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Looking to buy an older
home? Buyer Beware!
Jan. 20, 2009 City Proposes - Compliance certificates for home buyers -
$300.00
Nov. 14, 2008
One of my customers
bought a single family dwelling thinking it was a TWO family dwelling (R2 area)
and paid $50,000.00 more for it! Decided to sell it after two months, then kept
it and decided to separate the electrical panel into two Hydro meters and rent
the two suites - guess what? I advised him to check with the City because I was
suspicious that it was not approved to be a TWO FAMILY DWELLING - I was correct!
So many people involved - salespeople, (twice) all legal standard transactions
etc. no one EVER pointed out to him a clue or reminded him that
the building's use is a single family and not a two family
dwelling! Incredible!
Beware of
the beautiful recent renovations done (in many homes being sold) covering and
hiding ALL DEFICIENCIES such as - Cracked basement walls, galvanized plumbing,
bundles of electrical cables and single opened electrical wires spliced and all
taped up and hidden above the rec. room's new ceiling and BEHIND ALL THOSE
BEAUTIFUL NEW LIGHT FIXTURES in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd floors. Recently we found
one home with a beautiful finished basement areas but there was LAMP CORD WIRING
to lights and receptacles all over and to make it worst, a lot of
that lamp cord wiring was TAPPED into the old knob & tube type wiring.
Also found new kitchen counter receptacles in the new beautiful tiled walls
connected to the old knob & tube wiring - a real disaster in
this home's electrical system!.
Overwhelmed by all
the cosmetic appearance, you will likely miss the
following:
There may be only a 50 or 60 amp. (or even
lower amperage) electrical service instead of a now required 100 amperes.
Don't trust the labels - look for the MAIN BREAKER or MAIN FUSES size!
There could be fuses to all wiring instead of circuit breakers and likely all or
some knob & tube wiring being over 60 to 100 years old. Many think there is
no more Knob & Tube wiring - but most of the time it is still being used for
the light fixtures in ALL FLOORS!If you see fuses that say 20, 25 or 30 amps get
ready (in most cases) for a rewiring of that home and to spend 8,12, or well
over $16,000.00 to rewire!
In many homes it may seem that the knob & tube
wiring has been removed by not seeing it in the basement or by seeing new
3 prong receptacles (which are likely NOT GROUNDED) in the kitchen and
elsewhere. BEWARE! most of the time the knob & tube wiring is still
operating especially in ALL THE CEILING LIGHTS AND MOST WIRING IN THE
UPPER LEVELS!
Aluminum wiring is almost a sure bet if the home was
built during the 70's.
Homes built after 1945 may not have knob & tube,
however, many built in the 50's have a rubber type insulation - some call
it "cloth wiring" which has become very brittle and falls apart when moving it
such as when installing a new light fixture, a receptacle or anything
else.
To top it all many new cables you may see in the basement areas
or elsewhere - I guarantee you that most of it was installed, very likely, by
amateurs - handy/persons who just tapped them from the old existing wiring!
Most new 3 prong receptacles ALL OVER are 90% of the time NOT
GROUNDED. I come across most of these deficiencies almost everyday!
You may
end up with a set of compound serious wiring problems which you are forced to
deal with immediately for your safety and to be able to get insurance coverage!
.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Most "Insurances" demand electrical safety upgrade
requirements for buyers of older homes:
Chances are you have to
upgrade the 50 or 60 amp service right away costing from $1,900.00 and
up, and in many cases, the knob & tube wiring has to be replaced within
approximately 2 months. Over $3,000.00 may be required for most
immediate electrical upgrade work and later another $5,000 to over $8,000
if it is a bungalow and needs total rewiring. The cost depends on the size of
the home. A 3 story home could cost well over $18,000.00 to rewire it all
completely. I am not including the cost of repairing walls and ceilings after
rewiring. One thing to take note is: the more freedom an electrician has
to cut large openings in walls and ceilings in order to fish
cables, the cheaper it is to rewire!
Further: If you suspect that there is aluminum wiring (houses built in the 70's) then even if the insurance will accept it you still have to do some improvements including getting rid of the odor in the home from the arcing of the wiring inside the receptacles - another problem to deal with costing you over $1,000 just to do some small changes in the existing aliminum wiring. This very strange (arcing) odor occures when using a vaccum cleaner or when using other heavy appliances such as in the kitchen area or a hair dryer in the bathroom at the 2nd floor etc..
(Most people involved in the selling of real state,
especially older homes, are likely not to be the first to inform you
of required wiring upgrades immediately after you take possession! Most
new buyers do not find out the full insurance requirement details until they
take possession and get a letter from the insurance about 30 days later!! I meet
hundreds of victims of this every year!)
Further; I have not met not
even one housing inspector (to whom the owners paid
Remember that older homes were wired to have basic lighting,
and some convenience
Nov 2009 UPDATE - I heard in the news about homeowners - soon - having to DISCLOSE such defficiencies when selling a home or be LIABLE LATER!
The person who will likely evade comments or pretends not to
know much or is less forthcoming about electrical deficiencies in a
home are the real state people! I met 5 last year and throughout my
electrical career have found that most maintain the same protocol.
After
taking possession of the home, you may have to immediately fork out over
$3,000.00 for an electrical service panel upgrade including some urgent wiring
repairs and later on another $3,000.00 to 0ver $8,000.00 to replace the
DAMADGED Knob & Tube wiring from where the handymen has tapped off ALL the
UNGROUNDED new wiring you may see all over and where he/she connected all those
NEW light fixtures and 3 prong DECORA or standard receptacles - which
should not be there!
NEW demands by the insurances: The knob & Tube
wiring is not the only problem! If your installation has other RUBBER -
'CLOTH TYPE COVERING' wiring insulation (installed from 1945 to about
1962 or aluminim wiring done in the 70's be ready very soon to rewire
it all - that is already happening in the U.S.
Check out these links: (This one refers to Ontario, however,
revelant). Knob & Tube and aluminum wiring
and this one
Insuring an old home that has "knob and tube"
wiring
knob & tube and insurance:
more about knob & tube and
insurance:
In B.C. (and all over) - "handyman’s
nightmare" www.kenrickelectrical.com/Articles/Issue%202.html
____________________________________________________________________________-
The
insurances are right about the Knob & Tube wiring abuses including the
replacement, by home owners and others, of fuses OVER 15 AMPS - which cause
fires. In an old home there may had lived in a family for 50 years who had not
much else for appliances but a toaster, an old radio some table lamps and a gas
range! Imagine the overload change in such a home with today's increased use of
electricity by new home owners.
Call us or other rliable electricians
when you are looking at an older home and suspect wiring problems -
Expalain the best way you can what you are seeing and you may be able
to get information right away about what electrical problems there may be
hidden ALL OVER in order to have that home sold! Every week I meet at least 1-3
victims of this fraud who rushed to sign the offer to purchase and then
it was too late!
You may find yourself unable to get a home inspection in
time to sign an offer for a home you like. Call me (Manuel) at 981 2315 and by
asking you a few key questions I may be able to help you, to some extent, over
the telephone! (leave a message mentioning this topic, I should be able to
return your call within a few
minutes)
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