# Knob and Tube Home Buyer Checklist

> A free printable knob and tube home buyer checklist: questions for the insurer and electrician, documents to collect and a record of where partial work stops.

URL: https://laknobandtube.com/resources/

For buyers, sellers and owners whose insurer has asked about the wiring: what to ask the insurer and the electrician, which documents to collect, and a record of where partial work stops. Two pages, made to print.

See what is inside

## What the checklist covers

The same questions and records as the printable, so you can read them here first.

### Questions for the insurer

Ask before you commit to a scope, and get the answers in writing with a name and a date. Each insurer sets its own rules.

- Does the policy or the application ask about knob and tube wiring? What exactly does it ask?
- Does it matter whether the knob and tube is active (still carrying power) or abandoned (disconnected)?
- What proof do you accept: a letter from a licensed electrician, a finished permit, a circuit list, photos?
- If replacement is required, by when? Does replacing only the live circuits count?
- Does a fuse panel, or the age of the panel, change the answer?
- If you decide not to renew, how will I be told? California Insurance Code section 678 requires at least 75 days of written notice, with the reason.

### What to ask the inspector or electrician

A general home inspection notes what it can see. These questions turn "knob and tube noted" into a scope.

- Is any knob and tube still live, and on which circuits?
- Which runs are abandoned, and were they disconnected at both ends?
- Is any knob and tube buried in attic or wall insulation?
- Where is knob and tube spliced into newer wiring?
- What panel does the house have, and can it take the new circuits?
- Which three-prong outlets are on circuits with no ground wire?
- Would you replace every live run, or only some? What would stay, and where would new wiring meet old?
- Who pulls the permit, and what will the city inspect?
- Roughly how many openings in plaster walls and ceilings, where, and who closes them?
- What is your California contractor license number? Electrical contractors hold the C-10 classification, and any license can be checked with the Contractors State License Board.

[Check a license with the CSLB](https://www.cslb.ca.gov/onlineservices/checklicenseII/checklicense.aspx)

### Documents to collect

Keep these together. They are what an insurer, a lender or the next buyer asks for.

- The electrical permit and its final inspection sign-off. In the City of Los Angeles the permit comes from LADBS; in Pasadena, Glendale and South Pasadena, from the city building department.
- A circuit list: which circuits were replaced, which knob and tube runs were found live, and which were left in the walls disconnected.
- A photo of the panel and its labeled circuit directory, taken by the electrician when the work is finished.
- The written scope and quote, including what patching is covered.
- If knob and tube stays under new insulation: the electrical contractor's certification that the California Electrical Code requires, filed with the building department.
- Letters or emails from the insurer stating its requirements.

### Partial-work boundary record

When only part of the house is rewired, write down where the new wiring stops. Fill this in with the electrician before the walls close.

- Date of work
- Contractor and license number
- Permit number
- Rooms and circuits replaced
- Live knob and tube left in service, and where
- Abandoned runs left in walls or ceilings, and how they were disconnected
- Where new wiring connects to old (junction box locations)
- Attic: insulated or not, and over what wiring
- Notes