# Knob and tube replacement in Haight-Ashbury flats, Alamo Square and Duboce Triangle > Knob and tube replacement in Haight-Ashbury, Alamo Square, Duboce Triangle, the Castro and Noe Valley: owner-occupied flats, per-unit permits, Article 10 rules. URL: https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/service-areas/haight-ashbury-alamo-square/ **Permits and inspections** [SF Department of Building Inspection (DBI)](https://sf.gov/apply-electrical-permit), for the City and County of San Francisco. Last Updated: October 30, 2026 **Electric utility** [PG&E](https://www.pge.com/) **Haight-Ashbury, Castro & Noe Valley** - **94117, 94114, 94115, 94131** ZIP codes - **203 in ZIP 94117 and 179 in 94114 naming knob and tube, January 2016 to October 2026** Knob and tube permits on record - **Haight-Ashbury, Cole Valley, Duboce Triangle, Alamo Square** Neighborhoods covered **Why people call** ## What starts a rewire in Haight-Ashbury, Castro & Noe Valley ### Owner upstairs, tenant downstairs Rewire the owner's flat now and the rented one later, or both at once: each unit has its own permit either way. ### A remodel that found more A kitchen or bath remodel opens a wall and turns up knob and tube still feeding the rooms around it. ### A new service on Alamo Square Interior rewiring needs no historic review, but a new mast or meter on a street facade in an Article 10 district can. ### A Castro two-flat over a garage A garage inserted into a high basement is the way in from below, with its own rules for low wiring. A Haight flat building with the owner upstairs and a tenant downstairs raises a question a single house never does: rewire one unit now, or the whole building at once. Each answer brings its own permits, power-off schedule and effect on the person living below. [Fog City SF Knob and Tube](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/) plans and manages knob and tube replacement in Haight-Ashbury, Cole Valley, Duboce Triangle, Alamo Square, the Castro and Noe Valley under San Francisco DBI permits. Licensed and insured electrical contractors carry out the electrical work, and in a building with tenants, every power-off window is announced to residents ahead of time. ## Your flat, or the whole building? Either can work. DBI issues a separate electrical permit for each existing dwelling unit, so one flat can be rewired on its own permit while the other waits. The catch is shared wiring: where a lower flat’s ceiling carries circuits for the unit above, or a common meter and hallway circuits serve both, rewiring one unit reaches into the other. This setup is common here. ZIP 94117 holds an estimated 2,132 owner-occupied homes built before 1940 in buildings of two to four units, more than any San Francisco ZIP except 94110. The walk-through tests circuits in every unit the owner can open, because a circuit that starts at one flat’s fuse block can end at a light in the other, and that test, not the unit boundary, sets the phasing. In citywide DBI records, 564 of the 2,023 knob and tube permits filed from 2016 mention a subpanel, which is usually how each flat gets its own new distribution point. [Apartment building rewiring](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/apartment-building-rewiring/) covers multi-unit phasing, and the [condo and TIC guide](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/condo-and-tic-rewiring-san-francisco/) covers buildings where each flat has a different owner. ## The oldest housing in San Francisco, by share Census figures put 71.2% of Haight Ashbury housing units before 1940, the highest share of any San Francisco neighborhood, and ZIP 94117 at 69.7%, the highest of any ZIP. That age shows in the permit record. DBI’s data lists 109 electrical permits naming knob and tube in Haight Ashbury from January 2016 to October 2026, and 203 in 94117 once PermitSF filings are added. The rate says more than the count: 27.9 of every 1,000 electrical permits filed in the neighborhood since 2016 name knob and tube, among the highest in San Francisco, next to Presidio Heights at 28.8. Age is context, not a diagnosis. Where a Victorian or Edwardian flat has been partly rewired before, the usual result is a mix: original knob and tube in some rooms, later cable in a remodeled kitchen, and splices joining the two inside a wall or ceiling. One 94117 permit for a kitchen, bathroom and powder room remodel also replaced the existing knob and tube and added lights and a laundry outlet in the garage. Remodels are often when the remaining circuits come to light, which is the case [remodel knob and tube replacement](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/remodel-knob-and-tube-replacement/) covers. ## Getting new wiring into a stacked flat Access depends on what sits above and below each unit. The lowest flat can often be reached from a basement or garage ceiling. A middle flat has finished floors above and below it, so circuits are fished through the walls from small openings at outlets, switches and the tops of walls. The top flat may have an attic or crawl space overhead, or, under a flat roof, nothing walkable at all. [Victorian and Edwardian rewiring](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/victorian-edwardian-rewiring/) covers the plaster and trim of buildings this age, and [plaster-wall rewiring](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/plaster-wall-rewiring/) covers how openings are kept small. Plaster patching is included and shown as its own line in the quote. Opening plaster in an older building also brings in lead-safe practice. DBI presumes buildings built before 1979 contain lead paint unless a certified inspector shows otherwise, and its safety guide calls for notifying neighbors at least three business days before work and containing dust while it happens. The [lead and asbestos guide](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/lead-and-asbestos-during-rewiring/) explains what that adds. ## Alamo Square and Duboce Park Two of San Francisco’s Article 10 landmark districts sit in this area: Alamo Square, designated in 1984, and Duboce Park, designated in 2013. DBI’s permit data puts 4 knob and tube permits filed since 2016 inside Alamo Square and 5 inside Duboce Park; counting every knob and tube or rewiring permit since 2002, the totals are 89 and 32. Planning’s Preservation Bulletin 4 requires a Certificate of Appropriateness in these districts for alterations that need a permit and for other exterior changes visible from a public street, and the Planning Code exempts interior alterations. Rewiring inside the building therefore needs no historic review. The service is another matter. San Francisco’s electrical code requires service-entrance conductors to run in a raceway such as rigid conduit, so a [panel and service upgrade](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/electrical-panel-upgrade/) that moves the meter or adds a mast or conduit on a street-facing facade is an exterior change. Planning offers a staff-level administrative Certificate for minor alterations, but whether a given meter or mast change qualifies is confirmed with Planning per address, and leaving the service where it already sits is one option to weigh before applying. ## When the other unit is rented Census figures show 65.6% of occupied pre-1940 units in Haight Ashbury are rented, so many buildings here have at least one rented unit. Most rewiring can be done with residents at home, room by room, with power off only during announced windows; the [guide to living at home during a rewire](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/living-at-home-during-rewiring/) describes what that is like. If a tenant must leave temporarily for capital improvement work, the Rent Ordinance requires the landlord to file with the Rent Board within ten days of serving notice and to pay relocation expenses. The Rent Board defines a capital improvement as one that materially adds to the value of the property or appreciably prolongs its useful life; whether a given rewire qualifies for a passthrough is the Rent Board’s call, and the [rental property guide](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/rewiring-a-rental-property-san-francisco/) explains the petition. ## How a two-flat rewire is sequenced The first call settles which units the owner can open, who lives in each, whether the building is in Alamo Square or Duboce Park, and what started the question: a remodel, an insurer or a sale. The walk-through tests every circuit in each unit and traces the shared ones, then checks the basement or garage, the meter bank and whether the building is on DBI’s soft-story list, which includes 329 Haight Ashbury properties. The written scope and price follow unit by unit, listing each opening and who closes it. Permits are filed per dwelling unit, and each unit gets its own pre-cover inspection before walls close and its own final inspection and Green Tag. Old runs are disconnected at both ends, removed where reachable and otherwise terminated. Each unit receives a written circuit record and a labeled panel directory. ## Castro and Noe Valley The Castro’s building pattern is unusually well documented. SF Planning’s Eureka Valley context statement, adopted in 2017, records that by 1900 its blocks had filled in with single-story-over-basement houses, two-story flats and fewer side-by-side duplexes and three-story flats, and that the two-flat form spans nearly eighty years of construction. Early two-flats usually sit on high basements, which let owners insert garages later. That garage is the way in from below for the lower flat, and because San Francisco’s code treats wiring less than 8 feet above a walking surface as subject to damage, low runs there need protection. Census figures put Castro/Upper Market at 60.1% pre-1940 and Noe Valley at 54.9%, with roughly half of each neighborhood’s occupied pre-1940 units owner-occupied. ZIP 94114 counts an estimated 2,096 owner-occupied pre-1940 homes in two- to four-unit buildings. DBI’s records show 109 knob and tube permits in Castro/Upper Market and 93 in Noe Valley from January 2016 to October 2026, among them “rewire of apartment to remove knob and tube. subpanel in unit.” and a Noe Valley permit to “remove remaining knob and tube in rooms referenced,” the partial job again. Noe Valley has no Article 10 district and no Planning context statement of its own, so its building forms are checked house by house. For costs, the [San Francisco cost guide](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-replacement-cost-san-francisco/) explains the ranges, and other neighborhoods are on the [service areas page](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/service-areas/). **Services** ## Services in Haight-Ashbury, Castro & Noe Valley - [Victorian and Edwardian rewiringKnob and tube replaced in pre-1906 Victorians and post-fire Edwardian flats, routed around ornament and stacked units.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/victorian-edwardian-rewiring/) - [Apartment building rewiringKnob and tube replaced unit by unit or building-wide, with a permit for each dwelling unit and power-off windows announced to residents.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/apartment-building-rewiring/) - [Plaster-wall rewiringNew circuits fished through lath-and-plaster walls from the attic, basement and garage, with small openings that are patched as an itemized line.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/plaster-wall-rewiring/) - [Remodel knob and tube replacementOld wiring replaced while a kitchen, bath or garage is open, with each circuit followed past the work zone so nothing new is spliced onto old runs.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/remodel-knob-and-tube-replacement/) - [Electrical panel upgradeA fuse box or undersized panel replaced, the service resized when the load calculation calls for it, and PG&E's side coordinated.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/electrical-panel-upgrade/) **Coverage** ## Neighborhoods and coverage - Haight-Ashbury - Cole Valley - Duboce Triangle - Alamo Square - The Castro - Noe Valley 1. 1. Alameda 2. 2. Berkeley & Albany 3. 3. Haight-Ashbury, Castro & Noe Valley 4. 4. Mission District & Bernal Heights 5. 5. Oakland 6. 6. Piedmont 7. 7. Richmond District & Sea Cliff 8. 8. Sunset, Parkside & Excelsior 9. 9. West of Twin Peaks **Questions** ## Haight-Ashbury, Castro & Noe Valley: questions ### Can the owner's flat in a Haight two-flat be rewired without touching the tenant's unit? Sometimes. Each dwelling unit takes its own DBI permit, so one flat can be rewired while the other waits. The limit is shared wiring: where the lower flat's ceiling carries circuits for the unit above, or one fuse block feeds lights in both, the work reaches into the other unit. Testing circuits in both flats shows whether a clean split is possible. ### What do DBI permit fees come to for rewiring both flats of a Haight two-flat? As illustrative arithmetic: if each flat's rewire counts more than 40 outlets and devices, DBI's current fee is $740 per unit, so two flats come to $1,480 in permit fees before any wiring. Smaller scopes fall into DBI's $305, $450 or $580 categories. The typical San Francisco range of $20,000 to $50,000 or more describes a single-family home, so each flat's wiring is priced from its own walk-through. ### Does a service upgrade on an Alamo Square Victorian need a Certificate of Appropriateness? It can. Alamo Square is an Article 10 landmark district, and Planning requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for exterior changes that need a permit and are visible from a public street. A new mast, meter or conduit on the street facade fits that description. Whether it qualifies for Planning's staff-level administrative review is confirmed with Planning per address before the service work is scheduled. ### Why do so many Haight electrical permits mention knob and tube? The housing is old and the record shows it. Census figures put 71.2% of Haight Ashbury housing units before 1940, the highest share of any San Francisco neighborhood, and 27.9 of every 1,000 electrical permits filed there since 2016 name knob and tube. Those figures describe the neighborhood, not any one building, which still needs its own test. ### Is a Castro two-flat over a garage rewired from below? Often the lower flat is. SF Planning's Eureka Valley context statement notes that early two-flats sat on high basements that let owners insert garages later, so the garage ceiling gives access to the first floor. The upper flat is reached through walls or from above. Wiring less than 8 feet above the garage floor needs protection under San Francisco's electrical code. **Read next** ## Guides for this area - [Decision GuideWhat does rewiring a condo or TIC unit in San Francisco involve?Why one unit's wiring is rarely only one unit's business, what DBI requires per unit, and what to settle with the other owners before work starts.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/condo-and-tic-rewiring-san-francisco/) - [Decision GuideWhat does rewiring a rental property in San Francisco involve?The landlord's side of a knob and tube job: permits unit by unit, working around tenants, the Rent Board's relocation rules and what a capital improvement petition can and cannot do.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/rewiring-a-rental-property-san-francisco/) - [Decision GuideCan you live in a house while rewiring is under way?How an occupied rewire is sequenced, what a day without power in some rooms looks like, and when it is better to be somewhere else.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/living-at-home-during-rewiring/) - [LearnDoes knob and tube wiring have asbestos?What the wiring itself is made of, which materials around it deserve a test before anyone cuts, and how lead-safe rules change the way openings are made and patched.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/lead-and-asbestos-during-rewiring/) **Nearby** ## Nearby service areas - [Richmond District & Sea CliffSF Department of Building Inspection (DBI) permits, PG&E service](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/service-areas/richmond-district/) - [Mission District & Bernal HeightsSF Department of Building Inspection (DBI) permits, PG&E service](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/service-areas/mission-district/)