Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Does anyone have any experience buying a home with aluminum wiring? Apparently it can be a fire hazard, and the only 2 options to properly correct the problem are (1) a costly repair or (2) rewire the whole house - the cost of both are actually not that far apart. We have talked to an electrician who is also a family friend who said he would not buy a home unless it was re-wired either before or shortly after moving in - and no he wasn't trying to sell his services - he lives 3 hours away. We are thinking about asking the sellers to either repair it or to give us approximately 5k back at closing to get the home rewired..does that seem like a reasonable request? Keep in mind that I live in what has been called the strongest housing market in the country, and an top of that am in a price point and neighborhood where sales have been occurring in a matter of weeks, so I am not dealing with the strong buyer's market that is occurring in other locations. Thoughts?
Does anyone have any experience buying a home with aluminum wiring? Apparently it can be a fire hazard, and the only 2 options to properly correct the problem are (1) a costly repair or (2) rewire the whole house - the cost of both are actually not that far apart. We have talked to an electrician who is also a family friend who said he would not buy a home unless it was re-wired either before or shortly after moving in - and no he wasn't trying to sell his services - he lives 3 hours away. We are thinking about asking the sellers to either repair it or to give us approximately 5k back at closing to get the home rewired..does that seem like a reasonable request? Keep in mind that I live in what has been called the strongest housing market in the country, and an top of that am in a price point and neighborhood where sales have been occurring in a matter of weeks, so I am not dealing with the strong buyer's market that is occurring in other locations. Thoughts?
I would do exactly what you said. Tell them to fix it or knock a few Ks off the price so you can get it repaired.
It is a hazard just like the electrician said. Aluminum can oxidize. It expands and constricts when heated and cooled which can potentially degrade its integrity.
But...if the house has been around for forever and there are no burn or darkening on the outlets I would consider it... Just make sure to look at the outlets real close. They may have replaced the burned ones with brand new ones to hide the fact that something is going on..
If the sellers have made no other concessions they might entertain such large reduction, but seems unlikely if the market is 'hot'.
Is that really a realistic amount to spend? Seems like it would have to be an enormous home for this to not be a significant percentage of the total home value. I understand there are approved methods to repair the actual connector ends that are problematic, but a large part of the cost of that solution is probably going into a 'legal defense fund'...
Even figuring an hourly rate of $100 dollars that seems like a tremendous amount of labor. Perhaps some other buyer would be more likely to find a more cost effective solution.
As someone who knows about this subject, I can tell you this is a big line of BS.
Yes, city code often speaks to the subject of aluminum wiring. It was very common and cheaper to usee in the 60's and 70's. Do you know how many millions of home in the US have this....virtually all built in that time frame. Do you know of even one example where someone died because of this?
Ok, call every electrician you can find and ask the same question...most will offer to replace it for big bucks and take advantage of your ignorance on the subject. One will tell you to check the connections in the outlets...thats whrer theres a one in ten million chance a wire may not be completely tight...OH MY GOD!!!!!! Tighten and move on.
If I was the seller and you asked me for even 1k, I'd cut you loose.
We actually did more research today and decided that, as the most recent post said, it was not that big a deal. We were MAINLY worried about buying the home and then someone having a problem with it when WE try to sell. We are comfortable that it's actually ok, though, especially since we are aware of the issue and can make informed decisions if we need to replace anything electrical. No matter though - someone else made an offer on it already.
Contrary to what some people might think, there ARE potentially big problems with aluminum wiring.
When they started using aluminum solid conductor wiring, they used the same size wire as copper. This created LOTS of problems since aluminum can not carry the same current load. Anyone that has ever used a cheap set of jumper cables knows about this. The problem WAS so big, they changed the code to upsize aluminum to the next wire size.
There are two main problems with aluminum wiring. One is the expansion and contraction and how the connections loosen. The other is the corrosion issue. The corrosion on aluminum IS a problem. Thats' why they require an antioxident paste to be used .
Not all switches, outlets, breakers, and fixtures are approved for aluminum wiring, so special care has to be taken when doing wiring.
While you can use the special connectors at all the outlets and switches, they need to be checked probably every year to ensure they are still tight.
Re-wiring a house may not be an easy job depending on the construction, and ease of access to run new wires. I recently inspected a house that had a Federal Pacific panel AND aluminum wiring. A rough estimate to re-wire that house was in the $7 - 10K range because it was going to be very hard to run the wires.
There's millions of houses that have polybutelene piping too, but that doesn't mean it's OK. Same for some of the hardboard siding that was used.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
1,501 posts, read 11,751,055 times
Reputation: 1135
Quote:
Originally Posted by amerifree
As someone who knows about this subject, I can tell you this is a big line of BS.
Yes, city code often speaks to the subject of aluminum wiring. It was very common and cheaper to usee in the 60's and 70's. Do you know how many millions of home in the US have this....virtually all built in that time frame. Do you know of even one example where someone died because of this?
That said, my husband is an electrician and I work in consumer safety - we have AL wiring in our house. We just watch it closely, tighten it annually, never overload it, and are gradually rewiring (only have the bedrooms and foyer left).
I personally would never buy a house with aluminum wiring and declined to make an offer on a house that I liked a lot due to it. Am I being a little paranoid? Probably. Will I have to live with the consequences of my decision? Yes! That is why I bought a house with copper wiring. The copper wiring is 52 years old but it is in excellent condition and I feel it is safer, albeit marginally, than aluminum wiring.
However as other posters have pointed out millions of homes have aluminum wiring and have not burned down yet.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
