When looking for knob and tube:
– Google what knob and tube looks like (some examples are included below)
– Start in the basement and see if you can see anything that looks like the pictures you found.
Knob-and-Tube Examples:
The basement is the easiest place to replace knob and tube because everything is usually accessible. Previous owners may have taken care of visible knob and tube in the basement - so unfortunately even if you don’t see it it doesn’t mean you definitely don’t have any knob and tube in the house.
The next area to inspect is the front entry. Only if you are comfortable taking off the faceplate of your front entry switches, should you attempt to do so. Open the front entry switches and see if you can find any knob and tube hiding behind there. It is very obviously two separate single wires coming in separate areas of the junction box, as opposed to two wires in one sheath coming in one area of the junction box (See the photo above). The front entry is one of the harder areas to rewire so that is often left even if other areas have been rewired.
If there is no knob and tube in the basement and no knob and no knob and tube in the front entry then it is still a good idea to open up each device to just take a peek and see if there is any other areas not rewired. This is only to be done if you are comfortable opening up plugs, switches and lights. Otherwise, your friendly neighbourhood electrician would be glad to come take a peek - we offer knob and tube inspections and have years of experience locating and replacing old knob and tube wiring in Winnipeg.