Insurance & Code
Knob-and-Tube Wiring and Louisiana Home Insurance
Published August 27, 2026 · Updated August 27, 2026
Short answer
Many Louisiana carriers will not write or renew a policy on a home with active knob-and-tube wiring, and requirements vary substantially between them. Get your carrier's position in writing before scoping removal, because partial removal satisfies some and not others.
Get the requirement in writing first
This is the whole point of this page. Carriers differ substantially and the difference decides your budget.
Some accept certification that all knob-and-tube has been de-energized and removed from accessible areas. Others require complete removal, including runs buried in inaccessible wall and ceiling cavities, which is a materially larger and more expensive scope.
Ask your carrier, in writing, before you take bids:
- Do you require removal, or is de-energizing sufficient?
- Does "removal" include conductor in inaccessible cavities?
- What documentation will you accept, and from whom?
- Is a partial-removal certification acceptable, and for how long?
An electrician who scopes this job without that answer is guessing at your requirement, and the gap between the two answers can be tens of thousands of dollars.
Why carriers care
Knob-and-tube was standard from roughly the 1880s to the 1940s. Three properties drive the underwriting position, and they are legitimate rather than arbitrary:
No equipment grounding conductor. The system has no ground at all. Every original outlet is two-prong and nothing with a metal case is safely grounded.
Insulation that embrittles. The conductor insulation is rubber and cloth. It dries, cracks and sheds with age, and heat and humidity accelerate it, which is why Gulf Coast examples are frequently in worse condition than northern ones of the same age.
It was designed for a fraction of modern load. A 1920s shotgun was wired for a few bulbs and a radio. The same house now runs air conditioning, a refrigerator, a microwave and a dozen chargers.
There is a fourth, specific to insulation retrofits: knob-and-tube relies on air circulation around the conductor for cooling, so burying it in blown-in attic insulation, which a great many energy retrofits did, causes it to run hotter than designed.
What documentation to get from your electrician
Whatever the carrier requires, you want a written record that includes:
- A room-by-room statement of what was removed and what was de-energized
- The permit number and the passed inspection record
- Photographs of the removed conductor and the new circuits
- A statement identifying any knob-and-tube remaining in inaccessible cavities, if the carrier's requirement allows it to stay
- The panel directory showing the new circuits
That is the package a carrier or a future buyer will ask for. "The electrician said it is all gone" is not documentation.
Aluminum wiring is a separate conversation
Carriers increasingly ask about aluminum branch circuits too, common in construction from roughly 1965 to 1975 and very widespread in postwar Metairie, Kenner and the Westbank. The important difference is that full rewiring is frequently not required. Approved remediation at the terminations using listed connectors is often accepted, and costs a fraction of a rewire. Ask your carrier specifically which remediation methods they accept before assuming you need to rewire.
What removal costs
Rewiring runs $5 to $14 per square foot. A 1,400 square foot shotgun lands around $7,000 to $19,600. Raised frame houses with an accessible under-house and attic sit toward the lower half of that band; slab construction sits higher. A new panel, if the existing one cannot carry the rewired load, is separate at $1,200 to $4,500.
Partial rewiring is legitimate and often correct when the knob-and-tube is geographically contained, for example confined to two original bedrooms while the rest is sound later copper. It works badly when the wiring eras are interleaved throughout.
Bottom line
The carrier's written requirement determines the scope, so get it before you get quotes. We survey what is actually there, scope to your carrier's specific requirement rather than to a generic one, and provide the documentation package they will ask for. Call 504-336-6748 to book the survey.
Related questions
Can I keep knob-and-tube if it is not being used?
De-energized conductor left in place is a different thing from live knob-and-tube, and many carriers accept it. But some do not distinguish, which is exactly why you want their position in writing before deciding how much conductor to physically pull out of the walls.
Will an inspection tell me if I have it?
A general home inspection usually flags visible knob-and-tube in an attic or under-house, but it will not tell you how much is live, which circuits it feeds, or whether it is buried in insulation. That takes circuit tracing at the panel.
Does removal help at resale?
It removes a deduction rather than adding a premium. Active knob-and-tube narrows your buyer pool to those who can get insurance, which in practice means cash buyers or buyers prepared to rewire, and both price it in.