Had to choose between a wireless retrofit and a full rewire on a 1980s brick house

Got a call for a system upgrade on a big old place in Oak Park. The existing hardwired contacts were shot, and the panel was ancient. The homeowner wanted to keep costs down but also wanted reliability. I had to pick between trying to salvage the old wire runs with a ton of troubleshooting or just going fully wireless with new sensors. I went wireless, using a brand I trust for these retrofits. It saved maybe two full days of work fishing wires through solid brick, but I did have to swap out three sensor batteries within the first six months, which was a pain. The signal has been solid, though, with no false alarms. Anyone else faced this choice on an old masonry build? What's your go-to move?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordank521d ago

So you traded a week of cussing at brick for a lifetime of battery changes?

viola_cooper621d ago

Brick lasts a hundred years, but batteries die every few.