Home buying/inspection - brain storm with me? re: wiring

[ghost]

It is really a personal decision. We just sold our house that had lots of inactive knob and tube wiring left in it. It was too costly to remove but the house had been re-wired. I had an electrician come and do an inspection before i bought it. It was all inactive. The people who bought it from me did not have that nor were they upset about the presence of it.

[thedude]

This was our exact situation. Since your city and inspector haven't flagged it as a problem, your seller likely won't update it bc that's costly. I would suggest having an electrician who knows knob and tube come look at it. We did that and ours was in great shape. They said as long as we don't mess with it, there was no problem leaving it where it was. As we renovate, we update rooms, but no plans to do major overhaul. As long as it's in good shape and you dont mess with it, it should be just fine. Because I'm crazy cautious, I always use an electrician to change out light fixtures where there's knob and tube, though you don't really have to do that.

ETA Reading fail.  Yours is inactive, which would give me no concerns.  I would still have experienced electrician out to verify its inactive, though.

[isabel]

Can you ask for an electrician to do an inspection and make sure everything is to code? That doesn't seem unreasonable. And as long as everything was inspected correctly by the city, it shouldn't be an issue anyway.

[Deleted]

Hmmm.. I think if the city has approved it, you should be ok. If it was me and these were my concerns I would call and talk to the inspector who signed off on the final inspection to see what things he looked at.

[EmilieMadison]

I would be VERY concerned about this.
What amp electrical service is being used right now? If there was knob and tube found during the inspection, chances are not all of the electrical system has been updated.

It's a very small house, but updating to a 100 or 200 AMP system, plus all new wiring could still cost up to $10K. I'd get an electrician out there to specifically see what's going on, what is updated, and what it would cost to bring it all up to date. You may have to pay a few hundred bucks for this, but it would be worth it to know.

[Deleted]

I don't know what having an electrician come out to inspect is going to accomplish at this point. If there is any old work left it is in the walls and they can't see it. All he could do is test outlets, etc.. Since the worked was signed off my the city this has presumably been done and you would just be wasting money. The only way to truely know would be to open up the walls and look. Too much $$.

[usuallylurking]

I'd definitely have an electrician come out for further inspection.

[my3boyz]

You can ask them to have a licensed electrician come out and verify that it is all dead. Then, if there's a problem later you just go back to the electrician. If you aren't askin for much else it shouldn't be an issue to ask for this. No need for you to pay for more.

[Deleted]

Are they telling you all new wiring was done, or just updated panel? There is a big difference and to fully remove and replace a whole house of wiring requires so much time and money in these old houses for many reasons . Mainly because it's not as easy as opening drywall and pulling some old stuff out and putting new wiring in. These old walls are often lathe and plaster, which is usually filled with lead so to properly do it they would have had some major major work! In my experience it's mostly a mix of new wiring in area like the kitchen, but mostly old in the rest of the house. An electrician can tell for sure if they remove plates from outlets and can see what's in the walls.

[sjh722]

You need an electrician to take a look at it. I would do that before signing off on the property or requesting any further repairs.

[lime]

I didn't read all the other responses, but you can't really overthink safety.

Have an electrician come out and inspect it.

[joenali]

Through our recent home buying experience, and the couple of houses that we had inspected we were told to stay away from knob and tube wiring. Unless if course you can pay to have it rewired.

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2015 13:52:49 GMT -5 mp said:

Jan 31, 2015 13:45:25 GMT -5 @holly said:

Are they telling you all new wiring was done, or just updated panel? There is a big difference and to fully remove and replace a whole house of wiring requires so much time and money in these old houses for many reasons . Mainly because it's not as easy as opening drywall and pulling some old stuff out and putting new wiring in. These old walls are often lathe and plaster, which is usually filled with lead so to properly do it they would have had some major major work! In my experience it's mostly a mix of new wiring in area like the kitchen, but mostly old in the rest of the house. An electrician can tell for sure if they remove plates from outlets and can see what's in the walls.

This is a company that purchased and flipped / I only know for sure what they've done- and they did install some new wiring and replace the panel. I don't know if the previous owners replaced any wiring, though. So, it's why I know there's some new, some dead, and I don't know about the rest.

Knowing how flippers operate, I would bet large large sums of money there is mostly old wiring still being used. Once you open up a wall you have a legal obligation to fix any non-compliant issues with today's code. That means pretty much EVERYTHING (insulation, plumbing, materials like asbestos and lead) so flippers avoid doing it like the plague. Besides money spent on stuff like that is never appreciated by buyers as much as money spent on things like kitchens and baths so you are basically taking it straight from the bottom line. 

For full disclosure, I flip houses and have dealt with all of the above and doing it right (spending large sums of money) is rarely appreciated by buyers lol.

[puppyluv]

Our experience on the house we just renovated was that when the inspector signs off on the permit, he only inspect and approve the new wiring that is put in. If there was old knob and tube wiring they didnt change, as long as it was existing, the inspector wouldnt say anything about it.

When we bought the house, we were in the same position where we thought every thing had been inspected but it turned out there was still 2 circuits on knob and tube. It was a pain to replace because of the plaster walls. I think we spent about $3k to have them come out a run new lines for those and run new electric out to the garage.

[usuallylurking]

Yay! Congrats on your new place

[EmilieMadison]

Feb 2, 2015 17:15:30 GMT -5 mp said:

I had an electrician come out- without of course opening up the walls to see what was going on, he thought everything looked good. The new stuff was in great shape, and the old stuff is the neutral wire.

He said the old looked good for its age and nothing was in bad shape. He recommended I NOT replace everything old as he thought it to be a waste of time and money.

This company had a ton of great reviews. So... I think I'm ok for now.

EmilieMadison @holly I would gladly accept your opinions, too.  

That sounds like a positive inspection! Based on that, and with the understanding that it's still possible there could be issues in the future behind the walls, I'd go ahead with this. 
Congrats!

[Deleted]

Yay! I also agree, that as long as all tests looked good with the wiring it isn't always necessary to rip out and replace everything. Think of how many old houses are out there and they don't just burst into flames willy nily. In rare instances yes, but that usually is more likely if the old panel is in place since today's appliances may overload old circuits.
Congrats, I think you just found a great home!