A Renovation Reality Check
We knew buying an older home would have its issues. We joked about it needing TLC, as well as triage. We laughed at the construction quirks typical of a 50-year-old home. Today, I'm not laughing. Not even a little. Why? One word: electrician.
After several visits from electricians, one of which was apparently scared off by the scope of the job(s), I spent a total of five hours speaking with two more today, and a third will contact me tomorrow. The jist? The whole house, all 1,924 sq. ft. of it, apparently needs to be rewired to make it up to code. Two words: holy sh*t.
One estimate has already been provided and a second will be faxed to us later on today. Needless to say, it was as bad as bad could be. Actually, worse than I expected. At least most of the house, except for the bedrooms, is already gutted.
Still, it needs to be done. We just need to figure out how the heck it will get done.
Three words: God help us.
(Insert semi-smiley face here.)
After several visits from electricians, one of which was apparently scared off by the scope of the job(s), I spent a total of five hours speaking with two more today, and a third will contact me tomorrow. The jist? The whole house, all 1,924 sq. ft. of it, apparently needs to be rewired to make it up to code. Two words: holy sh*t.
One estimate has already been provided and a second will be faxed to us later on today. Needless to say, it was as bad as bad could be. Actually, worse than I expected. At least most of the house, except for the bedrooms, is already gutted.
Still, it needs to be done. We just need to figure out how the heck it will get done.
Three words: God help us.
(Insert semi-smiley face here.)
posted by Jacqui and Craig at
4:17 PM
10 Comments:
be it house boat or ranch..the older you can "afford" the more you uncover and in the end after all the holy sh*ttedness it's still cheaper than a brand newby and you have an intimate realtionship with your home!! think of it as colon cleansing!!
keep on team working and we can't wait to meet you one day
respect~love~courage,
aaron&melis
By
Anonymous, at 4:53 PM
ps "it's only $$$"...whatever that means!! but it does lighten the gut load when you say it aloud even if only for a moment ;-)~
Be Snow White and "just whislte while you work da da da da da da da"
By
Anonymous, at 5:13 PM
Your kindness and good wishes are appreciated! Thanks so much! Jacqui and Craig
By
Jacqui and Craig, at 6:36 PM
I would get another opinion. Unless the entire house is wired with knob and post wiring (it is too young for that) I can't see how the whole thing needs to be rewired. One thing you should note, unless you are ripping the entire guts out of your house, you only need to update the areas you are working on. In other words, a new kitchen must be installed to code. Your electrical service should be upgraded to meet the planned load. Unless you have an obvious hazzard such as overloaded wiring, or wiring that has been damaged that is. There are several older houses out there that still have 60 amp services. That is not against code unless the service is over loaded, in which case you will be blowing the main fuses. It just seems strange to me that a 50 year old house needs to be completely re-wired.
By
Anonymous, at 7:17 PM
Is this something that you would consider doing yourself? I was dead set against it before I started getting estimates for our house (circa 1928 knob and tube wiring, which had been muddled to the point that things would work one minute and then be gone to the electrical gods the next). Needless to say, after a very costly estimate that was only a rough guess as the gentlemen was here for another estimate altogether, I decided to do it myself. Check out "Wiring a House" by Rex Cauldwell. If nothing else, you will get educated so you don't get taken. Best of luck! -Irvington Bungalow
By
Anonymous, at 7:57 PM
You might see if they're willing to let you do some of the work. For code reasons, they may need to wire all the receptacles and switches, but you could pull the wire. It's just a matter of figuring out which part of the job your electrician hates doing and can legally delegate to the homeowner.
By
Litcritter, at 11:04 AM
Thanks for all the advice! I failed to mention in my post that most of the house, save for the bedrooms, is gutted so the electricians are seeing a very clear picture of what's going on, and so are we. Several decades of hodge-podge repairs and extremely dodgy fixes makes rewiring impossible not to consider. Painful, yes. Impossible, no.
By
Jacqui and Craig, at 6:03 PM
Since most of the wiring has been revealed, I don't understand the electricians bid amount.
stud
By
Stud, at 9:08 AM
Thanks for the very interesting article keep up the good work.
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