Update or replace electric

[Ben C.]

Hello, I am gutting the interior of an investment down to the studs. The home was built in 1949 and the power is 100 AMPs. I am putting on a nice size addition to the property. Would you simply have the demo company rip out all of the electric (take advantage of the cheap labor) and have electrician re wire the house (nice selling feature brand new electric) or simply update? Thoughts on cost difference and what is wiser?

[Sam LLoyd]

I don't think there is enough information here.... we don't know anything about the existing wiring.  100A should still be enough for a small house, so switching the breaker over to a 200 and running all new circuits to the addition should work.

That being said, here's what I think.  If you've got all the walls open, yes, get the wiring replaced... for your own peace of mind if nothing else.  However... I would caution you against having 'cheap labor' rip it all out without the supervision of the electrician who is going to be redoing it.  I could be mistaken in your case, but on other projects I've run into big problems when the demo was done without an eye towards the finished product.