Latest Newsletter BRIGHTNOTES
B R I G H T N O T E S copyright 2015 www.jaybrightarchitect.com
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Knob & Tube Wiring in Old Houses
Evolution from “Reasonably Safe to Uninsurable
My readers know that I tend to favor old building details and systems. However, there comes a time when fresh thinking is important!
When we purchased our 1900 foursquare house in New Haven in the late 70’s, I had several electricians work on the house. We had a variety of wiring systems ranging from brand new Romex (non-metallic grounded plastic coated wiring), two vintages of BX (metallic sheathed cable) and the oldest knob & tube (K&T) an early method of electrical wiring that was in common use in from about 1880 to the 1930s. Copper wire that was encased in a brittle, black sheath and supported by porcelain spacers that held it inches away from combustible wood joists and studs. The consensus was that our oldest wiring was okay, despite being ungrounded. One colorful electrician named after a famous Confederate general asserted that it was safer than modern wiring!
When touring the Tidewater area of northern Virginia with the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society in the early ‘90’s I saw a magnificent National Historic Landmark Georgian house where a severe fire was caused by a squirrel’s nest built between K & T wires. Subsequently, I heard about two house fires in our neighborhood caused by old wiring. One started behind a first floor wall outlet and quickly moved to the attic because there was no fire blocking. The other, although it was only minutes away from a firehouse, was a total loss. I kept pushing these disturbing discoveries to the back of my mind where they started eroding my confidence that our K & T was “reasonably safe “. Simply put, as this wiring ages, the black coating cracks and falls off in unpredictable, often concealed locations. There is statistical proof that this wiring grows more dangerous as it ages.
Last fall I accompanied my son and his house inspector to look at a Boston area house that he was thinking about buying. It was also built in 1900 and had beautifully finished rooms. I was surprised when the inspector said emphatically that all of the knob and tube wiring would have to be replaced if he wanted to get insurance. Disbelieving, I asked several of my restoration “wise old owls” if this could possibly be true. My friend and conscience John Leeke, a renowned preservation consultant, set me straight. He was working part time for an insurance company just after 9/11 and observed that all property insurance companies began an aggressive campaign to cut their risks and recover their losses. He also noted that over the three plus decades that we had owned our house, the wiring had aged (like us).
Here’s how it works. If the insurance company has not been on site to inspect the house, the homeowner gets a questionnaire with one about whether the house has any K & T wiring. If the homeowners answer “yes”, they have to replace it with modern, code compliant wiring within a short period of time. If they answer “no”, not being aware that there may be some concealed somewhere in their house, they may be denied a claim for a fire that is started by that wiring. In our case, the insurance company had inspected the house several years ago so I assume that they had noticed at least three locations where K & T wiring came out of old black steel electrical boxes on the basement ceiling and disappeared up into the walls.
I felt a new urgency to remedy this newfound risk. I balanced the probable mess in most rooms caused by cutting the brittle old plaster to run new wires with potential catastrophic mess of a major fire. I used my contractor/architect network to find electricians who were familiar with dealing with K & T. Several toured our house with my outline specification and sketch of what I thought needed to be done. Some were not interested due to the complexity of the task. Some would not quote a price for the work due to the unknown amount K & T wiring and the difficulty of running new wires. The remaining two said that they would get a building permit (required by both building code and the insurance companies) without my asking. I chose the contractors with the greatest passion for minimizing damage to the existing finishes of the house. This approach resulted in almost no plaster repairs and very little repainting. The first day on the job, when brothers Tom and Dom of St John Electric re-fed a 1920s milk glass ceiling fixture that hung below complicated structure in our entry hall without making any notches or plaster trenching I knew we had made the right choice. A bonus was that they made a big fuss over our St. Bernard pup and gave her a few weeks of their easy-going companionship. Continued on next page
Meanwhile, we had qualified for The Connecticut Historic Homes Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program that would refund to us about 20-30% of the construction cost of major repairs such as upgrading of the electrical system, asbestos removal, basement foundation repointing and even upgrading our seven window air conditioners to central air conditioning!
This program is a boon to those who live in historic districts and can manage paperwork. Give me a call if you would like to learn more.
B R I G H T N E W S & V I E W S
+ Due to my service on the Music Haven Building Committee, I was invited by Yale Architecture teacher Turner Brooks to be a juror for a dozen undergraduates who had been asked to design of a new building the program. Set on a real site between Dixwell and Goffe streets their imaginative designs were beautifully illustrated by drawings and take-apart models .
+In Memoriam Richard Warren a loyal client who with his wife Mary-Jo had retained me for many projects in their homes. He had headed the Yale Historic Sound Recordings in the Music Library. I was honored that my idea for a grave marker for the Grove Street Cemetery was installed last spring…. a dark granite block with both high polish and matt finishes that set off a circle of letters to evoke the LP records that he held so dear.
+ Donald Baerman AIA was one of the most generous and competent practitioners that I have ever known. His humor and understanding of how our profession worked and didn’t work added extra spice to our lunches. He freely shared his master specification and was always helpful in solving the puzzles that I brought to him. He helped me learn that there are few perfect solutions and that the owner must accept risks to get the benefits of a construction project.
+ Glenn Barnhard AIA understood the need for solo practitioners to collaborate and keep current on a whole range of practice issues. by chairing the AIA/CT Small Firms Roundtable for decades. A few days before his passing, I had enjoyed his wit and wisdom during lunch at the Annual Meeting & Trade Show.
B R I G H T B O O K S
Solid wood can always recover from even the most extreme wetness. Products with wood and resin binders (plywood and particleboard) may have a moisture content beyond which there may not be elastic recovery because the expansion of the wet wood ruptures adhesive bonds. Thus, the disintegration of some wood products in conditions of over 80% relative humidity that also appears to be the threshold for mold formation.
Water in Buildings An Architects Guide to Moisture and Mold William B Rose