Guest post from Joe Voci, owner of JDV Electric

The Bottom Line

Most of what turns up on an inspection report isn't a reason to panic, but it isn't a reason to ignore it either. It's a reason to get someone who actually knows electrical systems to look closely before you decide what it means for your real estate transaction or your home.

Here's the Truth from 20 Years of Working Inside Delco Homes

A few months ago I got a call from a homeowner who said the lights were flickering throughout the whole house. Her first thought was that it was a PECO problem: a utility issue, nothing she could do about it. When my guys got there and started testing voltage at the panel, the picture was different: a split-bus panel with corrosion and water damage, and a service neutral that had corroded from moisture. That's what was actually happening. One leg of her electrical system was running high voltage, the other low, which over time can damage appliances throughout the house. We caught it early enough in the day to put in a new 200-amp service and finish the same day. The total cost was about $9,700.

I bring that up because it's a good example of something I see constantly in this business: what a homeowner assumes is wrong and what's actually wrong are often two different things. And nowhere is that gap bigger than when a home inspection report comes back with a list of electrical findings.

Why a Home Inspection Report Isn't a Severity List

A report can list ten electrical items and make them all sound roughly the same. They're not. Some are genuinely urgent. Some look alarming but have a simple fix. And some look minor but are actually pointing at a much bigger problem underneath.

Take two things I see all the time: knob-and-tube wiring and a split-bus panel with no main breaker. Both are real safety issues, and I'd want both addressed. But I rank knob-and-tube higher, because its risk is hidden. It's wiring behind your walls, plus the insulation is close to 100 years old, and you can't see it deteriorating. A missing main breaker is also a real problem, but at least there's a workaround. You can still shut off individual breakers one at a time. You just lose the ability to kill power to the whole house in one motion. Same category of issue, different level of "how hidden and how urgent." That distinction matters more than most reports let on.

Knob-and-Tube: What It Actually Means

We find active knob-and-tube wiring in roughly 1 out of every 5 service calls, almost always in homes built before 1950, which, around here, is a lot of homes.

Here's where I'll be direct. We never tell a homeowner to just leave it alone. It's nearly 100 years old at this point. The insulation can be deteriorating in ways you can't see from a light switch or an outlet cover. And a lot of insurance companies won't insure a home with it still active. I've seen insurance carriers flat-out refuse to renew, or deny a new policy, until it's remediated. It's that serious.

The right first step isn't guessing and it isn't panicking. It's a professional assessment. We run a $349 diagnostic that tells you exactly what's still connected to the active knob-and-tube and what actually needs to be rewired. From there, a partial rewire typically runs $10,000 to $20,000, and a full rewire can run $15,000 to $60,000 or more, depending on wall type, whether we're patching as we go, how accessible the space is, and whether the basement or attic is finished or open.

Panels: "Old" and "Unsafe" Are Different Words

About 3 in 10 of our calls involve an older or undersized panel. More often 100-amp than a true 60-amp service. Age by itself isn't the safety issue. What actually makes a panel unsafe is a split-bus design with no main circuit breaker, especially if there's also corrosion or water damage. That main breaker is your safety switch. It's what lets you kill power to the entire house in one motion. Without it, you still have options, but you've lost that one-motion shutoff.

If you're planning an EV charger, a heat pump, central air, an addition, or anything else that adds real electrical load, whether your panel needs upgrading depends on what's already connected to it. My general advice, if the budget allows: upgrade anyway. Electrical demand in homes is only going one direction. A 200-amp service upgrade typically starts around $9,000, plus permits and inspection. What pushes that number up is whether the service is overhead or underground, and whether the panel itself needs to be relocated for clearance.

The Other Usual Suspects

Beyond knob-and-tube and panels, here's what actually shows up regularly in Delaware County homes, roughly in order of how often we see it:

  • Ungrounded, two-prong outlets are the most common finding by far, and they often trace back to active knob-and-tube or older wiring with no ground path.
  • Missing GFCI protection is also very common, especially in garages and outdoor outlets.
  • Double-tapped breakers, two wires crammed under one screw terminal the manufacturer never rated for that, come up constantly too.
  • DIY or unpermitted work, particularly in homes that are 75 to 100 years old or have changed hands a few times.
  • Aluminum wiring, by contrast, is genuinely uncommon. We mostly see it in homes built in a narrow window from the late 1960s to early 1970s.

If it's ungrounded, that means that circuit, or potentially the whole home, could need to be rewired. That's the kind of finding that looks small on a report and turns out to be bigger once you actually open things up.

A Real Example: The Renovation That Hid a Bigger Problem

A homeowner once had their kitchen renovated by a contractor who wasn't licensed and never pulled permits. When we got in there, we found ungrounded outlets, traced them down to a junction box in the basement, and discovered the whole thing was tied into an active knob-and-tube. The homeowner already had a feeling something wasn't right, and it turned out to be worse than they expected. We ended up rewiring the entire kitchen, including the recessed lighting and under-cabinet lighting, to actually bring it up to code and make it safe. That job ran about $8,500.

That's the pattern with unpermitted work. It doesn't just mean one bad outlet. It usually means nobody was checking behind the walls at all.

If You're Buying

Bring in a licensed electrician right alongside your home inspector, not after, and especially if anything electrical shows up on the report. A general home inspector works at a more surface level on electrical systems. An electrician can go deeper and actually explain what something like knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring means for your specific house. It's a small cost relative to finding a problem after you've already closed.

And don't assume everything on a report is equally serious or that it's all minor, either. Get real items like a panel replacement or ungrounded outlets actually assessed before your inspection contingency expires, so there are no cost surprises waiting for you after closing. One more thing worth knowing: it's very unlikely an older home meets every element of today's electrical code, and that's normal. The real question isn't whether it's fully modern, it's whether the system, as it exists, is safe and operational. As long as it is, code upgrades typically happen incrementally, most often when a kitchen or bathroom gets remodeled and that part of the house gets brought up to current code.

If You're Selling

If you're getting ready to list an older home, consider upgrading the electrical service at a minimum. A new 200-amp panel with room for future capacity is a concrete selling point, not just a maintenance item. It's also a proactive move. Resolving an electrical finding after you've already accepted an offer usually means giving the buyer a credit instead. Handling it up front gives you more control over that number.

A Note on Delaware County Specifically

A lot of what I've described above shows up most in larger, multi-renovated homes. Think 3,000 square feet or more, added onto over the years. These homes are where we tend to find the messiest mix of problems: unpermitted work stacked on unpermitted work, unlicensed electricians, buried junction boxes nobody remembered were there. If your home has been through a few rounds of renovation over the decades, that history is exactly why it's worth having someone look closely rather than assume.

Real Cost Ranges

These are real-world ranges based on what we actually see, not guaranteed quotes for any specific job.

Issue Typical Range What Moves the Price Usually Urgent?
Knob-and-tube assessment $349 flat Flat diagnostic fee Recommended once suspected
Partial knob-and-tube rewire $10,000-$20,000 Wall type, patchwork, accessibility, open vs. finished basement/attic Yes
Full knob-and-tube rewire $15,000-$60,000 Wall type, patchwork, accessibility, open vs. finished basement/attic Yes
200-amp service/panel upgrade Starts ~$9,000 + permits/inspection Overhead vs. underground service, panel relocation for clearance Depends on panel condition
Panel replacement (corrosion/failed neutral) ~$9,700 Scope of damage found at diagnosis Yes, often same-day
Kitchen rewire after unpermitted work ~$8,500 Whether recessed lighting and under-cabinet lighting are included Yes
Adding GFCI protection Starts ~$250+ Existing wiring condition Depends
Fixing a double-tapped breaker Starts ~$350+ N/A Yes, soon
Correcting an ungrounded outlet Simple GFCI swap to full rewire Whether the circuit needs rewiring Depends on scope

About Joe Voci

Joe Voci is the owner of JDV Electric, serving homeowners throughout Delaware County.

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If you're buying or selling in Delaware County and want to talk through what a finding like this actually means for your deal, reach out anytime. And if you're just curious what your place is worth in today's market, start here.

Licensed Real Estate Agent in Pennsylvania and Delaware | Premier Property Sales and Rentals | 192 Saxer Avenue, Springfield, PA 19064 | 484-442-0295