Old-house rewiring · Philadelphia
We fish new cable through finished plaster-and-lath walls in rowhouses, twins and brownstones, then patch what we opened. Xinyi Liu surveys your house and is on every job.
Figure 1
Read it like a drawing. Each layer is one thing the new cable has to get through.
What you see. New boxes go where old ones already are, so the opening is one the wall already has.
Hard, brittle and heavy. We drill through it with a bit sized for the cable and never pry. Loose plaster is marked on the survey sheet before we start.
Narrow strips nailed across the studs with gaps for the plaster to grip. A fish tape finds a gap, or we drill the strip.
Where the old cloth cable and knob-and-tube run. New cable is pulled down the bay from the attic or up from the basement. The fire blocking inside it is where most of the work is.
On plaster over brick there is no bay at all. We route those circuits through the floor or ceiling, or use surface raceway in rooms where you agree to it.
Survey to patch
You get the plan in writing before the first hole is drilled, and the patch is the last thing we do.
We walk every room with a tape, open a few boxes and map which circuit feeds what. You get the sheet.
The work room by room, a drawing of where cable will run, and where each patch will be.
Our office files the city electrical permit before work starts.
New cable goes in, a room at a time. The rooms you live in stay powered as long as the plan allows.
The city inspector looks at the work before anything is closed up.
Lena's crew fills and skims what we opened and leaves the wall ready for paint. You get a labeled panel and a one-page record of every circuit.
Two ways in
Some houses are better opened up. We'll tell you which yours is.
| Open the walls | Fish and patch | |
|---|---|---|
| The plaster | Open the wallsComes off to the studs, then new drywall or plaster goes on. | Fish and patchStays. Small openings at boxes and a few access cuts, patched. |
| Dust and mess | Open the wallsThrough the whole floor, for the length of the demolition. | Fish and patchContained to the rooms we are in. |
| Living in the house | Open the wallsOften not for the weeks the walls are open. | Fish and patchUsually possible, room by room. |
| Right when | Open the wallsThe plaster is already failing, or a kitchen or bath is being gutted anyway. | Fish and patchThe plaster is sound and you want the rooms as they are. |
By house age
Wiring follows the year a house was built. These are the three houses we open most.
Often knob-and-tube or early cloth cable in lath-and-plaster walls, and plaster directly on brick at the party wall.
A mix of old cable and later additions, with tall ceilings and chimney chases that make good cable paths.
Often cloth-covered cable, two-prong outlets and a fuse box or a small breaker panel.
Owner on every job
Liu Electric is six people. Xinyi Liu surveys your house, writes the plan and is on site while the cable goes in. The crew changes by the job. She doesn't.
Surveys every house herself
Writes the plan and the circuit sheet
On site for the fishing and the inspection
Xinyi Liu
Owner
Credentials
Look the numbers up before you hire anyone to open your walls.
Electrical contractor licenseVerify
PA Lic. 000000 · City of Philadelphia, Department of Licenses and Inspections
The city license to contract for electrical work in Philadelphia. Look the number up with the city before you hire.
Home improvement contractor registration
PA Registration 000000 · Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
The state registration Pennsylvania asks home improvement contractors to hold.
General liability insurance
A certificate of insurance on request, before work starts.
From the houses
“Our front room has plaster over brick on the party wall. Xinyi said that wall would get surface raceway or nothing, and drew it on the sheet. The other rooms got new cable and two patches the size of a coaster.”
“There was cloth cable in the second-floor ceiling. They drilled down from the attic, so the only plaster work was around two light fixtures. Lena's patches were dry and sanded before the crew left the room.”
“She walked every room with a tape and a clipboard and gave me a sheet of which circuit fed what before she gave me a number. I had never seen my own house like that.”
Sample reviews.
Service area
Philadelphia and the first ring of towns around it, where the houses are brick, plaster and a hundred years old.
We don't take jobs in New Jersey, or outside Philadelphia, Delaware and Montgomery counties.
Only in small places. New boxes go where old ones already are, and cable is fished through the stud bays from the attic, the basement or a closet. Where a wall can't be fished, such as plaster over brick, we say so on the survey sheet and show you the other route before any work starts.
A rewire needs a city electrical permit, and our office files it before work starts. The inspector looks at the work before the walls are patched, and again at the end.
Not by itself. It becomes a problem when it has been cut into, covered with insulation, overloaded or spliced to newer cable. We look at what you have and tell you what we found, room by room.
Some insurers do, especially with knob-and-tube or a fuse box. Ask yours. We can give you the written survey sheet and, afterward, the record of what was replaced. We don't promise what any insurer will do.
The survey is a paid visit. Its fee is credited to the job if you book within 30 days. We walk every room, open a few boxes and give you a written plan.
Contact
Tell us about the house. We call back in office hours to book the survey.