Home Rewiring in Chatham, Chicago

A Chatham bungalow rewire uses the home's structural advantages. The full unfinished basement provides direct access to the main-floor wiring, and the accessible attic kneewall space behind the upper-level bedrooms allows horizontal runs above the main ceiling. We route new circuits through these access spaces and minimize wall cuts to outlet and switch locations, which are small, patchable openings.

We start in the basement: new 200A service entrance, new main panel, new grounding electrode, bonded water and gas piping. From there we pull new home runs for every circuit in the house — kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, bedrooms, and living areas — replacing every length of cloth wire and K&T with new copper conductors.

For Chatham owners who want to phase the work, we structure the scope in stages: Panel and service first (the most safety-critical and most effective for insurance purposes), then kitchen and bath branch circuits, then full bedroom and living-area rewire. Each phase gets its own permit, its own inspection closeout, and its own documentation for the insurance carrier.

• Cloth-insulated rubber wiring throughout — The electrical signature of the Chatham bungalow. Cloth-jacketed wiring from the 1920s and 1930s has insulation that crumbles when touched, and insurance carriers now universally treat it as an uninsurable condition when identified on an inspection.
• Federal Pacific Stab-Lok panels from 1960s-70s upgrades — Chatham bungalows that got service upgrades during this era frequently have these panels. They fail to trip under overload and are rejected at insurance renewal throughout the bungalow belt.
• 100A service on a fully modernized household — A Chatham bungalow with central air, a modern kitchen, a laundry room, and a home office is often pushing the limits of a 100A service. We recommend 200A as the standard for any rewire project.
• Knob-and-tube in attic spaces — Even bungalows that had partial wiring updates in the 1950s-1970s frequently retain original K&T in the attic and basement areas that were never touched.
• Two-prong ungrounded outlets throughout — Every outlet on an original cloth-wired or K&T circuit is ungrounded. Two-prong outlets in the kitchen, bath, and garage are a safety issue and a code deficiency.

We've been working Chatham bungalows for over 30 years, and we understand the market. These are loved, well-maintained homes — not investor projects. Owners want to know exactly what the work costs, why each item is on the list, and what they'll have when it's done. We quote in writing, itemize every scope item, and explain the priority.

Our owner holds the Chicago Supervising Electrician License, and every project in Chatham is fully permitted and inspected by the Chicago Department of Buildings. The closed permit is what the insurance carrier wants, what a future buyer's lender will ask for, and what protects the homeowner's investment. We provide insurer-ready certification documentation as part of every project's close-out package.