A close call with a 1970s panel in a San Diego apartment building changed my whole approach

I was doing a simple outlet swap in a unit, and when I pulled the old one out, the insulation just crumbled off the wires like dry sand. The whole building had original cloth-covered wiring, and the heat over decades had made it brittle. I ended up having to open up a dozen more outlets on that floor to check, and three others were just as bad. How do you guys handle giving a quote when you find something like this, knowing the whole place might need a rewire?

4 comments

4 Comments

alice_palmer209d ago

Man, that story hits close to home. I mean, I once found a wire so brittle I swear I could have snapped it with a dirty look. I get what @julia_lee is saying about not jumping straight to a full rewire every time, but man, it's a tough call. You quote for the small fix and then lie awake at night wondering if you just left a fire trap. I usually try to explain the risk and let the owner decide, but it never feels great either way.

blake3229d ago

Take pictures. Show them the brittle spot.

tyler_wilson9d ago

My buddy Mike had a similar thing happen in an old Pasadena fourplex. He found one wire with cracked insulation behind a switch plate and ended up quoting a full rewire for the whole unit. He told the owner it was a fire waiting to happen and showed them the brittle piece he found. They went with it, but it killed the job profit because he had to lowball the quote just to get the work.

-1

julia_lee9d agoMost Upvoted

That Pasadena story sounds like a scare tactic to me. One cracked wire behind a switch plate doesn't mean the whole place needs new wires. Did he even check the rest of the unit or just jump to the most expensive fix? Old cloth wiring can be brittle in one spot but still fine in the walls. I've seen guys push for a full rewire when a simple repair would do the job just to make more money. Makes you wonder if the fire risk was real or just a good sales pitch.