[quote=edna_mode]Hi there, thanks for all the great advice! Wondering if anyone has ever upgraded two pronged outlets across a whole house before (~1200sqft, late 50’s construction). Any recommendations, advice or cost estimates? Is it possible to do this without tearing walls apart?[/quote]
One of my rental units is a 1929 era beach cottage that had been partially upgraded over the years, so it was a weird mix of romex and knob-n-tube. About a year ago I had all the old wiring ripped out and replaced with modern wiring, new switches, grounded outlets, GFI in the kitchen & bath, etc. I think I also had an additional circuit added in the kitchen. I got two estimates from licensed contractors. One was $8k, and the other was under $4. We went with the cheaper one and were very happy with the results. One other note: the electrical panel had been upgraded at some point. My understanding is that it’s a big expensive PITA to replace the electrical panel, so hopefully yours is modern enough that you won’t need to replace it.
Whether or not the walls need to be torn apart will depend greatly on the construction of your unit. If you’re on a slab, yeah, they most likely will need to rip a channel in the wall to run new wiring down from the attic to switches and outlets. Most of the beach cottage has crawlspace below, and in those rooms they were able to fish new wire up to the outlet locations without cutting into the walls. Also, for ceiling lamp fixtures they may be able to keep the existing wiring if it’s still in good condition.
