Whole House Rewiring
in Vancouver, WA
You've noticed the signs. Two-prong outlets in every room. Lights that flicker when the furnace kicks on. Maybe the house was built in the 1960s and nobody has touched the wiring since. Newman Electric handles whole house rewiring across Vancouver, WA and Clark County. Ryan and the crew pull every old wire out and replace it with modern copper Romex so your home is safe, grounded, and built to last another 50 years.
Warning Signs
Signs Your Home Needs
a Whole House Rewire
Older homes in Vancouver have wiring that was installed decades before flat-screen TVs, HVAC systems, and EV chargers existed. If any of these describe your house, the wiring is trying to tell you something.
Your outlets only have two slots
Two-prong outlets mean there's no equipment ground. That ungrounded wiring puts your electronics and your family at risk. Rewiring your home with grounded copper circuits is the only real fix. Adapter plugs and GFCI workarounds don't add a ground wire where one never existed.
The wires in your attic are wrapped in cloth, not plastic
Cloth-insulated wiring was common through the 1960s. The fabric degrades over time and crumbles when you touch it, leaving bare copper exposed against wood framing. If you've been in your attic and seen brown or black cloth on the wires, that's a house rewiring waiting to happen.
Your insurance company flagged your wiring
Insurance carriers in Clark County routinely flag homes with knob and tube or aluminum branch wiring. Some refuse coverage entirely. Others jack up premiums until the wiring is replaced. A whole house rewire resolves the issue and gets your policy back to normal.
Lights flicker or dim when appliances turn on
The furnace starts and the kitchen lights dip. The dryer runs and the bathroom fan slows down. That's circuits sharing loads they were never designed for. Rewiring a house means each room gets dedicated circuits sized for modern use.
Your breaker panel is maxed out with no open slots
A full breaker panel with double-tapped breakers and tandem slots crammed into every spot means the system is at its limit. During a whole house rewire, Newman Electric installs a new 200-amp panel with enough capacity for today and room to grow.
You smell something burning but can't find the source
An unexplained burning smell near walls, switches, or outlets often traces back to failing wire insulation or loose connections behind the drywall. This is a fire risk. Call Newman Electric in Vancouver right away so we can find the source and talk about your options.
The house was built before 1970 and never rewired
Electrical wiring has a lifespan. Homes built in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s across Vancouver, WA are reaching the point where the original wiring needs to come out. If nobody has rewired the home in 50+ years, the insulation is degrading and the circuits are undersized.
You're planning a major remodel and the wiring can't keep up
Remodeling a kitchen or finishing a basement in a home with outdated wiring means the electrician is going to run into problems behind every wall. Starting with a whole house rewire gives your contractor clean, code-compliant circuits to build on.
The Process
What's Actually Involved
in a Whole House Rewire
A full rewire isn't a weekend project. It takes 3 to 5 days depending on the size of your house and what's in the walls. Newman Electric handles the entire scope from permits to final inspection so you know exactly what to expect at every stage.
Assessment and walkthrough
We walk the entire home with you. Attic, crawl space, garage, every room. We document what type of wiring you have, count the circuits, note the panel condition, and identify how we'll route the new wire. You get a written estimate before we touch anything.
Planning and permits
We pull the electrical permit through the city of Vancouver or Clark County depending on your location. The plan includes circuit layout, panel sizing, and any changes to the service entrance. Newman Electric handles the paperwork so you don't have to.
Rewiring the home
This is the big part. We cut access points in the drywall, fish new copper Romex through wall cavities from the attic and crawl space, install new junction boxes at every switch and outlet location, and land every circuit on a new 200-amp breaker panel. Each wire runs from the panel to the device with no splices hidden in the walls.
Inspection and closeout
Once the rough-in is complete, we schedule the inspection with the local authority. The inspector checks every box, every wire, every connection. After it passes, we install the cover plates, button up the panels, and hand you a labeled circuit map. Your home rewiring is done and code-compliant.
House Rewiring Quick Facts
3-5 Days
Typical project length
200 Amp
New panel included
Copper
NM-B Romex throughout
Permit
Pulled and inspected
What We Replace
Types of Wiring
Newman Electric Replaces
Not all old wiring is the same, and each type has its own hazards. During a whole house rewire in Vancouver, we remove the old and run new copper circuits from the panel to every outlet, switch, and fixture.
Knob & Tube Wiring
Installed from the 1880s through the 1940s. Individual hot and neutral wires run through porcelain knobs and tubes in the wall cavities. There's no ground wire and the insulation is rubber that breaks down after decades of heat exposure. Most insurance carriers in Clark County won't cover a home that still has active knob and tube.
Knob & Tube ReplacementAluminum Branch Wiring
Used heavily during the late 1960s and 1970s when copper prices spiked. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper, which loosens connections at outlets, switches, and junction boxes over time. Loose connections generate heat, and heat starts fires. Homes in Vancouver built between 1965 and 1975 are the most likely to have it.
Aluminum Wiring ReplacementOutdated Romex & Cloth Wiring
Early non-metallic cable from the 1950s and 60s used cloth or paper insulation instead of the PVC sheathing on modern Romex. The insulation crumbles when disturbed, and many of these circuits lack a ground wire entirely. If you see flat, fabric-covered wires in your attic or crawl space, the wiring has reached the end of its safe life.
Full Rewire DetailsWhy Us
Why Newman Electric
for a Full Rewire
A whole house rewire touches every room, every wall cavity, and every circuit in your home. The crew doing this work needs to be careful, organized, and good at communicating with you about what they're going to cut, where they're going to run wire, and how long it's going to take. That's what Ryan and the Newman Electric team do differently.
Ryan personally walks the job before the crew starts. He maps out the wire routes, figures out which walls need access holes and which runs can go through the attic or crawl space, and coordinates with your drywall contractor so they know exactly what to patch when we're done. Roman, Garret, and the rest of the crew label every circuit as they go. When the panel cover goes on at the end, your breaker directory actually matches the rooms in your home.
Newman Electric has rewired homes across Vancouver, Camas, Battle Ground, and throughout Clark County. Every project gets permitted through the local jurisdiction and inspected before we close anything up. We don't cut corners because a shortcut behind drywall is one you'll never see until it's a problem.
Reviews
What Our Customers Say
About Newman Electric
"Ryan and the team were very helpful. They were punctual and got after the work quickly. I purchased an older home that needed to be updated and rewired. Ryan and Garrett worked out a schedule and were able to get all the work done in a few days time. They were open and answered all questions throughout the process. They also worked with my schedule."
Stafford Strong
"These folks helped us with a basement remodel. Super friendly, timely, and easy to work with. They went above and beyond in helping with a few problems that weren't even their fault. Highly recommended, great partners that care a lot about quality of work and customer satisfaction."
Taylor Young
"Roman and Mike were tremendous. Pleasant, knowledgeable, hard-working and amazingly efficient. Both projects were completed quickly and at the estimated amount. Also, the original estimate was considerably less than those of competing bids. I would highly recommend Newman Electric."
Kimberly Williams
FAQ
Common Questions About
Whole House Rewiring
Every home is different, so we give a specific quote after walking the property. The cost depends on square footage, the number of circuits, how accessible your attic and crawl space are, and whether you need a panel upgrade. Newman Electric provides a free written estimate before any work begins. For a typical 1,500-square-foot home in Vancouver, a full house rewiring project runs between $8,000 and $15,000 depending on the scope.
Most whole house rewires take 3 to 5 days of on-site work. A smaller home with good attic and crawl space access can be faster. Larger homes or homes where every wall needs to be opened take longer. Newman Electric gives you a timeline in the estimate so you can plan around it.
Most homeowners stay in the home during a rewire. Power is off for portions of each day while we work on specific circuits, but we keep essential areas live whenever possible. We work room by room and let you know each morning which areas will be affected. Some people choose to stay elsewhere for a day or two, but it's not required.
Yes, but we minimize it. We use your attic and crawl space for the main wire runs and only cut small access holes where needed to pull wire through wall cavities. Newman Electric marks every cut beforehand so you and your drywall contractor know exactly what needs patching. We're not ripping out whole sections of drywall.
Almost always. If you're rewiring the entire home, the old panel needs to go too. Newman Electric installs a new 200-amp breaker panel as part of every full house rewiring project in Vancouver and Clark County. The new panel gives you properly sized breakers, arc-fault protection where code requires it, and room for future additions like an EV charger or hot tub.
Every time. Washington State requires an electrical permit for any rewiring work, and Newman Electric pulls the permit and schedules the inspection as part of the project. Unpermitted electrical work can create problems when you sell the home, and it voids your warranty. We do it right.
In some cases, the old wiring can be disconnected and left in place if removing it would cause more damage to the walls than it's worth. The new circuits are run separately and the old wires are dead and capped off. We'll let you know during the assessment whether full removal or disconnect-and-abandon makes more sense for your home.
Yes. A whole house rewire replaces every ungrounded circuit with new grounded copper wiring. Every old two-prong outlet gets replaced with a modern three-prong grounded receptacle. When Newman Electric is done, every outlet in the home has a proper equipment ground.
Service Areas
Where Newman Electric
Handles House Rewiring
Newman Electric provides whole house rewiring throughout Clark County and Cowlitz County in Washington State. If your home is in one of these communities, we can get you scheduled for a free estimate.
Get Started
Ready to Rewire Your Home?
Newman Electric gives free estimates on every whole house rewiring project in Vancouver, WA and Clark County. Call us or fill out the form and Ryan or Brandi will get back to you within a few hours.