Electricity is essential to the safety and comfort of your home. And while electrical issues in a home are sometimes obvious—flickering lights, frequent breaker trips or blown fuses, or burning smells from appliances—serious electrical problems could also be present without any clear warning signs.

If you live in an older home, for example, you may have knob and tube wiring, an obsolete wiring method that isn’t equipped to handle the amount of electricity we use today. Although knob-and-tube wiring is not illegal, homes that contain it may be at greater risk for electrical fires and other hazards. Why? Knob and tube wiring is ungrounded, is often old and in poor condition, and is subject to overheating. For these and other reasons, many property owners choose to rewire their entire homes.