About Decker Boston Knob and Tube

The work, and only this work

Everything here concerns one wiring system: the porcelain knobs, tubes and rubber-and-cloth conductors still running through older houses around Boston, and the grounded circuits that replace them. A project finds out which runs still carry power, replaces those with modern cable, and ends with a written record of what changed and what was left disconnected in place.

The related work that a rewire usually needs sits alongside it: a fuse box or small service replaced with a breaker panel, ungrounded outlets dealt with properly, cloth-sheathed cable from later remodels, and openings in plaster kept small and planned.

• Knob and Tube Inspection: A licensed electrician traces every circuit, finds which old runs still carry power and puts the findings and a recommended scope in writing.
• Knob and Tube Removal: Old circuits taken out of service for good: disconnected at every source, tested dead, removed where reachable and documented.
• Whole-House Rewiring: Every branch circuit replaced with new grounded cable, for houses where knob and tube, cloth cable and old splices are mixed through the walls.
• Partial Replacement: The circuits still on knob and tube replaced from the panel to the last device, with a written record of anything left for a later phase.
• Insulation Barrier Work: The licensed electrician's work and certification that clear a Mass Save knob and tube barrier, so recommended insulation can go in.
• Plaster Wall Rewiring: New circuits fished through plaster-and-lath houses with routes planned to keep openings few and small, and patching scoped in writing.
• Triple-Deckers and Multi-Family: Knob and tube replaced across occupied apartments, shared stairs and basements in three-deckers, two-families, condos, brownstones and rowhouses.
• Fuse Box and Panel Upgrades: Fuse boxes and full panels replaced, and 60 or 100 amp services enlarged where the load calculation calls for it, planned together with the rewire.
• Ungrounded Outlet Upgrades: Two-prong and false three-prong outlets tested at the box and the panel, then fixed with grounded circuits, ground-fault protection or a wider rewire.
• Cloth Wiring Replacement: Rubber-and-cloth insulated cable from the decades after knob and tube, assessed run by run and replaced with grounded, arc-fault protected circuits.
• Rewiring During a Remodel: Knob and tube found or planned for during a kitchen, bath or attic renovation, replaced while the walls are open and sequenced with the rest of the trades.

Who does the electrical work

Decker Boston Knob and Tube sets up and manages each project. Licensed and insured electricians carry out the electrical work, and a licensed electrician pulls every permit. The work is held to these standards:

• The Massachusetts Electrical Code. New wiring is installed and inspected to 527 CMR 12.00, which adopts the 2026 National Electrical Code with the state's amendments for every installation permitted after April 24, 2026. The code is statewide, so the same text applies in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and the suburbs.
• Licensed electricians and permits. Massachusetts law requires anyone in the business of installing wiring to be licensed by the state examiners of electricians. A licensed electrician pulls the permit with the local inspector of wires; in Boston that is Inspectional Services, which does not let a homeowner apply.
• Inspection before walls close. New wiring stays open until the inspector of wires has seen it, within 72 hours of notice, weekends and holidays excluded. Patching waits for that inspection, and a final inspection closes the permit.
• Arc-fault and ground-fault protection. Massachusetts requires arc-fault protection on every 120 volt, 10, 15 and 20 amp branch circuit supplying outlets or devices in a dwelling unit, and ground-fault protection within 6 feet of a sink or inside a sink cabinet.
• Mass Save certification. Where an energy assessment has stopped insulation, the wiring work is scoped to the areas listed, so a licensed electrician can certify them free of active knob and tube.
• Lead-safe work in older houses. In a house built before 1978, disturbing more than six square feet of painted surface in a room is renovation work under the state's lead-safe rules (454 CMR 22.00), so the size and number of openings are planned up front.

How pricing works

The site publishes budgeting ranges, not quotes. A typical Boston-area range for whole-house knob and tube replacement is $8,000 to $25,000 or more, and a panel or service upgrade alongside the job falls in a typical Massachusetts range of $3,000 to $6,500. The cost estimator shows how your house's details move those ranges before anyone visits.

The price for a specific house comes in a written scope after the first visit, once tracing shows how many circuits are live and how the attic, basement and walls can be reached. Patching has its own line, so you can compare it separately. The Boston cost guide explains what moves the number, and the grants guide covers Mass Save and city programs that can lower it.

Where the work happens

Projects cover Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, Newton and nearby cities. Each city has its own inspector of wires, and the electric utility changes from place to place: Eversource in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville, National Grid in Medford and Malden, and Belmont Light in Belmont. The area pages explain how the housing, permits and utility differ in each.

• Back Bay, Beacon Hill & South End
• Belmont
• Brookline
• Cambridge
• Dorchester
• Jamaica Plain, Roslindale & West Roxbury
• Medford and Malden
• Newton
• Somerville

How to reach us

Call (617) 405-3599 during business hours: Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 6 PM; Saturday and Sunday, 9 AM to 2 PM. Outside these hours, emergency calls only. You can also email office@deckerbostonknobandtube.com or send the estimate form. Mention what prompted the call, such as an insurer's letter, a home inspection or a Mass Save assessment, and the town and type of building.