Do you have to tear down walls to rewire a house?

You do not have to tear down walls to rewire a house. Electricians fish new cable through attics, crawl spaces, and basements, and open small access holes near boxes that a drywaller patches afterward.

A typical whole-house rewire leaves a few dozen palm-sized holes, not missing walls. Two-story homes with no attic access above the first floor are the hard case, and closets and chases do most of the work there.

Plaster walls raise the patching bill but not the method.

The messy version mostly happens during larger renovations, when walls are already open and rewiring becomes cheap to add. If your walls are staying closed, expect drop cloths and patch paint, not demolition.

Scope the cable runs first with the wiring estimate calculator so the quote conversation starts from real footage.