Do I really need to replace electric and plumbing??
I know what everyone says, do it once and do it right but do I really need to replace the electric in the entire house? It’s already been upgraded to 220 and there are enough outlets etc.. Some of the wiring is still cloth covered but it all works. Both the architect and contractor are pushing to update it all. This adds about 100k to the renovation when you add in plumbing to the project. Any arguments for keeping things as is? House is not a gut and this would require surgery to the existing plaster work and details. Everything works fine currently.
crownrenovation
in Electricians 12 years and 6 months ago
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10 replies
cate | 12 years and 6 months ago
Our insurance company, State Farm, told us to send them proof of our electrical upgrade (a receipt), and they would decrease our premiums.
bobjohn | 12 years and 6 months ago
sure – replace all of it. The more money you spend on renovation the more money will go into taxes, which is good for rest of us who will get some of this in the social services. But let look at the problems with old wires from the statistics point of view. Insurance companies should have a lotof data on how they payed out for any damage including fires from old wiring. And I did not hear that they charge more to insure houses with old wiring. Which means that the old wiring is not statistically significant source of electric fires. this or maybe the stats were done by the same idiots who wrote CDF risk models for AIG.
Erstwhile | 12 years and 6 months ago
Old Greefield wiring with cloth insulated conductors? Replace.
brokelin | 12 years and 6 months ago
Cloth wiring would concern me. It partially depends on your views about risks, and which are acceptable for you to take. If you have kids, you need to consider the risk to not only yourself.
cate | 12 years and 6 months ago
BTW, even if you upgrade the electric and plumbing, there is absolutely no need to harm any decorative plaster, plaster medallions, or moldings. Make sure everyone knows you wish to keep them, and they can and will work around them. Re plumbing, here is my advice: If you have any lead lines anywhere in the house, replace them. If main sewer pipes, stacks, or vents seem very old and rusty (say, 1930s), replace them. It’s easier and cheaper to do it all now in one fell swoop while you are not living there than to replace later piecemeal. We found this out the hard way. We have been living with sewer gas for three years, and have not been able to poinpoint the source. (We think we’ve got it now, but have to give it some more time.) OTOH, it would have been almost impossible for us to divine all our plumbing problems (fixtures not vented, no front air intake valve, sewer gas) in advance without living in the house for a while. We also spent a lot of money up front fixing leaking valves and fixtures when it would have been cheaper and faster just to replace everything all at once.
eme1million | 12 years and 6 months ago
I’ll make an argument for not re-doing everything.. Make an assessment of your actual needs both now and down the road. What stage in your life are you? Are you going to live there for a long time? If not, then renovate for re-sale and do it all now. if you intend to occupy the house long term then consider what you and your family’s needs are and not what a in the distant future owner’s needs are going to be. That person is probably going to rip out everything you do now anyway. There is nothing inherently bad about older wiring and plumbing. Make sure you have enough circuits and breakers so your older circuits are not overloaded. For plumbing inspect carefully and change out problem areas like drain elbows and bends that tend to collect debris and rust out from the inside. Older supply piping is usually as good as new, unless you are adding new branches, need to re-route, or need new shut-offs. There is no inherent reason to change it out and just replacing old brass with new copper is not necessarily an upgrade. But, no one else can really answer this because it all relates to your values and your money. R In a renovation project everyone else brings their values to the job, but you are the only person bringing money.
RBCG | 12 years and 6 months ago
Plumbing is a more circumscribed job than a complete re-wire: you generally don’t have to open up walls in your living room to update the plumbing. Re-wiring really is a mess, and while cate is right in saying it will cost about 20K (maybe a little less), that does not include patching up all the trenches they have to cut to put in the new wiring. Which is actually to argue that, if you can see your way to affording it, you probably ought to try and re-wire now, while you are renovating. It’s a big pain to do later, and you will thank yourself when you can run an air conditioner and a washing machine at the same time without blowing a fuse. If the plumbing works, i.e. water gets into and out of the house without issues and without leaks, I’d say you can wait on that until you have a pressing need to fix it.
cate | 12 years and 6 months ago
Does the plumbing need to be replaced? If you are doing the plumbing you should do the electric at the same time. As long as you have the walls open, and then you have to close them up again, you may as well do it now. In the long run, you will save money. Also, I don’t know about 100K. Does that include the heating system? Is your house especially large? For a 3,000 sf house plus cellar, an electric upgrade will be about $20K or so and a plumbing upgrade about $20K or $30K (that does not include a heating system). This does not require a gut renovation, of course. Then you will have to fill the plaster holes and skim coat throughout the house — skimcoating can get pricy, but maybe you were going to do it anyway. We have learned the hard way, do everything up front before you move in. Also, if you have any intention of stripping wood molding, do it now while they’re putting in electric and plumbing, before you plaster, prime, and paint, and before you do the floors. Good luck.
jockdeboeraia | 12 years and 6 months ago
There is no better time than now. After the cloth wiring catches fire it will be alot more expensive but you may not be around anymore to have to deal with it….
greenmountain | 12 years and 6 months ago
I renovate bathrooms in occupied apartments and houses, usually where some or all the wiring and pipes were left substantially unchanged during prior “renovations.” Somebody cut costs and sold the property as “fully renovated,” or with a “renovated bathroom,” but mostly it was superficial work. I can not perform miracles. These places cost more to put right than my customers expect. Your wires and pipes are not only old, they were meant for a different time. When your house was built, just having electric lights and indoor plumbing was new to many city residents. This initial level of service is not adequate or legal now, may not be safe or sanitary, and though it seems to work, fixing it piece by piece later will cost even more.