How long does it take to rewire a house?

A full rewire typically takes several days to a few weeks depending on square footage and wall accessibility. Homes with open framing during a renovation go faster than fully finished homes, where electricians have to cut and patch access points as they work.

Can I rewire just part of my house instead of the whole thing?

Yes, partial rewires are common, especially for a single room or circuit with a known problem. But if the issue is knob-and-tube or aluminum branch wiring, electricians generally recommend addressing the full affected circuit or area rather than leaving old and new wiring mixed together.

Does homeowners insurance cover the cost of rewiring?

Generally no — insurance covers damage from a covered event, not the cost of proactively replacing old wiring. Some insurers do require a rewire or inspection before they'll issue or renew a policy on a home with knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring, but the rewire itself is typically the homeowner's expense.

Do I need a permit to rewire my house?

Yes, in nearly every jurisdiction a whole-house rewire requires an electrical permit and inspection, since it's structural work affecting life safety. Permit costs are usually a few hundred dollars and are separate from the electrician's labor and material quote.

How do I know if my house has aluminum or knob-and-tube wiring?

Home age is the first clue — knob-and-tube is common before the 1940s, and aluminum branch wiring is common from roughly 1965 to 1973. A licensed electrician or a qualified home inspector can confirm the wiring type by examining your panel and accessible wiring runs.

How Much Does It Cost to Rewire a House in 2026?

If your house still has knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring, or your insurer just flagged your panel, you're probably wondering what a full rewire actually costs. The answer depends heavily on your home's age, size, and how much of your walls have to come open — here's how the numbers break down.

What Does a Whole-House Rewire Cost?

Published cost guides put a full house rewire at $3,000 to $20,000 total, or roughly $2 to $17 per square foot, according to HomeGuide and Angi. Most projects land in the $6,000-$12,000 range. The wide spread comes down to one main factor: accessibility.

A home under renovation with open studs and exposed framing is cheap to rewire — electricians can run new cable without cutting into finished surfaces. A fully finished home with plaster or drywall throughout costs more because every run means cutting access holes, fishing wire through walls, and patching afterward. That patching and paint work is usually a separate line item from the electrician's quote.

What Drives the Price Up or Down?

Factor	Effect on Cost
Square footage	Larger homes cost more in total, but often less per square foot
Wall accessibility	Open studs are cheapest; finished multi-story homes cost the most
Home's age and era	Pre-1960s homes often need more code upgrades alongside the wiring
Knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring	Usually requires full replacement, not a partial fix
Panel condition	An outdated or undersized panel may need upgrading too
Number of stories	Multi-story homes need more labor to route wire vertically

Electricians typically charge $50 to $130 per hour, and most estimate at least an hour of labor per 100 square feet, per HomeGuide's research. On top of labor and materials, budget $75-$150 for permits and $100-$125 for inspections — most jurisdictions require both for a whole-house rewire, since it's structural electrical work, not a simple repair. Location matters too: labor rates and permit fees both vary by region, so a quote from an electrician in a high cost-of-living metro can run well above the national averages cited here.

Why Does Knob-and-Tube Wiring Change the Math?

Knob-and-tube wiring — common in homes built before the 1940s — runs on a 60-amp service, well below the 100-amp minimum most insurers now require. It has no grounding conductor, and the ceramic knobs and tubes that hold it in place crack with age. Because knob-and-tube can't simply be spliced into modern circuits, replacing it usually means rewiring the whole affected area rather than patching sections.

Insurers have taken notice. Coverage for homes with active knob-and-tube wiring is hard to find, and many carriers will decline a policy outright or require proof of a rewire before binding coverage, according to insurance guides from Policygenius and Hippo. If your home was built before 1950 and still has original wiring, a rewire quote is worth getting even if nothing's actively failing.

Is Aluminum Wiring Really Dangerous?

Aluminum branch wiring — installed in many homes built roughly between 1965 and 1973 — has a well-documented failure pattern. A national survey conducted by the Franklin Research Institute for the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that homes wired with aluminum from that era are 55 times more likely to have a wire connection at an outlet reach "fire hazard conditions" than homes wired with copper. The mechanism is physical: aluminum expands and contracts more than copper as it heats and cools, which loosens connections at outlets and switches over time, and it oxidizes when it touches copper, adding resistance and heat at the joint.

A full rewire isn't always the only fix — some electricians can remediate individual connections with copper pigtails and approved connectors rather than replacing every run. But if your home has original aluminum branch wiring and you're already planning other electrical work, it's worth pricing out a full rewire against spot remediation.

How Do I Know If My House Needs Rewiring?

A few signs point toward a rewire conversation with a licensed electrician: warm or discolored outlet covers, frequent breaker trips unrelated to overloaded circuits, flickering lights that aren't bulb-related, a fuse box instead of a breaker panel, buzzing sounds from outlets or switches, or an insurer asking for a wiring inspection before renewing your policy. None of these confirm you need a full rewire on their own — that's exactly why an in-person inspection matters more than guessing from symptoms.

Related reading: if your panel itself is the concern rather than the branch wiring, see How Much Does an Electrical Panel Upgrade Cost in 2026? and Are Federal Pacific and Zinsco Electrical Panels Really Dangerous?. If breakers are tripping and you're not sure whether it's a wiring or overload issue, Why Do My Circuit Breakers Keep Tripping? walks through the difference.

What to Do About It

Start with a licensed electrician's in-person inspection, not a phone estimate — wiring type and wall accessibility can't be judged accurately from photos or a description. Ask specifically whether your wiring is knob-and-tube, aluminum, or copper, since that alone changes both the cost and the urgency. If you're getting quotes, get more than one: rewiring costs vary enormously by region and by how each electrician scopes the job, and the only way to know your $3,000 quote and someone else's $9,000 quote for the same house are actually comparable is to put them side by side. A single quote tells you a price; multiple comparable quotes tell you whether that price is fair.