Re-wire necessary in Crestview/Brentwood? (Austin, Wells Branch: appliances, credit, houses)

[Doc75]

Hi all. I'm currently shopping for a home in Crestview/Brentwood.

One question I have is, do most people live in these homes with the original wiring? Or are most homes rewired to better support modern appliances, electronics, etc.?

If original, I'm curious about safety. Should I have an electrical inspection conducted separately from the home inspection when I find a house?

[TexasHorseLady]

If it looks like the electrical needs to be looked at by an electrician, your regular inspector will note that on your inspection report.

[Doc75]

Thanks. But, do you know if most homes are rewired? Or mostly original?

[gpurcell]

There's a difference--a BIG difference--between "rewiring" a house and upgrading the electrical service.

[Doc75]

Thanks for the reply gpurcell. Just generally, what is the difference? I don't know anything.

[Danbo1957]

Most houses in Crestview/Brentwood have origional wiring, BUT, the type of wiring will differ from house to house, as houses were built from the late 1920's through the 1950's - this also applies to paint (may contain lead), plumbing, foundation, and the state of the wood used in the origional construction.

You should not need to rewire unless you remodel, then the part of the house that's being remodeled will need to be "brought up to code". If you are not remodeling, you can replace wiring in say, just the kitchen - you will need an electrician to do it, but you probably won't need a permit.

BUT, houses in certain areas of "older Austin" have specific code restrictions - have an electrician come out to your house and give you a idea of what you have.

[centralaustinite]

I lived in a house similar to the ones in Brentwood/Crestview but in south austin, built in 1950 and it wasn't even grounded!

"Rewiring" implies opening up the walls and replacing the wire, can get very expensive but upgrade outlets, putting GCI outlets in the kitchen and bath are pretty simple. Adding additional outlets can be a simple thing too.

[eileenkeeney]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I lived in a house similar to the ones in Brentwood/Crestview but in south austin, built in 1950 and it wasn't even grounded!

"Rewiring" implies opening up the walls and replacing the wire, can get very expensive but upgrade outlets, putting GCI outlets in the kitchen and bath are pretty simple. Adding additional outlets can be a simple thing too.

I looked at a house in Wells Branch that had electrical issues, some related to grounding.
(I almost bought the house, but backed out due to the inspection resulsts)

My friend (who is a mechanical engineer, not electrical engineer) read the inspection report, and told me that it is possible that the home is not properly grounded, and that this would be expensive to fix.

Some things it Specifically mentioned:
Cannot locate the service ground termination.
Ground wires not properly bonded to the panel box exterior main panel.
Some outlets were reported as having reversed polarity.
One outlet was reported as not being grounded.

The house was built in 1984, which is not that old.

Is it likely that someone tried to modify the wiring at some point, leading to these issues, or that these issues were part of the original construction?

[TexasHorseLady]

Our house that we bought in 1996 had several of those issues (half the outlets in the place had reverse polarity, for example, and several were not grounded). We simply made it a requirement that the seller credit us for correcting the problems and, since we weren't planning on moving into the house immediately upon closing but a week later, had the electrician do the work while we were there but the house was completely empty, making it easier to get to stuff. Took about a day, and at that time, cost the sellers approximately $1300 to have done (would, of course, be more than that now). In our case, someone who owned the house before the sellers but after the original owners (the house was moved out here in 1970) did a lot of their own work in a lot of areas, and every time we have a professional do some work for the first time there's a lot of head shaking going on. I'd guess (and it is strictly a guess) that someone did some modifications after your house was built.

One reason I recommend one of the inspectors I use is that he explains these kinds of things in detail to the buyer so that they know which ones are serious (safety or expensive to fix) issues and which ones are a $5.00 fix from Home Depot and which ones are simply mentioned because the code has changed in the last 20, 10, 5 years (or last week), but anything not to code must be mentioned in the inspection report even if it's perfectly fine.

[Doc75]

I've walked around a few houses while looking. Some of the rooms have 1 outlet with 3 prongs, and the rest are just 2 prongs. Are the 2 prong outlets not grounded?

And...are non grounded outlets a major issue? What is the risk?

Thanks for the help.