# ? for the more older guys here!



## Dave in Pa (Oct 10, 2009)

I have a question for you? When, or what time frame, was the old knob and tube wiring installed? Was it in the 20-30's 30-40's? 
Thanks, dave


----------



## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

I remodeled an old farm houyse built circa 1885 and it had knob & tube wiring.

Why you just asking older guys?.....:whistling:laughing::laughing:

I'll bet a few of the young pups around here seen it also....:laughing::thumbsup:


----------



## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Only ever seen it on the old ranch homes here, early 1900s.


----------



## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

1882 house had it.
1921 house has cloth 2 wire 
1959 had modern style romex but was missing the ground.

Some examples I have ran into.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

From about the 80's to the late 20's. Before that, we used gas lines.

:wheelchair:


----------



## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

Tinstaafl said:


> From about the 80's to the late 20's. Before that, we used gas lines.
> 
> :wheelchair:


We had oil lines, you fancy east coasters had gas?

Cole


----------



## ArtisanRemod (Dec 25, 2012)

My house, built in '27 had it.


----------



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

1885 to 1965.


----------



## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

Tinstaafl said:


> From about the 80's to the late 20's. Before that, we used gas lines.
> 
> :wheelchair:





Cole82 said:


> We had oil lines, you fancy east coasters had gas?
> 
> Cole


Uppity rich east costers....:whistling:laughing:

We had nothing but candles....:whistling

Then one Christmas we got a lantern...:thumbup:


----------



## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

I'm only in my 20's and have worked on over 10 knob and tube houses. All from 1830 to 1920. The early ones definitely had been remodeled around 1900.


----------



## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

griz said:


> Uppity rich east costers....:whistling:laughing:
> 
> We had nothing but candles....:whistling
> 
> Then one Christmas we got a lantern...:thumbup:


All of ours had gas lines. When they switched to electricity they used the pipes to hold the new lights.


----------



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

jlsconstruction said:


> All of ours had gas lines. When they switched to electricity they used the pipes to hold the new lights.



Much of today's electrical raceways are direct descendents of the gas industry.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

griz said:


> Then one Christmas we got a lantern...:thumbup:


But you never did larn to talk right. Thet's called a _lantren_.


----------



## Dave in Pa (Oct 10, 2009)

Reason why I asked the question, worked in a house today doing some drywall repairs, and the HO said the house was built in the '50's 1950!
has the old knob and tube in the attic and the basement, romex in the walls we are repairing. The house has smooth block walls in the basement, not like my own house that has the "wavy outside" block that is older.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

K&T in a 1950 house does sound a bit odd, at least for PA. That certainly wasn't the standard at the time, though I have no idea when it became non-code.

I grew up in an old farmhouse built in the 1850's, and it had the cloth twin-conductor. No idea when the wiring was put in.


----------



## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

Here's a question. When was the first year they used building codes? I thought it wasn't till the 60's


----------



## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

jlsconstruction said:


> Here's a question. When was the first year they used building codes? I thought it wasn't till the 60's


My last house we remolded the bathroom it was built in 1959 and had a plumbing inspection sticker stapled to the stud. That is the oldest inspection sticker I have ever scene. 

Cole


----------



## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

jlsconstruction said:


> Here's a question. When was the first year they used building codes? I thought it wasn't till the 60's


If memory serves, the first NEC code book came out in around 1897. Ken is that about right? (He probably actually has a copy of it)


----------



## Exlud (Jun 23, 2013)

480sparky said:


> 1885 to 1965.


I would never have guessed that it was used well into the 60s.


----------



## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

jlsconstruction said:


> Here's a question. When was the first year they used building codes? I thought it wasn't till the 60's


I think the first UBC was in the 60s but there's evidence of building code going back more than a thousand years. I remember seeing it, it was something like; if a man builds a house and it fails and the family living in it dies, then that man and his family shall be slain.


----------

