Hello toAll...............As the original poster on the K&T and cloth wiring
questions I certainly appreciate all the input and observations. First when
I sell the house I will definitely repost the results as requested. As to
the insurance. I only purchased the house ( upstate NY) 5 years ago and I
bought full fire/casualty/etc. insurance and had no problems insuring it.
From what I've read here I certainly don't want to deal with State Farm in
spite of their commercials. However, I am still unclear what changing to
breaker panel does for me (with the exception that it will look more modern)
if the current wiring still remains ungrounded. Also if I do run "green"
wire to the current fuse panel ground and then change the receptacles to
3-prong will I now be in violation because the K&T and cloth would no
longer have ungrounded 2-prong receptacles? Also because all the wiring is
grandfathered and no work has been done to it the NYS real estate board says
that this does NOT require to be disclosed as a major defect nor because
someone says it is a major defect. The reason I checked this was that the
(now fired) real estate woman who had decided to appoint herself as the
authority on all things electrical and structural insisted I add the
wiring as a MAJOR PROBLEM. Be all that as it may however, I would like to
come up with a solution if there is one that wasn't just "tear it all out".
I'd rather not spend 15% of the selling price just to say to a buyer look
new panel. Once again thanks for all the input. John


"John F. F." wrote in message
...
I own a small second home (market value about $40,000) that I'm
looking to sell It was built where knob and tube was apparently used as
well as ungrounded cloth shielded cable . Appliances and hot water are
gas;
fridge and washer are electric. The house has a fuse panel with 4
circuits.
An electrician hired by a potential buyer said : "to correct the
ungrounded
wiring to the existing receptacles and removal of the knob and tube wiring
a
complete rewiring of the residence would have to be done which would also
increase the size of upgrading the electrical panel to 200 amps to
accommodate more and newer circuits." No estimate was given for that
work.
This house is 900 sq. ft plus a full basement that is not useable due to
moisture problems but gives easy access to the entire first floor. With
200
amps I can do the neighborhood! The electrician also told the buyer for
$1,500. he would upgrade the current 60 amp fuse panel to 100 amp circuit
breaker panel (I assume that would mean changing the house entry cable).
The
buyer wanted me to foot the bill for the new panel and the other work. I
cancelled the contract. Numerous questions come to my mind: does this
mean
nothing in the house is grounded? What is the point of upgrading to a
100
amp circuit breaker panel if all the old wiring is still there and nothing
is still grounded. And I guess a big question is can the existing k&t
and/or the cloth cable somehow be grounded. Could I run a ground wire
from each outlet (there are only 7) for example to the basement below and
connect them to the incoming city water line All your knowledgeable
input
and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.