Full home wiring · Toronto & GTA
Full home wiring and rewiring in Toronto and the GTA
Rewiring an older home, wiring a whole house during a gut renovation, or adding the outlets and circuits you actually need. Planned room by room to keep damage to walls and trim to a minimum.
Everyday wiring
Outlets, switches and new circuits
Most homes were wired for the way people lived when they were built. Today that means extension cords across the living room, a home office running off one outlet, and a garage with a single light and no power for tools. Adding outlets and circuits where you actually need them is some of the most useful electrical work you can do.
- Extra outlets in living rooms, bedrooms and hallways
- Dedicated circuits for home offices, gaming setups, freezers and workshops
- GFCI outlets in bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, garages and outdoors
- Tamper-resistant outlets where children live
- USB and USB-C outlets by the bed, desk and kitchen counter
- Switches moved to where you walk in, and three-way switching on stairs
- Outlets relocated for a wall-mounted TV, with cables hidden in the wall
Older homes
Wiring you'll find in GTA houses, by era
Much of the housing in Toronto, Etobicoke and North York predates modern wiring. Knowing what's in your walls helps you plan, budget and answer your insurer. We replace knob-and-tube and repair or replace aluminum wiring.
| Wiring type | Typically found in | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Knob-and-tube | Homes built before about the 1950s | Ungrounded, and its insulation can become brittle with age. Many insurers ask about it, and some won't cover a home that still has it in use. |
| Early two-wire cable | Many homes from the 1940s to the early 1960s | Ungrounded, so three-prong outlets can't simply be added. Often fine in good condition, but it limits what you can plug in safely. |
| Aluminum branch wiring | Some homes built from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s | Connections need devices rated for aluminum and careful workmanship. Insurers often ask about it. |
| Modern grounded copper cable | Most homes since the 1960s and 70s | The standard today. Still worth checking connections and circuit loading in older installations. |
Ages are approximate and every house is different. Renovations often leave a mix of wiring types behind.
Rewiring
Planning a rewire without wrecking the house
Replacing old wiring sounds like a gut renovation, but it rarely has to be. In most two-storey houses we can run new cable from the basement up and from the attic down, reaching outlets and switches with small, targeted openings. Where walls are opening anyway for a renovation, we rewire those rooms while they're open.
Rewiring is usually done in phases, starting with the circuits that matter most: kitchens, bathrooms and anything showing signs of heat or damage. Each phase is permitted with ESA and inspected, and the old wiring is disconnected so it can't be used again.
A rewire often goes hand in hand with a panel upgrade, since new circuits need breakers and older panels are often full. We'll tell you whether your panel can take the new work or whether it makes sense to do both.
Two-prong outlets
A sign of ungrounded circuits, and a common insurer question.
Warm or discoloured outlets
A loose connection or an overloaded circuit. Stop using it until it's checked.
Power bars everywhere
The home needs more outlets or more circuits.
Breakers that trip often
Circuits are overloaded or have a fault.
How it works
How a wiring job runs
Assessment
We look at the panel, the existing wiring and what you want to add or replace.
Plan and price
Routes, phases and a written price, including any patching.
Permit
We file with ESA before work starts.
Wiring
New cable fished through walls with floors and furniture protected.
Inspection
ESA inspects and you receive the Certificate of Acceptance.
Questions
Full home wiring: common questions
Do you work on knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring?
Yes. Insurers and homeowners both call us for it. We start with a full home electrical inspection to find what's there and whether anything needs fixing right away, then replace or repair it to code under an ESA permit. See knob-and-tube replacement and aluminum wiring repair.
How do I know what wiring my house has?
Clues include two-prong outlets, the age of the house and what you can see in an unfinished basement or attic. The reliable way is an electrical inspection, where we look at the panel and the wiring we can reach.
Can I replace two-prong outlets with three-prong ones?
Not just by swapping the outlet. A three-prong outlet needs a ground, and older two-wire circuits don't have one. There are code-compliant options, including GFCI protection or running new grounded wiring. We'll tell you which suits each circuit.
Will rewiring mean tearing out my walls?
Not usually. We fish new cable through walls and ceilings from the basement and attic wherever we can, and make small access openings only where needed. Patching can be arranged as part of the job.
Can you rewire a house while we're living in it?
Usually, yes. We work room by room, so only the circuits being replaced are off at any one time. We aim to have the bedrooms, the kitchen and the fridge powered again by the end of each day. Expect some dust and a few small openings while each room is done. We agree the order of rooms with you first.
How long does it take to rewire a house?
It depends on the size of the house, how easily we can reach the walls and how much is finished. A bungalow with an open basement goes much faster than a three-storey house with plaster walls and a finished basement. You get a working schedule with the written quote, and ESA's inspection follows the work.
Do you take out the ESA permit?
Yes. In Ontario, the licensed contractor files the notification of work with the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) and books the inspection. We handle it on every job that needs one, and you get the ESA Certificate of Acceptance when the work passes. Keep it: insurers and home buyers often ask for it.
To price your job, send us
- What you need, and how many outlets or switches
- New, replacement or moving an existing one
- Where the work is and how easy it is to reach
- Photos of what's there now
Where we work
Full home wiring across the GTA
We serve homeowners, builders and businesses across Toronto and the GTA.
- North York
- Toronto
- Forest Hill
- Etobicoke
- Scarborough
- Mississauga
- Vaughan
- Richmond Hill
- Oakville
- Caledon
- King
- Barrie
- Markham
- Aurora
- Newmarket
- Brampton
- Alliston
- Wasaga Beach
- Collingwood