You have no idea what wire even needs to be used, yet you want to do this yourself??? That is a VERY unfortunate place to start.

My strongest and only suggestion is to get a few quotes and have an electrician do this job. You will be MUCH better off in the long run.

"has anyone ever messed with rewiring a house like this one?"

Yes, lots of people have. They are called electricians.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with DIY electrical. However, like any DIY project, you need certain skill and knowledge to do the job right. Generally, that involves working on some small projects and steadily building up knowledge before tackling something this large.

if you have no experience hire the work out.

Find an electrician experienced in old house work.

Fishing wires in walls and block is slower than just tearing into walls, and electricians do not normally perform the wall repairs.

There is a decent chance the existing cables in the blocks can be used to pull in a fish tape, and then the fish tape used to pull in the new cables resulting in very little wall damage.
It just takes more time.

Why do you think the home needs rewiring? It might just need a larger service and new circuits run. If it needs either then, you will need:

1. A licensed electrician.
2. A permit from your municipality.
3. $3000-$10,000

I'm all for DIY projects, but I draw the line at re-wiring by someone who has no knowledge of what's involved. This is a good way to kill yourself, burn down your house, or make a mess that will require even more work by a qualified electrician.

So which other forums do we think Ray went to to get the answers he wants? LOL

I'm sure home depot was glad to help throw a bunch of blue boxes and some packages of 14/2 wire in a cart (: