Knob and Tube Home Buyer Checklist

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

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