Rewiring a Boise North End Historic Home: What to Expect

Why the North End is a different job

Boise's North End and East End hold the city's densest concentration of pre-1940 housing — Craftsman bungalows, Tudor Revivals and Colonial cottages along Harrison Boulevard, Hays Street, Resseguie and around Hyde Park. A great many of them still have active knob-and-tube on some or all circuits.

That creates a tension you do not get in a Meridian subdivision. The wiring has to go, for safety and because most insurers will not write a policy over it. But the features that make the house valuable — original fir flooring, built-in cabinetry, plate rails, plaster — are exactly what a careless rewire destroys.

The Boise remodeling market puts the premium on an intact historic home at $30 to $60 per square foot over one stripped in a previous renovation. On a 1,500 square foot bungalow that is $45,000 to $90,000 of value sitting in the trim and the floors. It is worth slowing the electrical work down to protect it.

What is actually in the walls

Knob-and-tube, standard from the 1880s to the 1940s. The ceramic hardware is durable; the rubber-and-cloth conductor insulation is not. It embrittles with age and fails at mechanical stress points — where a wire passes a joist or enters a box. It has no equipment grounding conductor at all, which is why every original outlet is two-prong and nothing with a metal case is grounded.

Cloth-insulated copper from the 1940s and 1950s, added when the house was first modernised. Sometimes serviceable, sometimes not.

A 1970s or 1990s partial rewire in the kitchen or a back addition, leaving the original rooms untouched.

Most North End houses hold two or three of these at once, on a panel with no directory. That is why the first visit is a survey of the attic, the basement and a sample of boxes, not a quote over the phone.

Lead paint changes the method

Any home built before 1978 may contain lead-based paint, and 1900s–1950s housing almost certainly does. Rewiring disturbs paint: cutting plaster for device boxes, fishing behind baseboards, removing and refitting trim.

That calls for containment, controlled cutting and proper cleanup rather than a shop vac and a broom. Ask every bidder about it directly. It is a real cost difference, and the cheapest quote is frequently the one that has not priced it. A contractor who looks blank when you mention lead-safe practice in a 1912 house has told you something about the rest of the bid.

How much gets opened up

Less than most people fear, in a typical bungalow.

A house with a full attic above and a basement below is the good case. Most runs travel vertically inside the wall cavity, dropping from the attic or rising from below, and the openings land at device boxes that were being replaced anyway. Picture rails, plate rails and original millwork generally survive untouched.

The harder cases are low-clearance attics over a later addition, balloon framing with fire blocking, and any room where the plaster runs directly on masonry. There the options are fishing where possible, surface raceway in utility spaces where that is honest, and cutting and patching where there is no alternative.

Insist on seeing the cut locations before work starts. A contractor who can walk you through where each opening will be has planned the job. One who says "we'll see when we get in there" has not.

Living in the house during the work

Almost always possible. Rewiring in zones of two or three rooms keeps the rest of the house energized, and a whole-house rewire on a typical 1,400 square foot bungalow runs one to two weeks of working days with the family in place. Kitchen and bathroom circuits get scheduled around your routine rather than left dead over a weekend.

What it costs

$12,000 to $25,000 for 1,200 to 1,800 square feet, which covers most North End bungalows. Where you land inside that band is driven by access and finish sensitivity, not by square footage.

Separate line items to expect:

• A new panel, $1,500 to $4,000, if the existing service cannot carry the rewired load — which on an original 60 or 100-amp service it usually cannot
• The DOPL permit, priced on declared job value, purchased from the state
• Patching and paint — confirm explicitly whether openings are made good
• Lead-safe containment in pre-1978 housing
• Removal of the old knob-and-tube, which is not the same as de-energizing it

What to ask before you sign

1. Have you been in the attic and the basement, or are you quoting off square footage?
2. Where exactly will you need to open walls?
3. How do you handle lead-safe practice in a pre-1978 house?
4. Is the old knob-and-tube removed or just de-energized — and what does my insurer require?
5. Does the quote include the DOPL permit and the state inspection?
6. Does it include patching, or do I hold holes?

Bottom line

A North End rewire is slower and more careful than a subdivision rewire, and it should be. The value you are protecting is in the floors and the trim, not just in the wiring. Get the survey before the quote and call 208-856-4826 to book one.