Services · Older-home wiring
Greater Sudbury was largely built through the nickel boom — which means a lot of houses here have aluminum branch wiring from the late 60s and 70s, and the older neighbourhoods still have knob-and-tube. If your insurer has started asking questions, or you just want to know what is behind your walls, we will tell you straight.
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The straight version
There is a lot of scare-selling in this corner of the trade. Here is the honest read on both — what they are, and what actually matters.
≈ 1965 – 1975
Copper got expensive, so homes went up with aluminum branch circuits. Installed properly and terminated with compatible devices, it can be perfectly safe — plenty of it is. The weak point is the connections: aluminum moves and oxidises more than copper, so terminations can loosen over decades and heat up. The wire in the wall is rarely the problem. The ends of it are.
≈ PRE-1950
Ceramic knobs and tubes, two wires, no ground. It was fine for the loads of its day, but the insulation is long past its service life, it was never meant for how we use power now, and decades of well-meaning amateur modifications are usually the real hazard. It also needs open air to shed heat — so anywhere it has been buried in attic insulation deserves a look.
What we do
What is in the panel is not always what is in the walls. We find out what you really have before anyone talks about fixing it.
02 / 04Correcting connections throughout with compatible, approved devices and connectors — the fix that addresses the actual risk.
03 / 04You cannot bring knob-and-tube up to standard, so we replace it — staged around how you live in the house where we can.
04 / 04An honest, documented assessment of what is there and what was done, from a licensed contractor — in writing, so you can send it on.
How it works
Common questions
Not automatically — and anyone telling you to panic is selling something. Aluminum branch wiring went into Canadian homes roughly between 1965 and 1975, and where it was installed properly and terminated with compatible devices, it can be perfectly safe. The risk lives at the connections: aluminum expands, contracts and oxidises more than copper, so terminations can work loose over decades and heat up. That is what gets inspected, and that is what gets fixed.
It varies by insurer, so get their requirement in writing first — it saves everyone guessing. Most commonly they want an inspection by a licensed electrical contractor confirming what the wiring is and that the terminations are done with compatible, approved devices. Some ask for remediation before they will write the policy; a few will not cover knob-and-tube at all. We will tell you exactly what you have, in writing. What we will not do is promise what your insurer will accept — nobody honestly can.
Usually not, if it is aluminum. The common approach is to correct the terminations throughout — compatible, approved devices and connectors — rather than opening up every wall. A full rewire is the definitive fix and sometimes it is genuinely the right call, but it is rarely the only option, and we will say so. Knob-and-tube is a different story: it is ungrounded, its insulation is long past its service life, and it cannot be brought up to modern standard, so replacement is the honest answer there.
Age is the first clue. Knob-and-tube is roughly pre-1950 — you can often spot the white ceramic knobs and tubes on the joists in an unfinished basement or attic. Aluminum is roughly 1965 to 1975, and the cable jacket is usually marked ALUMINUM or ALUM. Plenty of Sudbury homes have had work done since they were built, so what is in the panel is not always what is in the walls. If you are not sure, we will look.
Yes — and it is one of the more common things worth catching. Knob-and-tube was designed to shed its heat into open air, so burying it in thermal insulation traps that heat. It is a recognised hazard and generally not permitted. If an attic was insulated over live knob-and-tube at some point, that is worth dealing with rather than leaving.
Yes. Work is done to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code and filed with the ESA (Electrical Safety Authority) where a permit is required — our ESA permits guide explains how that process works. You get the paperwork; we deal with the process.
Ready when you are
Tell us the age of the house and what you have been asked for. We will come back with an honest read and a clear quote — no scare tactics.