and would certainly be a sound investment.

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Question: My wife and I have decided that the timing is right for us to sell our family home and move into a local senior living community.

We have raised four children in this house, but the kitchen, bathrooms and interior walls have not been remodeled in more than 30 years.

I think we should remodel the kitchen and bathrooms while my wife thinks we should just paint all the walls and get new carpeting.

What work should we do to update the house prior to listing it for sale to get the best price?

Your Handyman: Great question! Many seniors find themselves in this situation after the kids are finally up and out on their own (thank goodness), and the warm family home that used to resonate with the activity and sounds of growing children now seems cavernous and a little lonely.

You are wise to consider carefully what work to have done to help make the house more marketable, and it is easy to quickly spend piles of money on contractors and designers without necessarily adding significantly to the final sales price of the house.

It is not uncommon when an escrow closes for the first thing to show up in the driveway is a MarBorg roll-off dumpster and much or all of the new cabinets, doors and fixtures installed by the seller get torn out, loaded into the dumpster and head off for the landfill.

I recommend that before you spend time or money on fixing up the house that you first find a real estate agent who has many years of experience representing buyers and sellers in your neighborhood.

An experienced agent can advise you on what type of work should be done to increase the selling price and may even advise you to just have the house professionally cleaned, painted and leave it at that.

Talk with your neighbors and friends to get referrals for realtors who work in your neighborhood, interview two or three to get a feel for their style and personality, and then rely on his or her advice on how to maximize your selling price.