plumbing and elecrtical
hey brownstoners, how do i know if the house i just bought needs the electrical and plubming updated? I havent done an inspection yet, but i’m thinking it would be hard for me to gauge what needs to be done. I feel I get a contractor involved and ask them they would just say I should update it. Is there anyway to truley verify this? thanks
bk_homeslice
in Electricians 13 years and 7 months ago
6
Please log in, in order to post replies!
6 replies
daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 7 months ago
On the contrary, I think any plumbing that is not copper (cast iron supply pipes will begin to periodically fail) needs upgrading and any electrical that is not up to code with breakers and bx or Romex cable (code now allows Romex for 2 family/3 storey) needs upgrading. You may have cloth covered wiring and fuse boxes. You may also not have enough amps (100 nowadays, at least and preferably 200) to run appliances and the circuits may be overloaded. An inspector will go over all of this but, others are right, the inspection report will cover a lot of very minor things that shouldn’t be an issue in negotiations.
bk_homeslice | 13 years and 7 months ago
thanks for all the info..this is helpful.
bobjohn | 13 years and 7 months ago
mopar is right. Just to add: – inspector cannot tell you for certan if there is something wrong with the system. He is not allowed to mention NEC at all. So all you will hear is “not enough outlets” or “this outlet missing ground”. – inspector can juge the age of the electricals (by type of breakers and wire) and amperage of the system. But you can do it as well. – Pluming itself does not need imidiate upgrade unless it is leaking or was recently inproperly changed. Or something wrong with gas line or sewer is backing up. – Heating is a separate subject, because old heating could be inefficient and you can start saving a lot of money if you upgrade it sooner then latter.
callalily | 13 years and 7 months ago
This is the purpose of a home inspection — to assess the condition of the home and tell you what needs to be fixed. If the house has significant problems, you should expect to negotiate an appropriate discount (unless this is a short sale). Inspectors have a tendency to say anything not brand new needs to be updated. This is not exactly true. It’s CYA on the report. If you ask them in person, they will tell you what *really* needs to be fixed. My general rule of thumb is that if it’s functioning, it does not need updating. The electric in our house was working fine, but it dated from 1911 and there were not sufficient outlets or lights, nor could we run a/c or computers, so we upgraded. As for the plumbing, one length of pipe in the basement was leaking and had to be replaced. All the valves and faucets were leaking on all the fixtures. We found out much later that the bathroom fixtures are not vented, and the plumbing in those two rooms needs to be redone. All the plumbing dates from the 1930s. In retrospect, we would have benefited from asking a licensed plumber to take care of all these items at one go when the walls were open for the electrical upgrade, had we known. But there is not really any way to know, except to live with it. Alternatively, we could have replaced everything up front on the theory that it’s easiest and cheapest to get it over with all at once at the beginning. Good luck.
bk_homeslice | 13 years and 7 months ago
we are going to contract…we have not completed a home inspection yet. I’m guessing i’ll find out then?
daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 7 months ago
So you already bought a house without an inspection????