landelectric
Member
- Location
- Colorado
Thirty years ago when I started in this Trade, I never would have imagined that the nations vast inventory of Primitive Electrical Wiring systems would still be in service in the twenty first century. Yet it is.
Knob/tube, BX/Rubber, Ridgid/Rubber, early NM
still carrying current in old dry wooden structures in citys all over America.
Many have updated Services and loadcenters and that is good but, seldom was the funky old wiring abandoned and replaced.
Why? We all know why, it's too damn hard to sell, too damn hard to do and, too damn hard to price profitably. "yes Mr. Customer, I'll be glad to re-wire your house, just have ALL your furniture put in storage, move into a Hotel and, tell me it's OK to demo all your interior walls" !
I've done a lot of them, but what a pain in the *** !! I've used all the tricks I can come up with, combinations of surface products like Wiremold and AC/MC, NM and EMT on exterior walls.
But it still blows !
It's hell on earth doing cut-ins on wooden lath/plaster walls, placing fan hangers over pianos and worrying about who's going to trip over the network of cords on the floor.
Everybody's looking the other way about all this old, dangerous wiring, Real Estate appraisers just look for 100 AMPS and call it good, and everybody else just goes along for the ride.
Re-wiring old houses (old VERY valuable houses)
is the gold mine of the future. It's an untapped and almost unlimited customer base for enterprising Electrical Contractors who might otherwise be hard up for work when (not if) the new construction market slows.
But convoluted floor plans, fancy door and window moldings, wallpaper with sentimental value and endless other obstacles stand in the way.
We can talk all day about how the knob & tube is OK if it's in good condition but lets be honest about it, these firebombs need new wiring. 60,80,100 or more years is long enough for wiring to be in service, let's all make some good money and start doing some real re-wiring.
But how ? We need new products and methods to make re-wiring practical. I see something like a Flat Conductor Cable or something, I don't know........ We need to go back to the drawing board and find a new way to re-wire.
Any ideas ???
[ February 26, 2003, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: landelectric ]
Knob/tube, BX/Rubber, Ridgid/Rubber, early NM
still carrying current in old dry wooden structures in citys all over America.
Many have updated Services and loadcenters and that is good but, seldom was the funky old wiring abandoned and replaced.
Why? We all know why, it's too damn hard to sell, too damn hard to do and, too damn hard to price profitably. "yes Mr. Customer, I'll be glad to re-wire your house, just have ALL your furniture put in storage, move into a Hotel and, tell me it's OK to demo all your interior walls" !
I've done a lot of them, but what a pain in the *** !! I've used all the tricks I can come up with, combinations of surface products like Wiremold and AC/MC, NM and EMT on exterior walls.
But it still blows !
It's hell on earth doing cut-ins on wooden lath/plaster walls, placing fan hangers over pianos and worrying about who's going to trip over the network of cords on the floor.
Everybody's looking the other way about all this old, dangerous wiring, Real Estate appraisers just look for 100 AMPS and call it good, and everybody else just goes along for the ride.
Re-wiring old houses (old VERY valuable houses)
is the gold mine of the future. It's an untapped and almost unlimited customer base for enterprising Electrical Contractors who might otherwise be hard up for work when (not if) the new construction market slows.
But convoluted floor plans, fancy door and window moldings, wallpaper with sentimental value and endless other obstacles stand in the way.
We can talk all day about how the knob & tube is OK if it's in good condition but lets be honest about it, these firebombs need new wiring. 60,80,100 or more years is long enough for wiring to be in service, let's all make some good money and start doing some real re-wiring.
But how ? We need new products and methods to make re-wiring practical. I see something like a Flat Conductor Cable or something, I don't know........ We need to go back to the drawing board and find a new way to re-wire.
Any ideas ???
[ February 26, 2003, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: landelectric ]
