Auburn Knob and Tube removes old knob-and-tube wiring and rewires the houses that still have it in Auburn, Washington. Those are mostly homes built before 1950 near downtown and in South Auburn, not the newer neighborhoods up on the hills. We start with the questions that decide the job: which of the porcelain-insulated runs are still energized, what fuse box or early panel feeds them, and which rooms rely on them.
From there the old two-wire circuits are replaced with grounded cable, either all at once or in phases while you keep living in the house. Work inside Auburn city limits runs under a Washington L&I electrical permit and inspection, and you end up with a written record of what was replaced, which is often the first thing an insurer or buyer asks to see.
Knob-and-tube carries each conductor separately on ceramic knobs and through ceramic tubes, with no equipment ground, and it was being phased out from the 1930s. A whole-house rewire replaces every circuit that still runs on it with modern grounded cable, new boxes and new devices. Old runs we disconnect are often left in place inside closed walls once they are confirmed dead; we tell you which ones and where.
Screw-in Edison-base fuses up to 30 amps all share one socket size, so a 15-amp circuit can end up behind a 30-amp fuse. Replacing the fuse box or an early breaker panel is usually planned with the rewire, because new grounded circuits need room to land and any old circuit that stays needs protection sized to its wire, set by the electrician and checked by the inspector.
Not every family can move out for a rewire. In a phased job we map the circuits first, then replace them in groups, often a floor or a set of bedrooms at a time, with each phase inspected before walls are closed. The goal is still a finished house with no live knob-and-tube left, not a permanent patchwork.
Two-wire circuits from the knob-and-tube era, and most cable installed before the early 1960s, have no grounding conductor. The rooms where modern appliances plug in are where that matters most, so new grounded circuits for the kitchen counters, bathroom and laundry are often the first phase of an Auburn rewire.
We find where the knob-and-tube runs, which circuits it serves and what protects it, from the fuse box or panel out to attic, basement and wall cavities. Anything already abandoned is noted separately from what is still energized.
You get a written scope covering which circuits are replaced, whether the panel changes, the order of the work and where small access openings are likely. That is where cost factors, occupancy and any insurer requirements are weighed.
The electrical permit is bought by whoever performs the work, and the inspection is requested before wiring is covered. When the work is finished you receive a circuit list showing what is new and anything that remains.
Census estimates put roughly 1,390 of Auburn’s 31,800 homes before 1950, about one in 23, and two-thirds of the city’s housing dates from 1980 or later. The older houses cluster: in the South Auburn census tracts around 1st Street SE and 12th Street SE, roughly one home in five was built before 1950. That fits a town that grew from 489 residents in 1900 to 3,163 by 1920 along the Northern Pacific line.
Lea Hill and West Hill, annexed in 2008, and Lakeland Hills, begun in 1985, are mostly far too new for knob-and-tube. Age is a pointer, not proof: a 1920s house may have been rewired decades ago, and a later addition can still be fed from an original circuit.
Inside Auburn city limits, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) issues all electrical permits; the city does not. An Auburn mailing address is not always inside the city, though. Some fall under unincorporated King County or Kent, which also use L&I, and some are in Federal Way, which runs its own electrical permit and inspection program.
So the first check is jurisdiction by street address. After that the rules are familiar: whoever performs the electrical work buys the permit before starting, and inspection is requested before new wiring disappears behind plaster or insulation.
We found no published Washington standard on how insurers treat knob-and-tube; each company sets its own requirements. Before work is scoped, it helps to get your insurer’s question in writing: do they want all of it removed, only the active circuits, or an evaluation?
Useful paperwork includes the permit and final inspection, which L&I’s online lookup shows by address for permits bought since January 1, 2020, plus an electrician’s written list of what was replaced and anything that remains. None of it guarantees coverage, but it answers the usual questions.
Auburn Knob and Tube takes on knob-and-tube removal and rewiring across Auburn, WA, with dedicated pages for Puyallup and Enumclaw, where a larger share of homes predates 1950. Inquiries from Sumner, Pacific and Algona are welcome too; coverage for those addresses is confirmed when you get in touch.
Not necessarily. Fuse boxes fed knob-and-tube, but they also fed the early cable that replaced it, and plenty of houses got a breaker panel while the old wiring stayed. The box tells you the service equipment is old; tracing the circuits tells you what wiring is behind it.
Sometimes. The electrician sizes the breaker for any retained circuit to its wire under the code in force when the permit is issued, and the inspector checks it. If insulation will also go around that wiring, Washington adds stricter conditions, including breaker or Type S fuse protection sized to the 60°C ampacity column of the code table the rule references. Whether keeping a circuit makes sense depends on its condition and on your insurer.
Often, yes, if the work is phased so kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms are never all out of service together. Expect planned power interruptions, dust from access openings and some rooms cleared for a phase.
Only under strict conditions in Washington. A licensed electrical contractor must survey the wiring and certify in writing to L&I that it is in good condition, the insulation must be a Class I material, foam is never allowed, and every circuit needs breaker or Type S fuse protection. Many owners rewire first instead.
Please do not test it yourself. Old insulation can crumble when handled, and a run that looks abandoned may still be energized from an unexpected splice. Note where you have seen knobs or tubes and let an electrician confirm it with the power controlled.
The number of circuits, the size and layout of the house, attic and crawlspace access, plaster versus drywall, whether the fuse box or panel changes, how the work is phased, and patching after access openings. We do not publish prices because those factors vary so much from one older house to the next.
Tell us roughly when the house was built, where you have seen knob-and-tube or a fuse box, and whether a home inspection or insurer raised it. The street address matters too, since it decides who issues the permit. We'll get back to you soon with an estimate or any questions we have. Estimates are free and there's no obligation.
Call (253) 285-1913