Troubleshooting is diagnostic work. A breaker that trips at the same time every evening, a receptacle that reads correctly but browns out under load, a light that dims when the furnace starts — each of those has a cause that can be found with a meter, a tracer and a systematic sweep of the circuit. We charge for the diagnosis and tell you what it is before we replace anything, because guessing is expensive and it usually leaves the fault in the wall.
The rewiring side is mostly about three things this housing stock is full of. Knob-and-tube is still live behind the plaster in plenty of Park Ridge and Edison Park houses built before 1940 — it has no ground, its rubber insulation is long past its life, and burying it in blown-in attic insulation is a fire risk. Ungrounded two-wire cable from the forties and fifties leaves you with three-prong outlets that ground nothing. Aluminum branch wiring from the mid-sixties to early seventies is safe only where every termination has been properly pigtailed with a listed connector, and most have not been.
Whole-house rewires happen room by room so you keep power and a usable house throughout. We fish through existing cavities wherever possible, cut access where we must, and patch what we open. Where the work is inspected — and a rewire is — we file the permit, meet the inspector and close it out.
Common questions
How can I tell if my house still has knob-and-tube?+
Look in the attic or an unfinished basement for single conductors running through white ceramic knobs and tubes, spaced apart rather than bundled in a cable. If you see it, note whether it is still connected at the panel — plenty of houses have abandoned runs alongside modern wiring. We will trace which circuits are actually live.
Does aluminum wiring have to be ripped out?+
Usually not. The failures happen at terminations, not in the middle of a run. Retermination with listed AlumiConn or COPALUM connectors at every device, splice and breaker is an accepted repair and is far less invasive than a rewire. Full replacement is the answer when the wiring is damaged or the house is already open.
What does a diagnostic visit cost?+
A flat diagnostic fee covers the visit and the time to find the fault, and it is credited against the repair if you have us do the work. You get a written explanation of the cause either way, so you can get a second quote if you want one.
Other services
Most jobs touch more than one of these. Ask and we will tell you which.
