Selling a House With Old Electrical in Green Bay WI

Example of Knob & Tube Wiring Inside of Walls

So what are your options when selling an old pre 1980's house with old electrical running throughout? In this blog post Carter will go over what you need to do in order to sell your home & have a hassle free transactions.

Step 1) Make Sure the Electrical Box has At Least 100 AMP Service

An easy way to check this out is by looking at the main breaker on the panel. In most cases the larger main breaker (that turns of electric to entire house) will either have a 60, 100, or 200 stamped on it. You want to make sure that reads either 100 or 200. If it is 60 amp service this will need to be replaced prior to sale.

Step 2) Get Rid of Knob & Tube Wiring

Knob & tube wiring is the stuff you see in your basement rafters that have the old cylinder looking thing with a wire wrapping around it. This was deemed to be very unsafe according to electricians & a possible fire hazard if wires are exposed. In most houses built prior to 1960 they will have knob & tube wiring. Your choice in this situation is either to get rid of the "noticeable wiring" -stuff you can see - or re-wire the entire house.

Step 3) Update Your Electrical Outlets

Electrical outlets are typically just the 2 prong outlets in the older style homes. Now what do you do about this? Well, what that means is there is no current ground wire going to the outlet. So, your options are to either run new wire to that outlet (romex), instal a new 2 prong outlet, or instal a GFCI that will protect any fault that happens if you have a 3 prong outlet installed.

Step 4) Exterior Electrical Service

If you notice on the electrical service running overhead to your house that the exterior line is fraying, this will need to be replaced. Most electricians charge 3-4,000 just to do this small task.

Step 5) Get Rid of an Old Pannel

If you have a pushamatic electrical panel or a Federal Pacific, those need to be replaced. A standard electrical box re-wiring runs anywhere from 2-3k & can go up from there. Be sure to shop around the electricians prices or get in contact with us for a referral.

Now, if you don't want to deal with any of this & would rather just sell your house as-is... give us a call today 920-215-4201. We buy houses as is for cash so you don't need to worry about making any repairs to the property! We will bring in our experienced team of contractors & remodel the home.