Brian Henderson wrote:

Unfortunately, my parent's house, which was built in the mid-60s, has
all aluminum internal wiring. The dining room has started to fail in
parts, the light switch to the ceiling lights doesn't work anymore, I
ran an extension plug for the lights to an independent outlet so my
mother can get light but really, the whole house needs to be
completely rewired with copper.

I'm just afraid that I'll get tapped for the job if I suggest it.

While I've had no direct experience with Aluminum wiring but I've read
enough to think rewiring isn't needed nor necessary....The wire itself isn't
the problem just the connections......however leaving faulty switch, plug or
junction boxes without proper Alum/copper terminals is a fire waiting to
happen......not to mention independent of wiring type switches etc. will
fail over time or with repeated use.....if a new switch didn't deal with the
faulty light then a junction box would be a likely culprit...back to that
dangerous thing......anyway if you can't by choice, skills or code just
swapping out receptacles, switches and junction boxes isn't anywhere near
the cost of a rewire. Rod