# Knob and Tube Replacement in Los Feliz & Atwater Village

> Knob and tube replacement in Los Feliz and Atwater Village: partial rewires of remodeled homes, insurance questions, LADBS permits, LADWP panels. Get a map.

URL: https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/los-feliz-atwater-village/

Los Feliz & Atwater Village questions

Last Updated: October 25, 2026

**City of Los Angeles** Jurisdiction

**[LADBS](https://dbs.lacity.gov/)** Permits and inspections

**[LADWP](https://www.ladwp.com/)** Electric utility

**90027, 90039** House rewire permits: 83 in 90027 and 91 in 90039, January 2020 to October 2026

## What starts a rewire in Los Feliz & Atwater Village

### The kitchen was redone years ago

The remodel brought new circuits to one room; the bedrooms and hall lights are another story.

### A carrier wants a wiring answer

The renewal questionnaire asks whether any knob and tube is still in use.

### Finishing what a previous owner started

Half the house was rewired a decade ago, and nobody kept a list of what was left.

### A hillside house above Los Feliz Boulevard

Tall on the downhill side, tight on the uphill side, with a steep roof over a shallow attic.

## Services in Los Feliz & Atwater Village

### Partial replacement

Replace the live circuits that matter now and document exactly where the old system stops.

### Inspection

Find out which circuits are still live, what condition the reachable wiring is in, and what cannot be seen.

### Removal

Disconnect old runs for good, prove they are dead, and pull out the ones that are worth removing.

### Panel upgrade

Replace a fuse box or undersized panel with capacity for the new circuits, coordinated with the utility and the rewire.

A Los Feliz or Atwater Village house with a redone kitchen and bath raises a narrower question than an untouched one: not whether to rewire, but which circuits still run on the original wiring. [LA Knob and Tube](https://laknobandtube.com/) handles knob and tube replacement in Los Feliz and Atwater Village, from the hillside streets of Los Feliz to the flatter blocks of Atwater Village, and one LADBS permit in 90027 describes that kind of job in plain words: a partial rewire, removing knob and tube wiring in parts of the house.

Rewire permits are frequent here. Between January 2020 and October 2026, LADBS issued 83 single-family rewire permits in 90027, about 41 for every 1,000 electrical permits on houses, and 91 in 90039. The housing behind those numbers is old. By Census Bureau estimates, 31.1% of homes in 90027 and 40.5% in 90039, which takes in Atwater Village, went up before 1940, and the two ZIP codes together hold 5,338 owner-occupied single-family houses from that era.

## Houses that are partly done

A house that has been remodeled once or twice tends to carry two or three generations of wiring. The kitchen and bath may be on modern cable with grounded outlets, an added family room on its own circuit, and the bedrooms, hall and porch lights still on the original knob and tube. Sometimes a remodel fed new outlets from an old circuit, so a modern-looking room still depends on old conductors upstream.

That is why the circuit map matters more than the age of the house. The map records which circuits are active knob and tube, which old runs are dead and disconnected, and which are mixed, where later cable was spliced onto the old system in an attic or wall. The [active vs abandoned guide](https://laknobandtube.com/guide/active-vs-abandoned-knob-and-tube/) explains how each is identified and why only the active and mixed circuits drive the scope.

The mixed circuits deserve the closest look. Knob and tube was sized for a few lamps and small appliances, and its rubber and cloth insulation was designed to shed heat into open air. When a modern room is fed from an old circuit, the load on those conductors goes up, and the splice where new cable meets old wire is often hidden in an attic or wall with no box around it. That combination, more current through aging insulation plus a buried connection, is why mixed circuits usually rank first in a partial scope even when the outlets in the room look new.

With that map, a [partial knob and tube replacement](https://laknobandtube.com/partial-knob-and-tube-replacement/) replaces what is left and hands the owner a written list of anything still remaining. Dead runs that are disconnected at both ends can usually stay in the walls; the [knob and tube removal page](https://laknobandtube.com/knob-and-tube-removal/) explains when taking them out is worth the openings.

## Outlets that look modern

Remodeled rooms can hide old circuits behind new faceplates. A grounding-type receptacle can be fitted to a two-wire circuit with nothing connected to its ground terminal, and it looks the same as a grounded one from the room. The code allows ungrounded replacements only under specific conditions, and the [three-prong outlet guide](https://laknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-three-prong-outlets/) covers what is permitted and why a plug tester alone can mislead.

## Insurance pressure in 90027

Residential California FAIR Plan policies in 90027 nearly doubled between September 2021 and September 2025, from 250 to 483, and in 90039 they rose from 336 to 433. The FAIR Plan publishes no reasons, and the growth cannot be tied to wiring. It does describe a tight market where an owner may be switching carriers, and carriers differ on knob and tube. A renewal or new application that asks about it is easier to answer with a documented map and, after the work, a final inspection. The [insurance guide](https://laknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-insurance-california/) explains what that documentation covers and what it cannot promise.

## Hillsides, crawlspaces and the permit

Where a Los Feliz house steps down a hill, the crawlspace can be roomy at the low side and nearly closed at the high side, and a steep roof can leave little attic clearance at the eaves. LADBS issued 215 permits in 90027 and 270 in 90039 since January 2020 for cripple-wall bracing and foundation bolting, so raised floors over a crawlspace are well represented. Where the crawlspace is usable, first-floor outlets are fed from below with openings only at the boxes; where it is not, routes come from the attic or through more plaster openings, each listed on the quote with who patches it.

The permit comes from LADBS, which issues nearly every house rewire permit in the city as an express permit without plan check. The inspector checks the new wiring before walls are closed and again at the end, and the circuits are replaced in sequence so most rooms have power most days.

## Historic districts nearby

City Planning’s HPOZ layer has no overlay zone across the core of 90027 or in Atwater Village, though the Hollywood Grove and Melrose Hill HPOZs lie close by. For most houses here, that means a new panel or meter location is a matter for the owner, the electrician and LADWP. LADWP asks that a new meter spot be verified with its electric service staff before the panel is installed. Its inspector comes out only once the LADBS permit exists, and the utility puts a typical meter set at roughly two working weeks when nothing else is needed on its side, so the panel day is planned around that gap. The [panel upgrade page](https://laknobandtube.com/electrical-panel-upgrade/) explains when the service should change and when the existing panel can carry the new circuits.

Nearby, [Silver Lake and Echo Park](https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/silver-lake-echo-park/) have older stock and an HPOZ in Angelino Heights, [Glendale](https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/glendale/) has its own permit office and utility, and [Eagle Rock](https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/eagle-rock/) has similar pre-war houses without an overlay. The [knob and tube inspection](https://laknobandtube.com/knob-and-tube-inspection/) is the usual first step in any of them.

## Neighborhoods and coverage

- Los Feliz
- Atwater Village

1. 1. Eagle Rock
2. 2. Glendale
3. 3. Hancock Park & Windsor Square
4. 4. Highland Park & Mount Washington
5. 5. Leimert Park & Hyde Park
6. 6. Mid-City, Miracle Mile & Carthay
7. 7. Pasadena
8. 8. Silver Lake & Echo Park
9. 9. West Adams & Jefferson Park
10. 10. Lincoln Heights & El Sereno
11. 11. Los Feliz & Atwater Village
12. 12. South Pasadena

## Los Feliz & Atwater Village questions

### What does a panel upgrade cost with a Los Feliz knob and tube replacement?

A 100 to 200 amp panel upgrade in the same location, with no utility-side work, typically runs $2,500 to $5,500 in the LA area. Moving the panel, changing the mast or adding LADWP service work changes that, and the panel is a separate line from the branch-circuit rewiring.

### Do Los Feliz permits show partial knob and tube rewires?

Partial rewires show up in the permit record here. One LADBS permit in 90027 describes a partial rewire removing knob and tube wiring in parts of the house. Whether partial fits a given house depends on how many original circuits remain live and where they run.

### Does Atwater Village have an HPOZ?

City Planning's HPOZ layer shows no overlay zone in the core of 90027 or in Atwater Village. The Hollywood Grove and Melrose Hill HPOZs lie nearby. Without an HPOZ, a new meter or mast location does not go through preservation review, though it still needs LADWP's meter-spot approval.

### Do grounded-looking outlets in Los Feliz mean the knob and tube is gone?

No. A three-prong outlet can be installed on an old two-wire circuit with no ground behind it, and remodeled rooms can sit beside original ones on the same circuit. Only a circuit-by-circuit check shows what feeds each outlet.

### What happens to dead knob and tube left in Atwater Village walls?

Runs confirmed dead and disconnected at both ends can usually stay in the walls, because removing them means opening plaster for no electrical gain. Accessible pieces in the attic and crawlspace are often taken out, and the removal is noted on the circuit list.

## Related guides

- Decision Guide [Is knob and tube still active in your house, or abandoned?](https://laknobandtube.com/guide/active-vs-abandoned-knob-and-tube/)How live, dead and mixed wiring is told apart, why the answer is rarely visible, and what it changes for an insurer, an insulation job and removal.
- Learn [How does knob and tube affect home insurance in California?](https://laknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-insurance-california/)What carriers tend to ask, how to get their answer in writing, what an electrician's letter can and cannot say, and where the FAIR Plan fits.
- Learn [Can you put three-prong outlets on knob and tube wiring?](https://laknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-three-prong-outlets/)What a ground wire does, why knob and tube never had one, and the options the electrical code allows for replacing two-prong outlets on old circuits.

## Nearby service areas

- [Silver Lake & Echo Park](https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/silver-lake-echo-park/)LADBS permits, LADWP service
- [Glendale](https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/glendale/)City of Glendale Building & Safety permits, Glendale Water & Power service
- [Eagle Rock](https://laknobandtube.com/service-areas/eagle-rock/)LADBS permits, LADWP service