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Whole-House Rewiring
Older houses were wired for a different set of appliances and a different idea of safety. Knob-and-tube and cloth wire were installed competently for the loads of their day. The loads changed; the wire did not.
Whole-House Rewiring in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Owner-operated by Clint Ehman. Seventeen years in the trade, four of them running his own shop.
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 order is always the same: reproduce it, measure it, say what the number means, fix the thing the number points at. Nothing gets bundled on the way past.
Permits and inspections happen where the municipality requires them, and the panel is left labeled. One person does all of it.
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.
Staging a rewire so the house stays livable
A whole-house rewire does not have to happen in one week. It can be staged by zone, with the house powered throughout and each stage inspected before the next starts.
Walls get fished rather than opened wherever the framing allows, rough-in is photographed before anything closes up, and grounding is brought current as each zone is done.
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.
Staging, and why the house stays livable
A rewire does not have to be a single disruptive event. Done zone by zone, with each stage inspected before the next begins, the house stays powered and occupied throughout.
That staging also spreads the cost, and it means the highest-risk circuits get done first rather than whatever is most convenient to reach.
“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 that is not an electrical problem gets identified as such and handed on. See finished work, or say what the house is doing.
Related wiring & rewiring work
Whole-House Rewiring across the metro
Housing stock varies sharply across the counties here, and so does the work. Five jurisdictions, five different sets of conditions, all worked out of O’Fallon.
St. Louis County
St. Louis County has the older housing stock, which is where knob-and-tube, cloth wire and fuse-box conversions come from. Inspection requirements vary by municipality, and that variation is half the job.
St. Louis City
Fishing a wall is harder here and sometimes not possible, so the honest answer about opening one comes before the work rather than during it.
Lincoln County
Outbuildings count as separate structures in code terms: a disconnect at the building, a grounding electrode there, and a feeder sized for the distance.
The full footprint, county by county, is 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.
Find out which problem you have.
Several causes, very different prices, and only a measurement separates them. Whole-House Rewiring in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Mon-Thu 8-5 · Fri 8-4 · Sat 10-3. Prefer to write it down? Write it here.