On Sep 11, 2:34*pm, Mike Paulsen wrote:
David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 9/11/2009 9:27 AM bud-- spake thus:
bob haller wrote:
does the clients homeowners insurance know they have K&T?
The home really needs a complete rewire bringing up to current code
once you muck with this a future fire can see you on the hook for
damages and insurtance company can go after you.........
K&T is very obsolete and what of attic insulation? as you said you
cant imbed K&T in insulation and the roof is the largest loss of heat
in a home......
The only links I remember on K&T (originally posted by Phil Munro) a
http://www.waptac.org/sp.asp?id=7190
is a report to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community
Affairs on adding building insulation around existing K&T wiring. No
record of hazard was found in the large number of K&T installations
that had insulation added around them. (Larry Seekon, whose comments
are quoted, was head electrical inspector in Minneapolis.)
http://web.archive.org/web/20040825060154/http://www.maine.gov/pfr/in....
* or
http://tinyurl.com/297uk7
is the record of a complaint to the Maine state Bureau of Insurance by
a homeowner against an insurance company. The insurance company denied
renewal of a policy based on K&T wiring. The insurance company was
ordered to renew the policy because the insurance company "provided no
justification for its position that knob and tube wiring per se
automatically provides grounds for nonrenewal".
In my opinion insurance rejection of *K&T is the latest version of
redlining.
And if I remember right, the electricians in this newsgroup think K&T
is not significantly more hazardous than other wiring methods. If it
has been abused it can be a problem, as can other wiring methods.
Thank you very much for those useful links, which are a good antidote to
the previous poster's paranoia.
I must say, though, that as comforting as the findings there are (that
insulating around K&T wiring poses no dire threat), I won't do it. When
it comes to wiring I always like to err on the side of caution.
But yes, the previous poster's *shrieks of alarm are unwarranted.
Properly done K&T wiring in good condition (as the wiring in this
particular house is) is no less safe than modren wiring methods.
I think the phrase "once you muck with this" is the key. It doesn't
matter whether you (in theory) do or do not make it any worse than it is
now. *Once you touch it you may be held responsible for it.
Does local code/law require you to be a licensed electrician to do this
work? Does your liability insurance cover electrical work you perform?
Does the locale require permits? *Will the owner's policy cover them if
non-permitted or non-inspected work results in damage?- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
I think all the above are very good questions. I would be damn
careful what I did to patch up or improve old K&T wiring which is
already a mess. And I would be certain to know the code, pull any
required permits and get any required inspections.
Just because a customer wants something done on the cheap doesn't mean
as a professional you should do it. If someone gets electrocuted or
the house burns down, you could very well be sued. And for a
professional the courts generally take the view that YOU are the
expert and should not be doing something half assed or on the cheap
that isn't really the right thing to do just because a client wants
it.
Also regarding the debate about insurance and K&T, a simple google for
"knob tube insurance" brings you lots of hits that say there most
certainly are issues of insurability with at least some insurance
companies.