I live in an old 2 story home build in the 70s and the electricity stopped working all throughout the upstairs. Even the light switches aren't working, but the downstairs is fine and works normally. Even the light at the staircase is working for the one on the bottom, but the one next to it for the upstairs is off. Any ideas on what to do and if an electrician is needed? Does anyone know how much it would cost to rewire the upstairs?
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I am sorry to hear about your electrical issue. I would always recommend an electrician for troubleshooting since they have the knowledge and tools to identify and repair the problem efficiently and SAFELY.
From what your describing, your entire upstairs is either on one circuit or is fed from a separate sub-panel which has lost power. Either way there should be a breaker in your main panel that is tripped or turned off, that would be the first thing to check.
If no circuit breaker is open and no sub-panel can be found with an open breaker, it starts to get messy troubleshooting.
If you have a non contact voltage pen, you may be able to see if voltage is at any receptacle upstairs. A receptacle has two vertical slots and power should be at the short one. If you have power shown with a pen but a cord and plug device does not work then you would have an open neutral somewhere and an electrician would have to find that.
If the entire upstairs is on one circuit, then it is wired poorly. I would question where the power is coming from. It is possible that someone put an inline fuse in a box somewhere and it needs replaced. Perhaps a previous owner could help out here.
If all breakers are energized in your panel and no sub panels exist then how did power ever get upstairs? If you have overhead electrical feeding your panel, visually inspect from a distance, DO NOT TOUCH, the incoming lines to see if any wires are spliced that enter your house without going through your panel. If you find something like this, get an electrician immediately.
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