I'm looking at a house I may purchase tonight (second look) and I need to know a couple of things:
1. How do I check if the home has aluminum wiring short of stripping some wire?
2. If the home has aluminum wiring how big of a deal is this (I've googled, arguments on both sides of the fence so I'm looking for personal experience)
3. Can you still buy aluminum wiring if I were to renovate the basement?
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Not that it's much better but couldn't you pull a light switch or outlet and see what the wire is without stripping it?
Aside from that, I don't know squat about aluminum wiring in the home. That shit be crazy talk.
Aside from that, I don't know squat about aluminum wiring in the home. That shit be crazy talk.
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
Yoda,
Do you know any electricians? What do they think?
Do you know any electricians? What do they think?
yeah Id see if you can get an electrician to join you through a walk through
Aluminum wiring has a lower rating than copper wiring, so the wires may overheat faster and catch on fire. You may want to check your local building codes to see if aluminum wiring is still allowed, if not when you renovate you will have to replace it.
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"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
— James D. Nicoll
Hire a home inspector. May seem like a lot of money to fork out to possibly have them tell you not to buy the house, but $600 versus $150,000+ seems like a good deal to me.
Donate. One day it could be your family.
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
Even if it is Aluminum wiring, you can cross it with copper wiring if you do it appropriately (at least according to Holmes on Homes)
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Hire a home inspector. May seem like a lot of money to fork out to possibly have them tell you not to buy the house, but $600 versus $150,000+ seems like a good deal to me.
I'll be hiring an inspector but if I can blacklist the house before hiring an inspector I'd prefer to not pay the inspector to inspect a house I'm not going to buy.
Wife's father is an electrician but they're not speaking. That's the only electrician I know personally.
I'll probably pull off an outlet cover or something, I'd thought of that but was hoping there was a way to just look at the fuse panel or the covered wire in the basement and tell from there.
I'm not so much concerned about fire hazards (that can be negated with some maintenance on the connections) as the ability to repair/upgrade/add-on and still be able to sell the house later.
Yodabunny wrote:
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Hire a home inspector. May seem like a lot of money to fork out to possibly have them tell you not to buy the house, but $600 versus $150,000+ seems like a good deal to me.
I'll be hiring an inspector but if I can blacklist the house before hiring an inspector I'd prefer to not pay the inspector to inspect a house I'm not going to buy.
Wife's father is an electrician but they're not speaking. That's the only electrician I know personally.
I'll probably pull off an outlet cover or something, I'd thought of that but was hoping there was a way to just look at the fuse panel or the covered wire in the basement and tell from there.
I'm not so much concerned about fire hazards (that can be negated with some maintenance on the connections) as the ability to repair/upgrade/add-on and still be able to sell the house later.
I'd hire an electrician.
Alma wrote:
I lost my post
I don't need to hire an electrician to tell me if it's aluminum or not, I'll bring a screwdriver open a light socket and look at the wires.
Yodabunny wrote:
I don't need to hire an electrician to tell me if it's aluminum or not, I'll bring a screwdriver open a light socket and look at the wires.
Still my point remains the same, if your concerns are electrical, I'd hire an electrician before hiring a house inspector.
Alma wrote:
I lost my post
Yodabunny wrote:
I don't need to hire an electrician to tell me if it's aluminum or not, I'll bring a screwdriver open a light socket and look at the wires.
Good luck with that....
"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders". Carlin.
Elinda wrote:
Yodabunny wrote:
I don't need to hire an electrician to tell me if it's aluminum or not, I'll bring a screwdriver open a light socket and look at the wires.
Still my point remains the same, if your concerns are electrical, I'd hire an electrician before hiring a house inspector.
Donate. One day it could be your family.
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
20:1 he electrocutes himself.
Bardalicious wrote:
20:1 he electrocutes himself.
Donate. One day it could be your family.
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
Elinda wrote:
Well la-dee-da. You apparently needed a forum to get you this far.
Was in no way an attack against you Elinda I appreciate your input. I'm reasonably handy on my own but asking for input, hints, tips etc can only help.
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Any home inspector worth a lick can at least tell you whether or not it meets the obvious things. You'd only need to bring in an electrician if the home inspector notes something he's unsure of.
This. And if it comes to it and I'm still interested I will do just that. Just doing my due diligence before I start shelling out clams to inspectors to tell me things I can check myself. Then, assuming I don't find any deal breakers, I'll hire an inspector to catch everything I missed.
paulsol wrote:
Yodabunny wrote:
I don't need to hire an electrician to tell me if it's aluminum or not, I'll bring a screwdriver open a light socket and look at the wires.
Good luck with that....
Yeah, I meant electrical outlet, as in take off the outlet cover...not sure what I was thinking there. How would one open a light socket?
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Bardalicious wrote:
20:1 he electrocutes himself.
When I was 12 I tried to install an outlet in the basement of our old house. I turned off the power and got to work. Ended up electrocuting myself. It was a 220V line that was apparently in the wall from a previously removed baseboard heater. I hadn't turned off the heater circuit because I wasn't working on it.
Luckily I fell over detaching myself from the line I was clamped onto.
I check EVERYTHING before I touch it now.
Yodabunny wrote:
How would one open a light socket?
The same way you would open any electrical equipment. But that wasn't my point.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders". Carlin.
paulsol wrote:
But that wasn't my point.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
Donate. One day it could be your family.
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
paulsol wrote:
But that wasn't my point.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
I don't, but that's not what I'm doing.
In all likelihood all you really need to do is look at the gauge of the wire. Aluminum wire is probably going to be thicker due to its resistance.
Yodabunny wrote:
paulsol wrote:
But that wasn't my point.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
If you reckon you can tell the state of the electrical system of a house with a screwdriver and an ability to undo a couple of screws, then 'good luck to you'.
I don't, but that's not what I'm doing.
yodabunny wrote:
I don't need to hire an electrician to tell me if it's aluminum or not, I'll bring a screwdriver open a light socket and look at the wires.
This thread is dull as fUck. Why dont you come back after you've electrocuted yourself (again) and tell us all about it.
"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders". Carlin.
I can support that idea.
Donate. One day it could be your family.
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo
Or I could bring a screwdriver...
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