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Electrical Updates for Older Homes
Insurance and buyers’ inspectors ask about this wiring by name. Knob-and-tube and cloth wire were installed competently for the loads of their day. The loads changed; the wire did not.
Electrical Updates for Older Homes in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
One electrician, start to finish. Seventeen years in the trade and four running his own shop out of O’Fallon.
5.0 from 94 Google reviews · BBB A+ since 2022
What this work actually involves
Grounding is brought up to current requirements, which is usually what makes the difference for a buyer’s inspector.
The measurement happens before the number. You hear what the reading says in plain words, then what it means, then what it will take to fix. Where the fix is small you are told that rather than sold past it.
Permits get pulled where the municipality asks for one, and the work is left ready for the inspector with the panel labeled. The same person does the diagnosis and the repair.
When people call about this
- Two-prong outlets throughout
- Cloth or rubber insulation at the panel
- Warm switch plates
- An inspector’s note on an older home
Why people choose Clint for it
What the reviews keep mentioning is being told what the problem actually was. That is what an owner-operated shop can do and a dispatch model structurally cannot.
Seventeen years in the trade, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and BBB accredited A+ since December 2022.
Where this is done
O’Fallon is home and the shortest drive. Beyond it, St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, Lincoln County and Warren County.
See the full service area, or the rest of our wiring & rewiring work.
Grounding is usually the real gap
The thing that most often fails an older home’s inspection is not the wire, it is the absence of an equipment ground. Two-prong outlets are the visible symptom.
Depending on what is in the wall, that can mean GFCI protection on existing circuits, a dedicated ground run, or replacement. The measurement says which, and it changes room by room in the same house.
How a rewire is staged
A rewire is disruptive, so it gets staged. Circuits are replaced zone by zone with the panel reworked once, which keeps the house livable and means the family is never without the kitchen and the bathroom at the same time.
Fishing walls beats opening them wherever the framing allows. Where drywall has to come out, it comes out in planned places rather than wherever is convenient.
What older houses here actually have in them
The housing stock across this metro means a predictable set: fuse panels, aluminum branch wiring from the mid-seventies, knob-and-tube under blown-in insulation, two-prong outlets with no equipment ground, and panels added to several times.
None of those is automatically an emergency and none is automatically fine. They get tested, and you are told which category each one falls into before anything is quoted.
Who actually does the work
Clint Ehman does the diagnosis and the repair himself. There is no salesman writing a scope for a technician to execute, and nobody paid on what the visit totals.
Seventeen years in the trade, four of them running his own shop out of O’Fallon, licensed, bonded and insured with workers compensation coverage, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and A+ BBB accreditation held since 2022.
Why the diagnosis comes before the quote
A symptom has several possible causes with very different prices, and the only thing that separates them is a measurement. Quoting the expensive one covers the risk; quoting the cheap one and finding the expensive one mid-job is worse.
So the reading happens first, you are told what it says, and then the work is scoped to it. Where the honest answer is the small repair, that is the answer you get, even when the larger job pays better.
“Clint did an excellent job installing two bathroom exhaust fans. He installed high-quality fans that were far superior to the ones I had purchased from a big box store. I highly recommend his services.”
David Hinners · Google review
How the visit goes
- The call
What is in the walls, how old the house is, and whether this is for safety, a sale or a remodel. The reason changes the scope.
- The measurement
Testing at accessible terminations and devices, checking for an equipment ground, and looking for the specific hazards: buried knob-and-tube, brittle insulation at fixtures, creeping aluminum connections.
- The finding
Honest scope. Wire that tests sound stays. Where a rewire is the answer it is staged, and you are told what order and how long the house is affected.
- The work
Zone by zone, fishing walls rather than opening them where the framing allows, grounding brought current, rough-in photographed before anything closes up.
What the job includes
- Inspection of every accessible termination, which is where failures live
- Testing before anything is removed, so sound wire stays in the wall
- Staged replacement room by room where a rewire is the honest answer
- Grounding brought to current requirements
- Permit and inspection where required
- Photographs of the rough-in before anything closes up
What it does not
- Plaster and drywall finishing beyond patching access holes
- Insulation replacement
- Removing wire that is safe to leave in place
Anything outside electrical, you will be told who to call rather than sold it. Finished work is in the gallery. To book, pick a day.
Related wiring & rewiring work
Electrical Updates for Older Homes across the metro
Housing stock varies sharply across the counties here, and so does the work. Out of O’Fallon across thirty municipalities, where the permit process changes more than the work does.
St. Louis City
Century housing, its own permitting authority, and occupancy inspections that decide a lot of the calls.
Lincoln County
Distance is the design factor out here. A run to a shop or a well house is often hundreds of feet, which makes voltage drop a real calculation rather than a textbook one.
Warren County
Two kinds of work share the same ZIP codes here: recent subdivisions with modern wiring and tight services, and farm properties carrying several eras at once.
See which towns fall inside the radius on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
Can a rewire be done in stages?
Yes, zone by zone with the house powered throughout and each stage inspected before the next. That is usually how an occupied house is done.
Does old wiring mean the whole house has to be rewired?
Almost never. Aluminum branch wiring is a termination problem with an accepted remedy. Knob-and-tube that tests sound and is not buried in insulation can often stay. The measurement decides it, not the age.
Will an inspector pass it?
That depends on grounding and terminations more than on the conductors. Those are the items that get corrected, documented and re-inspected so a file closes.
Are you licensed and insured?
Licensed, bonded and insured, with workers compensation coverage, and accredited A+ with the BBB since 2022.
Where do you work?
Out of O’Fallon across St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Lincoln and Warren counties, roughly a fifty mile radius.
Tell him what the house is doing.
You will get a reading and a straight answer about what it means, including the answer where the fix is small. Electrical Updates for Older Homes in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Hours are Mon-Thu 8-5, Fri 8-4, Sat 10-3 · or type it out.