Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2019 · 38 posts · 13 votes
5y
What is your goal with this property? I have bought 3 properties with K&T wiring (one is rented, one is primary, and one will soon be rented). You will hear differing opinions, but most electricians are obviously going to recommend updating the K&T wiring. Having said that, my first property was a duplex with an FHA loan, and we used the outdated wiring to get a fair deal on the property. FYI, here is how a veteran home inspector described our situation: "While the electrical system appears to be operative at this time, it is below current electrical standards. You should be aware more than one insurance carrier will not underwrite a home with active knob and tube wire."
So it works fine, but not only is it outdated, you may have to pay more when it comes to homeowners insurance. We did just that until recently switching to a carrier (Farmer's/Foremost) who doesn't have an issue with it... But safety is another story. Our duplex still has K&T wiring in the upper unit, and has not had any issues in nearly 3 years. We still plan to update the wiring one day, but hopefully it remains problem-free in the meantime. If you (or your tenants) are responsible and don't overload the outdated receptacles, there won't be any issues -- but it's not always that simple. My personal home has some K&T wiring as well, but again, we are careful not to overload the few K&T outlets.
Lastly, the property we just bought had a good amount of K&T wiring, and it was purchased in as-is condition. Since we were looking at a major rehab process and most of the walls were already damaged, we spoke with an electrician... He recommended replacing/updating all of the OUTLETS that were K&T, but said that the light switches/fixtures are less of a safety concern. I'm not saying this was the correct thing to do, but renovating on a budget, we decided to spend the money to update all of the outlets, since that is where people are going to be sapping high electricity from (space heaters, hair dryers, etc.). It saved us a few hundred dollars and I definitely feel good knowing the main issues are corrected.
All in all, it really depends on whether you're looking for K&T houses to flip, rent out, or live in... each one might lead to a different gameplan, but the smartest and safest move it to update old wiring, especially if it's throughout the house.