I will be the first to tell you I don't know everything. I don't have much experience with K&T and I am looking at doing a service upgrade on a house that has some K&T, not all just a couple of circuits. It looks like the circuits that are K&T are the orignal general use circuits to the house. The K&T wiring is in good shape, bendable, no cracks, it doesn't appear to have been over heated. The home owner doesn't want to open up the walls, so I was going to cut out half of the K&T circuit, there are no outlets on this section, set a 4x4x2 non-metallatic junction box and bring the remaining K&T in on opposite sides of the box, then tie in with romex and run back to the new panel. I ran this by a friend of mine at the local inspection office and he saw no problem with it, as long as the existing K&T was it good shape. I read this board alot and was wondering what was your thoughts or suggestions.
Rowland
just bring the old K&T in through seperate knockouts in a NM box and you should be good to go, most areas have some form of a "grandfather clause" that covers stuff like this. I would check behind the lights though, a lot of old lights on K&T hlack boxes, and have crispy wires from overlamping, just a CYA (cover your behind)
oh, and welcome to the board!
-Will
Look in the NEC, not sue what article but you might need to protect the existing K&T with a GFI. Ran into this about 8-9 yrs ago and that was the solution then, not sure if NEC has changed since.
I was planning on bringing the K&T in through different knockouts, in fact I am planning using one of those NM junction boxes that you drill your own holes in and I was even going use some rubber groments in the holes. Thanks for the input. In my area K&T is taboo, everyone says rip it out. The way I look at it, it has been that for 100 years and if it is good shape why rip open walls and ceilings.
Rowland
Look in the NEC, not sue what article but you might need to protect the existing K&T with a GFI. Ran into this about 8-9 yrs ago and that was the solution then, not sure if NEC has changed since.
The artical in the NEC for K&T is about 2 pages long and just says splices will be in an approved manner and wire will be in accordance with 310. I and my friend found nothing about GFCI, but I will double check.
Thanks
Rowland
The only way to get to GFCI being required on K&T is if you serve a grounding type receptacle and no ground present
K&T is still an approved method of wiring, however, in the last few months we have been getting calls from home sellers, it seems the buyers of homes, that have K&T can not get insurance for them, and are requiring rewire before insuring.
Hi Rowland,
u can use solder on the K&T and tape it up just as was done on all the joints and taps. It is one of the approved mean, and is simple. I have been out on many calls from realtors, to remove wirnuts and other splices from K&T. Inspectors here seem to like this approch.
Ob
Where the old K&T enters existing boxes, there should be an additional sleeve on the wire. I always have a couple of pieces of this sleeving on hand when working with K&T for entry into new boxes to protect the wire.
As for insurance, we have the same issue here as what Les said above. Once a house with K&T is sold, insurance companies give a fixed period of time to have it replaced, otherwise the homeowner can't get insurance.
Where the old K&T enters existing boxes, there should be an additional sleeve on the wire. I always have a couple of pieces of this sleeving on hand when working with K&T for entry into new boxes to protect the wire.
As for insurance, we have the same issue here as what Les said above. Once a house with K&T is sold, insurance companies give a fixed period of time to have it replaced, otherwise the homeowner can't get insurance.
The same is true here, as well. The last job I did the homeowner was required replace the K&T within 30 days after closing.