Upgrades to electrical and plumbing in 4 story brownstone - question

We are considering a 4 story house that we have been told requires an upgrade of existing plumbing and electrical. I have seen a number of posts on this site regarding upgrading electrical, and thus have a ball park idea of costs. I have two questions 1\. If the house has functioning electrical and plumbing (it is currently being used/occupied part time), do we really need to go forward with the upgrade immediately – or can it be done later (I know it would be inconvenient due to mess, holes in wall etc). Thus, if we needed to occupy the house  before the upgrade (we would be paying the mortgage after all), could we do so and manage ? I was told the heating (radiator) works well in the winter…. 2\. How much does “upgrading the plumbing” on a 4 story brownstone cost ? I have no idea. Thanks !

anonCH

in Plumbers and Plumbing 13 years and 8 months ago

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anonCH | 13 years and 8 months ago

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Thank you all for your responses – and efforts to post them. Any ideas on how much a plumbing upgrade may be on a 4 story 1898 house ? (Frankly Im scared to find out….:-)

BobMarvin | 13 years and 8 months ago

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I think the answer depends on how great an upgrade is needed and just how “functional” things actually are. When we bought our house (many years ago) we immediately upgraded our 30 Amp, 110 Volt service to 100 Amp, 220 Volt. I think that was the right thing to do, even though the electricity worked. We left the original plumbing basically alone, with some minor modifications. That was a BIG mistake which caused us to replace the plumbing in three stages, over 10 years, at far greater cost and with much mess and disruption.Of course we had mid-1930s wiring and 1899 plumbing. Your situation may be different.

callalily | 13 years and 8 months ago

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Do you have kids? Definitely don’t live there while the work is being done.

callalily | 13 years and 8 months ago

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If the house’s current plumbing and electric is functioning, why does it need an upgrade? Serious question. Is the electric not sufficient for a modern load?  We upgraded the electric in three weeks, then moved in, and skim coated while living here. I do not recommend living in the house while upgrading plumbing and electric. Cutting through the walls creates a blizzard of dust blanketing the entire house like snow. You couldn’t possibly have furniture in the house, and your floors will need to be protected and/or refinished. Any wallpaper will be ruined, etc. I suppose you could camp out on one floor with plastic barriers, then switch — but it wouldn’t be easy and you will be without plumbing and electricity. It will also greatly slow the process. I would either not do it at all or do it while you’re not living there. In retrospect, we would have saved a fortune plus saved ourselves years of trouble and work had we skim coated immediately and rented for two months while also paying mortgage. The way we did it was stupid.

brucef | 13 years and 8 months ago

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In San Fransisco, BART turned off cell phone signal to prevent demonstrations. Here on Brownstoner, I just submitted what I considered to be an insightful response discussing the Pro’s and Con’s of plumbing before or after. At the begining of this lengthy post (7-8 paragraphs), I stated that I could only respond to the truncated portion of the original post, because the new site doesn’t let me see the entire question, or for that matter when clicking through to post a response, the original question is masked entirely. I made a mildly disparaging comment regarding the new version of the web site, and in parenthesis asked if the webmaster was paying attention? Well, to my surprise, my comment was dropped, with an error to remove the mildly un-complimentary adjective. It said in red font, “please remove the word incomp****** “, but with no opportunity to actually edit it out. I started out hoping to share 40 years worth of renovation experience with a new purchaser, but the new web site’s authoritarian nature felt it was more important to protect itself. Instead of censoring criticism, wouldn’t it be easier to fix the bugs in your code?

bedstuytownhouse | 13 years and 8 months ago

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You can live in the house while it’s being done. We did and it’s super messy but we managed. For us, it was better to do it ASAP because we were going to be renting.