Whole-Home Rewiring

Whole-Home Rewiring in Mesa and the Phoenix Valley

Some mid-century and older homes in Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale still have outdated electrical systems. Homes built before 1980 may have single strand aluminum wiring, cloth-insulated wiring or knob-and-tube wiring, all of which have known issues. At The Wire Guy Electric, we rewire whole houses, rewire the part of a house that needs it, and make aluminum branch wiring safe at every connection. We see single strand aluminum wiring all the time in older homes across Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix and Scottsdale.

Single Strand Aluminum Wiring

Between roughly 1965 and 1975, copper prices spiked, and builders across the country, Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe among them, wired homes with single strand aluminum branch circuits instead of copper. Parts of Scottsdale, Tempe, east Mesa and central Phoenix built in those years are especially likely to have it.

The trouble is at the connections. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper as it heats and cools, and over thousands of cycles that loosens connections. It forms an oxide that resists current, and it corrodes where it touches a copper-rated terminal. The result is loose, corroded connections at outlets, switches and junction boxes that heat up under load.

Not all aluminum is a problem. The multi-strand aluminum in service entrance and feeder cables is still installed in new homes, and range, dryer and AC circuits are often aluminum. The fire risk is single strand aluminum on the 15 and 20 amp branch circuits that feed your outlets and lights.

In most cases we recommend a full rewire: every aluminum branch circuit comes out and copper goes in. That is the clear choice if you are remodeling or the wiring has other problems, such as deteriorated insulation. In some homes we can instead install AlumiConn connectors at every outlet, switch and junction box, which makes each aluminum-to-copper connection safe. Purple wire nuts and CO/ALR outlets on their own do not fix it. After every aluminum job we give you a signed remediation report for your insurer. More detail is in our guide to aluminum wiring in older Phoenix homes.

Cloth, Knob-and-Tube and Ungrounded Wiring

Aluminum is not the only old wiring we replace. Older Valley homes can also have:

• Knob-and-tube wiring, in homes from before the 1950s
• Cloth-insulated wiring
• Two-wire circuits with no ground, common in homes wired before grounding was standard
• Outdated fuse boxes or ungrounded subpanels
• Improvised DIY work from past owners or flips

Heat adds to it. Decades of attic heat make conductor insulation brittle, and it cracks at the box, where it gets flexed. Some homes in central Phoenix still run on 60-amp service, half of what a modern home needs.

What a Rewire Involves

A full house rewire replaces the existing wiring with new copper wiring that meets current National Electrical Code (NEC) standards. That means:

• Every branch circuit from the panel to your outlets, switches and lights replaced with new NM (Romex) cable.
• New outlets and switches, with GFCI-protected outlets in kitchens, bathrooms, garages and outdoor areas as code requires.
• Proper grounding, AFCI breakers where required, tamper-resistant outlets and the right wire size for each circuit.
• A panel upgrade when the house needs one. Most homes that need a rewire do, often going from 60-amp or 100-amp service to 200 amps. Done together, the labor overlaps and the two cost less than doing them separately.

Not every home needs a full rewire. Sometimes the kitchen and bathrooms need updating and the bedroom circuits are fine, or one part of the house is being remodeled. A partial rewire brings that area up to code. If the walls are already open for a remodel, rewiring costs less, because we do not have to cut into drywall and fish wire through closed walls.

We start with an electrical inspection: we look at your panel, test your circuits, check your grounding and tell you what needs replacing and what is still safe.

Permits, Timeline and Power During the Job

A full rewire is the kind of major project where pulling a permit usually makes sense, especially if you plan to sell the home or want the work documented for insurance. We walk you through whether it makes sense for your home and what it adds to the cost. When we pull the permit, we schedule the inspection and make sure everything passes. In Mesa, residential electrical permits come from the City of Mesa Development Services Department.

A full rewire on a typical single-story home takes about 3 to 5 days of electrical work. Two-story homes and larger properties can take a week or more. We disconnect the old wiring, run all new circuits, install new outlets and switches, connect everything to the panel, and schedule the city inspection. Once it passes, the drywall can be patched and painted, usually by a separate contractor.

We try to keep some circuits live the whole time. In most homes the kitchen and at least one bathroom keep working throughout the job. If the rewire includes a panel upgrade, we coordinate the meter pull with the utility.

What It Costs

The price depends on the size of the house, the number of circuits, how easy the walls and attic are to reach, and how much of the old wiring comes out versus being abandoned in place. Drywall repair and painting are separate. Our Arizona rewire cost guide has the price ranges. We use flat-rate pricing, so you know the price before we start.

Find Out What Wiring You Have

If you are not sure what is in your walls, we can tell you during a free estimate. Request a free estimate and we will look at your panel and wiring and give you a straight answer. Arizona ROC #365306.