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@@EverydayHomeRepairs first thing I did a decade ago after buying my grandparents' old place. Giant contractor packs of white receptacles, switches, and faceplates. Just having everything being new, clean and consistent is nice. Not to mention many of the older switches were the "clicky" kind.
@@Bremend Nope, push-buttons would've been kind of neat! I just meant regular old toggle switches. The really old ones tend to have a loud click/snap with each flip while new switches are usually smooth and quiet.
@@rainnitsche3 trivial? I think for most peole, including myself, thousands of dollars is not trivial. True, they all need to be replaced eventually. But if you are just moving in and need to have it done soon thereafter, it would definitely be something I would want to know about.
Exactly! I work with seniors and people work their whole lives to pay a mortgage and then retire when they have dementia and awful health issues. I want out of this rat race ASAP so I can live before I die.
Great tips! One item not mentioned which I learned the hard way and was completely ignorant of is Iron Vent/drain Stacks! Typically if a home is over 90 years old there will be iron vent/drain stacks and they will crack over time due to heat cooling cycles. Mostly in the colder parts of the country these cracks will develop and it can be really expensive to replace or repair the entire system. Mine is tied into 3 baths and this means you will be tearing up all three baths to fix this! I have a really great plumber who was able to tie in PVC pipes in two locations of our home. It required tearing out the wall to get to the repair locations. If this continues to crack in other locations we are forced to do a full replacement! Most home inspections are not going to catch everything. I paid thousands of dollars on these inspections and they missed expensive repairs like our deck which wasn't attached to the ground or house properly. I did the repair myself and saved us thousands of dollars. In a real estate repair contingency agreement you only have 15 days to get an estimate from a contractor so you can negotiate the price for these repairs. Once they find out what the estimate is for they won't show up! Educate yourself as a buyer and walk away from anything that looks wrong! If not you can be in for a lot of headaches! Do not rely on Home Warranties as the Real Estate Agent will push! Most of these companies are going to deny the claims. Home Shield is notorious for this! We had them free for one year as part of our real estate agreement. They denied our claim because our expansion tank on the water heater was not part of the water heater. My step son was in the same situation and they denied multiple claims. Check them out on BBB, they have thousands of complaints! Its time the consumers with our dollars push back on this crap!!
Thanks. We bought a 1912 two story four square house with a full basement and attic. We gutted everything back to the studs during the spring and summer so we could inspect everything and install the first layer of 2" foam before winter using vertical lathe as an air space. I installed new triple pane windows, new winter doors but the house itself is solid. We will be switching out the electrical, plumbing and roof over the coming years. Old houses are great and cheap but you need to understand they new everything and these can be installed over time.
Our home was built in the 1930s, bought in the 1970s, and since then it has cost us $17,000 to replace our sewer/drain line from the house to the street as it was extra long and extra deep. Home also came with a "mature tree" alright, a 100 foot tall cottonwood with a ginormous 6 foot diameter trunk estimated to be around 200 years old that decided to die on my watch, and between bringing it down to 50 feet in 2017 to make it safer as it began to whither, and then bringing it down to a 20 foot stump last year after a 2 x 6 foot slab of bark fell from the remaining limbs and punched a hole in the roof of my shed, well, that tree cost us $16,000. HVAC replacement has been a notable cost because we have two of them, one on the roof of the main house one on the addition, cost us $14k for both of them in the 90s, but the next set cost double that in the 2020s. Then there was the $60k roof replacement we did recently, cost so much because it had to be fully stripped off as you cannot have 3 layers of roofing nor a wood shake bottom anymore, so we neded a full covering of plywood and there was also a lot of decay to address, and the old gutters were way beyond saving, and well, hey, on the upside, the mortgage has been fully paid off for a while, and the property taxes are grandfathered in and super low, and what we paid for the house in the 70s vs what would cost now is painfully laughable.
If you are using a GFI on an ungrounded circuit you also have to add the "no equipment ground" sticker to the cover plate to make it code. Or of course you can always replace with a two prong outlet. The big problem is easily detecting a bootleg ground without opening the box. These are dangerous and not code but will fool a simple plug-in detector because they tie in the outlet's ground to the neutral side making it appear to be grounded.
Dealing with the trifecta of these right now: $5k for asbestos remediation; 17k for extensive replumbing; upcoming mold remediation (that was covered up by the flipper); grounding the outlets. Sigh. Getting there.
I can relate to your plite. I don't have asbestos, but I did have alot of plumbing work done. I also had new carpet installed, the driveway repaved and the front steps rebuilt, it's brick. I'm in it for $20,0000. When you think you're done, something else comes up. Sucks...
I walked away from 3 homes where the foundation for the chimneys/fireplaces was not adequate and caused the chimneys to be no longer in line with their foundation. One was off by over 18 inches.
Nice job showing us things to look out for. One thing that should have been added is to look out for termites. Some areas do not have them but they wreak havoc on houses in places like Florida and Texas.
One thing I always look for when inspecting a property is vermiculite attic insulation. Everybody needs to Google what it looks like. It is Bar None the worst asbestos you could have in a property. I have no problem recommending people not buy properties that have it. Unless they have an extra twenty-five thousand in their budget to remove it.
Vermiculite in the 80s was sometimes contaminated with asbestos. This is probably where this story comes from. But generally speaking vermiculite is not asbestos.
That's a gross over reaction, the attic air doesn't mix with air in the living space..you can live with it in most instances.. Plus if it's Zonelite there is a class action suit avaiable
@@drummingbad9358 the insulation is a problem if you have to do wiring in your attic or if you have a roof leak causing your ceilings to need to be fixed. You will pay a higher rate for homeowners insurance, because of the cleanup costs for the asbestos insulation if there's a fire
ALL older homes have lead-based paint and NO current homeowners have knowledge of it. However, as long as you don't eat the paint chips, you should be OK. Highly overblown issue ginned up by remediation contractors.
Sanding it down can get it into your lungs and nose and blood stream, though, and it is illegal in a lot of states. Better to paint over it if possible, or scrape it, and not sand it. Otherwise it's not really ever a problem
we bought a mid 80s home whose water supply and sewer lines were already damaged and crumbling. Learned an expensive lesson there - Old is relative to material quality! Buying a 1892 home now - you best bet I had the sewer lateral and water supply inspected
Make sure any and all ceiling fans have been properly installed per code. A fan mounted in an ordinary "octagon" box is not per code and is a hazard to those beneath it.
3:10 - That "updated" wiring looks like a complete hack job, and I would not trust it at all. I would remove ALL wiring in the house and start over from scratch. Also replace that early 1990's rusty panel with a new one with at least 24 spaces.
My beach house built in 1970 has a Zinsco breaker panel and was wired badly (ran hot lead direct to all the bulb sockets and switched the neutral). I've been told I need to replace the Zinsco circuit breakers because they have a bad habit of setting houses on fire. I also had to replace the septic tank, since steel septic tanks on the beach tend to completely rust away in 50 years. I replaced it with concrete. The original copper piping was replaced with PEX at some point, i don't know why.
got a 24 year old home recently. A few issues inspection pointed out; BUT most of other issues I discovered after living here for a couple of years. Really sad how SLOPPY house construction and maintenance were in the 80s and 90s.
Thanks for making this video, some folks don't know what they are getting into. If you are a handyman and can do things yourself is one thing, but there are things there that many handymen could not handle, at least not properly. They would basically have to pay me to buy that house. Can it be fixed? Sure it can, but is it worth it? Like you said, it has all 5 issues you mentioned and I'm sure many more. I would tear out all the electrical and plumbing, and that boiler thing. I would call out a shoring co. and have the foundation repaired properly. Mostly everything else I could do myself, but in some areas they make you use licensed electricians and plumbers, which would bust the bank for me. The HVAC in a house like that I would put in some good wall units. I could go on and on but you get the picture or should I say I got your picture. Like I said, I could do a ton myself, if it is allowed, or I guess it would have to be a "hush, hush" job.
Hi Scott! Excellent starter video as I know you said it was not all inclusive. I looked at an older home that had a 5 foot tree truck holding up the main center supply of the house…did not buy the house! I would also check for lead pipe on the primary incoming water line. Being an older home, I would check to see if the homeowner/electrician used an “electrical fan box” to hold up the ceiling fan that is just above you head in your video.
There's a third option for that outlet actually, if you remove the faceplate and see a metal box, you can try grounding the outlet to the box and see if the cabling was run in metal conduit back to the breaker panel. If it does show up as grounded, that can work as your ground though I also used a dual function gfci/calcium breaker to protect anything on that line just in case...
Just to state the obvious, I would first visually confirm the box is indeed metal, the cable is not NM (Romex), and then before I even switch out anything I would just use a multimeter to check voltage between the hot and the box (rather than hooking up the receptacle and using a receptacle tester).
@@mr.g937 Although it was a pain, when I rewired my house I used BX. My dad taught me that sometimes rodents can chew through romex, and it could be a pain to find the break. Of course, today we have gadgets to locate the broken wire, but this way, I never have to worry about that. Plus in case of a short the BX armor can contain the minimal heat better(or so I've been told!).
Yep. I got the old clay piping for my drain. My house was built in 1900. There’s a permit for updating the electrical system posted by the breaker box from around the early 30s. They did a good job getting rid of the K&T system but I did find one knob still there in the basement and a wire coming from it. None the attic. Going back to the plumbing, the sink drain pipe in my kitchen was the old Galvanized Steel piping. That finally failed a few years ago and me and my older brother updated it to PVC. Not sure what the piping is coming from the city to the house. But would be curious to know.
Boy that crawlspace looked familiar. Been helping a relative with some work and it looks very similar. Built in 1950s so a little bit better. Still a hodgepodge of support systems
If you have floor tile and they are smaller than the now standard 12'' it is very likely they are asbestos. I bought a small house with a lot of problems just for the lot. dug up the sewer to find it was laid flat with no drain slope. I had to tair down the and remove the house. then I had to build up the soil where the new house was built to get the corect drain slope for the sewer.
Electrical: When I purchased my home five years ago (a 1970 era build) I had an inspection done. Obviously he didn't do a very thorough job; originally, much of the house had electrical heating, with 30 amp breakers connected to 10 gauge wiring. However, somewhere along the line, they switched to gas heat. And then they used the 30 amp breakers for 15 amp outlets. The electrical box was made by a company that had been out of business long ago, so I had to replace the box and get all new breakers, as they had also added more outlets with 15 gauge wiring going to those 30 amp breakers. I wound up rewiring the whole house with 12 gauge wiring to everything, with the appropriate 20 amp breakers and receptacles. Fortunately, I had access to ceilings and the basement, so I didn't run into a lot of roadblocks when running my wiring. But it was really frustrating that the house inspection didn't mention anything about this. I was also lucky, to have had a dad who taught me about wiring. All I had to do, was get a licensed electrician to okay my plans, and I was able to do it all myself. Took me 2 years doing it little by little. But now I have a great electrical system in my house, and I did the ethernet cat 6 at the same time. Worked out well.
Because it was ok. If your only drawing 15 amps on 14 guage, a 20 or 30 amp breaker is ok. What you can't do is draw 20 or 30 amps on a 14 guage 15 amp circuit, as your asking for a fire and blown breakers.
@@jamesross160 Problem was, those circuits went to the kitchen and basement, where there were multiple devices which pulled high current. And a malfunctioning device could also draw more current than that line could carry without overheating. After all, if you'll never have any situation where you are drawing more than 15 amps on a 14 gauge line, then you don't even need a breaker!
@@jamesross160 I agree with D.E.B. There’s no way to know what someone mat plug in without knowing, such as a carpet cleaner or heavy power tools, or even something less obvious like a fish tank or treadmill in a bedroom. Also, a partial short or a bad outlet could draw extra current, without immediately tripping a larger breaker. If the wire is undersized it will overheat, potentially causing a fire. An inspector may not be able to tell immediately that this is a problem.
Bought my house in 2020 right before it went nuts, house was built in 1910. I was told a few times by the selling agent and seller himself that all the knob and tube was pulled out. Well went to change ceiling fan and the wire looked strange. Went up into the attic and pulled up the floor and sure as shit irs knob and tube with spray in insulation all around it. I think it's only in the front and middle bed rooms. I really gotta replace it
Get it replaced eventually definitely but if I were you I would install a GFCI breaker on that circuit to be safe. If it starts tripping as soon as you install it then I would disregard it as they have neutrals from 2 circuits combined somewhere making the GFCI trip which won’t work unless you undo the crossed neutrals wherever it is. But if you can install that GFCI breaker and keep it be safe for you, your family, and your equipment it will trip on the smallest imbalance leaking out of the circuit. Good luck man!
Also check the envelope of the home. Most older homes are not sealed properly with many drafts. Is there insulation in the walls and attic and if there is what type is it, how old is it, is there any moisture damage to it. Does it have the proper air and moisture barriers, do windows and doors seal properly and are they single pane or double pane. Does the siding or roofing need fixing or replacing.
Wow, did you buy this place because it had SO MANY SIGNIFICANT ISSUES? A 1000 part YT series to come. I also love the reroof that left all those combustibles to flatten out the already bad OC pink insulation. R-value 2. LOL!
With a home this old, not much standard was followed on construction. I have a friend renovating a 100 year old family home. The have tore it down to the frame. Super big timbers but far different construction that what you are use to seeing
Very good info! I wish I watched this video before we bought our first house last year! We found mold combined with asbestos tiling underneath the carpeting I tore up (yes mold was growing around the asbestos tiling) 😢 I had to hire someone to take care of it (which not knowing anything about either one took a lot of digging lol), and our realtor and home inspector were "no where" to be found lol. But great tips!
The house im looking at currently has the old 2 conductor cloth wrapped wire, and a cracked joist similar to the one you displayed. I feel I can attempt the wiring myself to snake romex through to the outlets and such via crawl-space and attic access. The joist damage im looking at getting repaired asap though from qualified personel.
The flashing light can be easily addressed; however, those ceiling panels are more distracting, as they could be covering some hideous stained or damaged plaster. These panels belong in a business office or a school, not a house.
Another thing too regarding HVAC, depending on when it was installed and it's still under warranty, you may need to send them your information to transfer the warranty within a certain time frame (mine apparently was 30 days). I was a 1st time home buyer, had no idea about this. Old homeowner left me all the warranty information-for everything. When I needed to do a repair on the heat pump, saw it was still within the 10 year warranty period. And, that's when I found out I was supposed to email/call them to transfer the warranty. Amazingly (sarcasm) the unit crapped out 1 month after the warranty was up. 2200. for the part, 4000. to replace. Hello window units and space heaters :)
Most of the time the warranty on HVAC equipment is only to the original home owner. Some company’s offer to transfer at a cost to transfer. Sometimes a shorter term like 5year versus the original 10year. Also keep in mind a 10year warranty is usually just the compressor and or heat exchanger. Labor warranty is usually only one year and some components like motors and controls are 3-5years. Another recommendation as a licensed tech is add a whole home surge protection device and have electrician update ground from panel to locality specific rods or ground ring. If you can provide a low impedance path to ground vs just a ground clamp on a metalic cold water pipe.
HVAC warranties aren't worth much once you're out of the 'paid labor' period and even then they do the quickest/cheapest possible repair that often leaves your system to fail again within a year or two. The warranty likely wasn't even worth transferring and I usually don't bother claiming warranties if I can fix it myself. Costs less and ends up being a better repair.
You didn’t mention the attic or exterior wall insulation. I see in this example the attic is multiple forms of insulation what are your thoughts on refreshing the attic insulation and sealing any air leaks into the home?
@@EverydayHomeRepairs I bet, well I have been watching videos on extracting the old then creating a sealed barrier so very little energy escapes the living area. Love to see what you determine works for you.
Notice the Lack of insulation in the attic and crawl space No R30 in attic. No R19 in crawl space If none there, than probably no R13 in wall cavities. At least they had plastic on the ground.
Bootleg grounds, plastered over outlets, wires w no boxes next to copper pipe, knob and tube, asbestos cement board, oversized breakers, chewed attic wires, still has cast iron drains etc etc house from 20’s.
I would diffenintly replacy any knob and tube wiring (some insurance companies wont insure you with it and when you add in new insulation to compansate for total lack of , which wasn't discussed , you can't bury knob and tube in it). Also some talk about the plumbing distribution, including the pex in the crawl would be nice. The crawl barrier is horrible as well as it didn't looke sealed around the CMU wall and the crappy supports for the girder. \
Honestly, I am seriously beginning to wonder. We bought a newly built property, in 2019 (built in 2019), and I cannot begin to tell you the problems we have had. I will add, with trying to get the problems resolved (via the Builder and Warranty department), I have learned a lot. Some things I did not even think about asking, prior to moving in. Like the flow of water in the backyard, will it sit, or flow to somewhere? With the sloped grass on the side of the house, should there be a foundation wall (answer is yes!). Anyway, thanks for another detailed video...
Proper water drainage in a yard or around your house seems to something builders offer fail at doing properly. Then it’s up to the homeowner to figure out a solution which can be costly. I had to deal with a crawl space that had standing water. Finally dug a French drain and installed a sump pump to address this issue. Let’s just say glad I did this when I was much younger. But still a pain. Good luck with your problems.
1:20 If someone needs to put in additional circuits and the main panel has no more spaces, the least of their problems would be to change out the panel for a bigger panel with more breaker slots, assuming 100A load is not exceeded in this case. Or, simply add an adjoining subpanel to gain more slots for additional circuits. But this house has far bigger problems than that - other electrical, plumbing, structural. I don't see how a bank would approve a mortgage on this before a lot of corrective intervention is completed. And aesthetically it's a mess - mish-mash of ill-suited trim, drop tile ceiling, low ceiling, and on and on.
Wow, I sure do wish I had some friends that are as knowledgeable as you are or still alive! I am buying a older home that has had alot of updates and remodeling, and is in pretty darn good shape, I had a home inspection and been here 3 yrs now. It was a pretty thorough inspection and I'm pretty knowledgeable but due to permanent injuries and income am limited. I sometimes wonder if there was something important that the inspector might of missed! So I kinda live with my fingers crossed permanent. I do have ins and main waterline coverage also. Thanks man!
A home inspection by a qualified, reputable professional is a must. But, like here, some of the issues are very obvious and apparent. It if looks really ugly, it's likely a problem.
Of the three home inspections I've had done, all were essentially useless. They all end their exam with 'should be evaluated by a licensed electrician/plumber/general contractor/roofer etc., essentially alleviating them from doing any detailed inspections at all. Before buying a home, try to find a general contractor to go through the house with you being present if at all possible. Otherwise, you'll likely find problems later on, which the 'inspector' didn't bother to check. Their warranties are essentially useless too, as most go out of business, and form another LLC with another name.
@@d.e.b.b5788 Inspector’s don’t offer warranties. Inspector’s are doing their job recommending further evaluation. They are telling you what’s wrong and telling you the proper professional to have repair it. Inspections are a snapshot of the home at the time of inspection nothing more. Having a general contractor inspect your home is a terrible idea, they make money off repairs not inspections. Either they will sell you repair work or charge for their inspection. Either way, they won’t be as thorough as me.
@@d.e.b.b5788 What he’s saying is that the inspector can’t recommend how the repair is done, only what looks suspicious. As in all professions, you will occasionally find a bad apple. I’ve dealt with a variety, but the best I’ve found actually work for the city.
A big thing that I would look for as far as the electrical goes are Federal Pacific or Zinsco electrical panels, I have no issue with knob and tube in good shape, or a fuse panel in good shape, but Zinsco and Federal Pacific are both fires waiting to start, and if you then pair these already faulty panels with old or hacked up wiring then you are double stacking issues.
The problem is that knob and tube systems were almost invariably installed and sized for a grand total of one outlet, one light fixture, and one light switch per room (maybe two outlets in a kitchen). If the house has anything more than that and still has active knob and tube, it's been hacked together.
@@burgundyyears I agree that this is the case most of the time, and that K&T was definitely not made for the needs of today. I have seen quite a few times around here where there are a bunch of smaller old farm houses and stuff like that, where they have the original K&T that HAS NOT been all hacked up, and has just been left alone and either new circuits run separately, or just little old farmer grandpa does not need more than one plug for his lamp and TV.
All of the small but serious electrical problems that you’re not allowed to see on an inspection behind cover plates etc. no wires nuts, hidden open splices, crispy wires, shared neutrals and surprise shocks. Same with not being able to take the chimney apart and look up or down and realize you’re going to have to reline it...
I had to open my breaker box to realize that whoever did the update for my panel just electric taped wires together to run the tiny distance longer to the breaker. Don't know how that passed the inspection (that was written on the panel)
Hey you got some quick cardio there lol, where do that asbestos and lead paint go after it's removed mean a landfill an incinerator where they just discovered a dumpsite in the Pacific of DDT
I assume all states might be like California regarding lead and asbestos disposal because it starts with Federal regulations. First, only certified remediation contractors allowed to remove and they have special dump sites. For California, there are legal dump sites close by in Arizona. Lead and asbestos removal is not a diy, or regular contractor job. Yea it can be very expensive.
Our first home we bought we waived inspection. BIG MISTAKE! Also I inspected the home with no electricity and no water because the home was vacant for a time. BIG MISTAKE! Please do not repeat my mistakes.
Considering bidding on a home built in 1880’s for back taxes, this video is making me pause. I think it has such potential, on a beautiful scenic paved country road, beautiful mature trees, one acre charming lot, but afraid the renovation could be a money pit. Is there any way to learn about a home sold as is with no walk throughs allowed before tax sale auction?
Knob and tube can be a deal killer if you can't get insurance. S-traps are not allowed. That structure is terrible. There WILL be asbestos there as well as lead paint. The price better be really cheap.
I like your video thx we looking for investing buying house then rent it out but we want affordable house price but we want to know if is old house the maintenances would be more since it’s not new house or how does that maintenances work ? Thx
every time the ower goes out for more than a second, our clocks all default to 12:00. There's a clock on the: 1. microwave. 2. Stove. 3 wall clock above the sink in the kitchen. clocks on the dvrs. The list just goes on and on. I wear a watch so I leave setting all the clocks to the rest of the family.
For the record....What licenses do you hold, if any? Do you need a license? What is the $$ limits someone can do without a License? What is your experience or background in the trades?
I'm a software engineer but like Everyday Home Repairs, I taught myself to replace receptacles and switches, fix my own plumbing, repair drywall, fix my HVAC, and repair my brick walls. There is no law that says you must have a license or even work in any trade to work on your own home (at least in the SF Bay Area). This is pretty much all easy stuff that an average intelligence person can do themselves.
License requirements vary. In some areas plumbing or electrical have restrictions on what you can do yourself. For example, in St. Louis County, MO, you need a licensed electrician to obtain a building permit for a new breaker panel, or to run power to an outbuilding.
Copper pipe before 1988 used solder with lead. This is a problem, that’s why I don’t like old homes. The amount of repair needed in the home you’re looking to purchase, is too great for me to consider buying it. The repairs for just the electrical and the structure could easily be $20-30k. What about no air, another $30k. Windows, insulation, etc…….? Thanks Jim
Leaded solder is not a problem. Even lead pipes aren't really an issue except in special cases. Old houses have a lot of potential issues but that isn't one of them.
I've always heard that you're better avoiding 2br houses and going for 3 br or you could have issues selling when it's time to upgrade or otherwise move. It's always been from the same person. How in line are they with the actual market?
3 bed / 2 bath with a 2 car garage are usually the easiest to sell. If you buy right and know what you are doing you can make good money on 2 bed / 1 bath but the buyer pool will be smaller.
English no my natural language. I discovers not to long ago that latte and plaster could have asbestos. To be precise, it is in the cement between the latte and plaster. Attention it's not always in the cement, some plasterer would use it to make cement strong. I never thought this would be in cement. I knew all the other place that i could found asbestos, but cement...
Do you mean lath and plaster? Latte is coffee with milk. (No offense meant towards your English skills, you still speak it much better than I could speak any foreign language)
Surely it was the post WW2 miracle materiel used for thousands of products! Cheap and easy to mine by the ton lots, fireproof and durable, used like glass fibers are today in concrete tiles and boards for roof tiles and siding, flooring, insulation etc. I recall lots of it all over my school buildings both in Germany and USA, nothing but the best for our kids ya' know!🙄😉
If you buy an old house, just assume you will have a bunch of outdated stuff and hamfisted DIY modifications that will need to be removed. At this point in my life, I wouldn't buy an old house unless I got a sweet deal and I had a bunch of extra money to gut it and fix everything. Even houses that look like they have been well cared for can have crazy crap going on behind the walls.
Probably heard this already. Picture of the jack in crawl space is not a bottle jack. It is a very old cast iron screw jack designed for house jacking. A bottle jack might be preferable because it’s smaller size and lighter weight. Maybe you should be pointing out that your site is having a problem with water infiltration previous pictures of the block efflorescence and missing mortar. Then this problem is the ground underneath the home is sinking since it’s been jacked up over the years to try to resolve the problem. This is handyman work because they don’t dig new footer’s and install new pier’s so they are being stupid and trying to fix it in a cheap way the screw jack and multiple types of blocks are evidence that this has been going on for years. Hire an engineer and a mason and get someone who can help you replace the foundation and waterproof the walls and regrade the slope of the site so water flows away from the house.
:)...I've done some welding with K&T trying to short them out to figure out the breaker...:) Old house are a pain in the ass...My electrician charges 12 K to upgrade the service...
Yes indeed, this is more common then you think. My in-laws went through the same thing with a major insurer. And they had been living in their home for ages. New electrical, water lines, sewer and some structural. Fortunately the City in Cali. That they lived in had programs for the elderly. Those darn insurance companies can put you over a barrel.
I just bought a 1922 house with knob and tube. I got insurance but it was difficult, the issue i faced though was it was in an area in Nor Cal that is currently having a lot of fires in the area. Had to go with a smaller insurance company because the big boys wouldn’t touch it.
All good tips but I am of the opinion that the fear of lead based paint is very overblown. It seems that fear creates many industries of a questionable nature such as lead base paint determination and remediation. I would like to see statistical analysis of just how many men, women, and children have been affected by lead paint. I would much rather have my house covered in lead based paint than to have knob and tube electrical.
I agree on the lead paint. Lead keeps mold from growing here in FL. If the govt says it's bad, need to see who is paying for the study. Also lead paint shields us from electromagnetic waves. IE 4G, 5G. You just wonder was that the plan all along??
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What's a bigger sin than an ungrounded three prong outlet? An almond receptacle with a white faceplate! 😨
😂, you should see the location of the light switches and outlets if you think that color combo is bad.
@@EverydayHomeRepairs first thing I did a decade ago after buying my grandparents' old place. Giant contractor packs of white receptacles, switches, and faceplates. Just having everything being new, clean and consistent is nice. Not to mention many of the older switches were the "clicky" kind.
@@marcberm do you mean the button switches?
@@Bremend Nope, push-buttons would've been kind of neat! I just meant regular old toggle switches. The really old ones tend to have a loud click/snap with each flip while new switches are usually smooth and quiet.
@@marcberm I agree, bang for the buck that is a smart upgrade.
I would add inspecting the roof as another critical element.
And insect infestations such as termites or carpenter ants'
Yeah but generally speaking it's a trivial exspeense compared to wiring, and even newer homes need new roof eventually
@@rainnitsche3 trivial? I think for most peole, including myself, thousands of dollars is not trivial. True, they all need to be replaced eventually. But if you are just moving in and need to have it done soon thereafter, it would definitely be something I would want to know about.
@robbosch3449 true I mean in comparison to nob and tube
Property lines and roof inspection should be done also..
Bought a 1935 home a few years back. I'd still rather that than a new 400k home with a huge mortgage
Still cheaper than that monster mortgage
Exactly! I work with seniors and people work their whole lives to pay a mortgage and then retire when they have dementia and awful health issues. I want out of this rat race ASAP so I can live before I die.
Great tips! One item not mentioned which I learned the hard way and was completely ignorant of is Iron Vent/drain Stacks! Typically if a home is over 90 years old there will be iron vent/drain stacks and they will crack over time due to heat cooling cycles. Mostly in the colder parts of the country these cracks will develop and it can be really expensive to replace or repair the entire system. Mine is tied into 3 baths and this means you will be tearing up all three baths to fix this! I have a really great plumber who was able to tie in PVC pipes in two locations of our home. It required tearing out the wall to get to the repair locations. If this continues to crack in other locations we are forced to do a full replacement! Most home inspections are not going to catch everything. I paid thousands of dollars on these inspections and they missed expensive repairs like our deck which wasn't attached to the ground or house properly. I did the repair myself and saved us thousands of dollars. In a real estate repair contingency agreement you only have 15 days to get an estimate from a contractor so you can negotiate the price for these repairs. Once they find out what the estimate is for they won't show up! Educate yourself as a buyer and walk away from anything that looks wrong! If not you can be in for a lot of headaches! Do not rely on Home Warranties as the Real Estate Agent will push! Most of these companies are going to deny the claims. Home Shield is notorious for this! We had them free for one year as part of our real estate agreement. They denied our claim because our expansion tank on the water heater was not part of the water heater. My step son was in the same situation and they denied multiple claims. Check them out on BBB, they have thousands of complaints! Its time the consumers with our dollars push back on this crap!!
Great information. Thank you.
@@marmaladesunrise please pass it on!
@@plasma3211 Will, first chance.
Thanks. We bought a 1912 two story four square house with a full basement and attic. We gutted everything back to the studs during the spring and summer so we could inspect everything and install the first layer of 2" foam before winter using vertical lathe as an air space. I installed new triple pane windows, new winter doors but the house itself is solid. We will be switching out the electrical, plumbing and roof over the coming years. Old houses are great and cheap but you need to understand they new everything and these can be installed over time.
Our home was built in the 1930s, bought in the 1970s, and since then it has cost us $17,000 to replace our sewer/drain line from the house to the street as it was extra long and extra deep. Home also came with a "mature tree" alright, a 100 foot tall cottonwood with a ginormous 6 foot diameter trunk estimated to be around 200 years old that decided to die on my watch, and between bringing it down to 50 feet in 2017 to make it safer as it began to whither, and then bringing it down to a 20 foot stump last year after a 2 x 6 foot slab of bark fell from the remaining limbs and punched a hole in the roof of my shed, well, that tree cost us $16,000. HVAC replacement has been a notable cost because we have two of them, one on the roof of the main house one on the addition, cost us $14k for both of them in the 90s, but the next set cost double that in the 2020s. Then there was the $60k roof replacement we did recently, cost so much because it had to be fully stripped off as you cannot have 3 layers of roofing nor a wood shake bottom anymore, so we neded a full covering of plywood and there was also a lot of decay to address, and the old gutters were way beyond saving, and well, hey, on the upside, the mortgage has been fully paid off for a while, and the property taxes are grandfathered in and super low, and what we paid for the house in the 70s vs what would cost now is painfully laughable.
If you are using a GFI on an ungrounded circuit you also have to add the "no equipment ground" sticker to the cover plate to make it code. Or of course you can always replace with a two prong outlet. The big problem is easily detecting a bootleg ground without opening the box. These are dangerous and not code but will fool a simple plug-in detector because they tie in the outlet's ground to the neutral side making it appear to be grounded.
Thanks for the feedback Bob and good point on the “bootleg ground.”
Dealing with the trifecta of these right now: $5k for asbestos remediation; 17k for extensive replumbing; upcoming mold remediation (that was covered up by the flipper); grounding the outlets. Sigh. Getting there.
I can relate to your plite. I don't have asbestos, but I did have alot of plumbing work done. I also had new carpet installed, the driveway repaved and the front steps rebuilt, it's brick. I'm in it for $20,0000. When you think you're done, something else comes up. Sucks...
@@DK-nt1nn someone commented an old house is like an old luxury car... so true it hurts
I walked away from 3 homes where the foundation for the chimneys/fireplaces was not adequate and caused the chimneys to be no longer in line with their foundation. One was off by over 18 inches.
😬
Nice job showing us things to look out for. One thing that should have been added is to look out for termites. Some areas do not have them but they wreak havoc on houses in places like Florida and Texas.
You might want to check for aluminum wiring and Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation as well.
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for advising the respirator when crawling around in the attic!
👍
I had the exact issue with a clay drain line and you described the issue to a T. Roots kept coming up through the cracks.
One thing I always look for when inspecting a property is vermiculite attic insulation. Everybody needs to Google what it looks like. It is Bar None the worst asbestos you could have in a property. I have no problem recommending people not buy properties that have it. Unless they have an extra twenty-five thousand in their budget to remove it.
Vermiculite in the 80s was sometimes contaminated with asbestos. This is probably where this story comes from. But generally speaking vermiculite is not asbestos.
Vermiculite can cause Mesothelioma!
Only testing can tell you for sure if vermiculite contains even trace amounts of asbestos. Not a problem unless disturbed or in a friable state.
That's a gross over reaction, the attic air doesn't mix with air in the living space..you can live with it in most instances.. Plus if it's Zonelite there is a class action suit avaiable
@@drummingbad9358 the insulation is a problem if you have to do wiring in your attic or if you have a roof leak causing your ceilings to need to be fixed. You will pay a higher rate for homeowners insurance, because of the cleanup costs for the asbestos insulation if there's a fire
ALL older homes have lead-based paint and NO current homeowners have knowledge of it. However, as long as you don't eat the paint chips, you should be OK. Highly overblown issue ginned up by remediation contractors.
Sanding it down can get it into your lungs and nose and blood stream, though, and it is illegal in a lot of states. Better to paint over it if possible, or scrape it, and not sand it. Otherwise it's not really ever a problem
we bought a mid 80s home whose water supply and sewer lines were already damaged and crumbling. Learned an expensive lesson there - Old is relative to material quality!
Buying a 1892 home now - you best bet I had the sewer lateral and water supply inspected
what state did you buy the mid 80s home?
Make sure any and all ceiling fans have been properly installed per code. A fan mounted in an ordinary "octagon" box is not per code and is a hazard to those beneath it.
3:10 - That "updated" wiring looks like a complete hack job, and I would not trust it at all. I would remove ALL wiring in the house and start over from scratch. Also replace that early 1990's rusty panel with a new one with at least 24 spaces.
Was it expensive to swap out?
My beach house built in 1970 has a Zinsco breaker panel and was wired badly (ran hot lead direct to all the bulb sockets and switched the neutral). I've been told I need to replace the Zinsco circuit breakers because they have a bad habit of setting houses on fire. I also had to replace the septic tank, since steel septic tanks on the beach tend to completely rust away in 50 years. I replaced it with concrete. The original copper piping was replaced with PEX at some point, i don't know why.
In the two houses I've owned, the previous owners knocked out a supporting wall in the basement and took absolutely no measure to put a beam in.
Isn't that crazy! I also have a home that the previous owner did the same thing.
got a 24 year old home recently. A few issues inspection pointed out; BUT most of other issues I discovered after living here for a couple of years. Really sad how SLOPPY house construction and maintenance were in the 80s and 90s.
Thanks for making this video, some folks don't know what they are getting into. If you are a handyman and can do things yourself is one thing, but there are things there that many handymen could not handle, at least not properly. They would basically have to pay me to buy that house. Can it be fixed? Sure it can, but is it worth it? Like you said, it has all 5 issues you mentioned and I'm sure many more. I would tear out all the electrical and plumbing, and that boiler thing. I would call out a shoring co. and have the foundation repaired properly. Mostly everything else I could do myself, but in some areas they make you use licensed electricians and plumbers, which would bust the bank for me. The HVAC in a house like that I would put in some good wall units. I could go on and on but you get the picture or should I say I got your picture. Like I said, I could do a ton myself, if it is allowed, or I guess it would have to be a "hush, hush" job.
Thanks for the feedback!
@@EverydayHomeRepairs The boiler in our house is 68 years old and still works fine....
Could you do something about that clock on your stove? It's driving me nuts.
Excellent information & tips. I've got quite a few of these issues that I deal with in my parents old home.
Best of luck on the projects!
I’d also recommend you get the dust filters for that mask. It’s much lighter and less bulky than the vapor cartridges
Great video full of vital information. I probably would not have bought my first house if I had known some of this information before the purchase.
Hi Scott! Excellent starter video as I know you said it was not all inclusive. I looked at an older home that had a 5 foot tree truck holding up the main center supply of the house…did not buy the house! I would also check for lead pipe on the primary incoming water line. Being an older home, I would check to see if the homeowner/electrician used an “electrical fan box” to hold up the ceiling fan that is just above you head in your video.
What about the damn issue of old panel boxes that don't have enough amperes to allow more breakers and therefore more wiring
There's a third option for that outlet actually, if you remove the faceplate and see a metal box, you can try grounding the outlet to the box and see if the cabling was run in metal conduit back to the breaker panel. If it does show up as grounded, that can work as your ground though I also used a dual function gfci/calcium breaker to protect anything on that line just in case...
Just to state the obvious, I would first visually confirm the box is indeed metal, the cable is not NM (Romex), and then before I even switch out anything I would just use a multimeter to check voltage between the hot and the box (rather than hooking up the receptacle and using a receptacle tester).
@@mr.g937 Although it was a pain, when I rewired my house I used BX. My dad taught me that sometimes rodents can chew through romex, and it could be a pain to find the break. Of course, today we have gadgets to locate the broken wire, but this way, I never have to worry about that. Plus in case of a short the BX armor can contain the minimal heat better(or so I've been told!).
@@d.e.b.b5788 Why BX and not MC?
Yep. I got the old clay piping for my drain. My house was built in 1900. There’s a permit for updating the electrical system posted by the breaker box from around the early 30s. They did a good job getting rid of the K&T system but I did find one knob still there in the basement and a wire coming from it. None the attic.
Going back to the plumbing, the sink drain pipe in my kitchen was the old Galvanized Steel piping. That finally failed a few years ago and me and my older brother updated it to PVC.
Not sure what the piping is coming from the city to the house. But would be curious to know.
I always think of the movie Money Pit whenever I see a home like this !
Yes! 😂 Falling thru the floor when getting in the tub. Such a good movie
Boy that crawlspace looked familiar. Been helping a relative with some work and it looks very similar. Built in 1950s so a little bit better. Still a hodgepodge of support systems
South west Florida:
Aluminum wires and 60 (yes, that’s less than 100) amp service in a three bedroom house.
Height above FloodZone.
If you have floor tile and they are smaller than the now standard 12'' it is very likely they are asbestos. I bought a small house with a lot of problems just for the lot. dug up the sewer to find it was laid flat with no drain slope. I had to tair down the and remove the house. then I had to build up the soil where the new house was built to get the corect drain slope for the sewer.
Electrical: When I purchased my home five years ago (a 1970 era build) I had an inspection done. Obviously he didn't do a very thorough job; originally, much of the house had electrical heating, with 30 amp breakers connected to 10 gauge wiring. However, somewhere along the line, they switched to gas heat. And then they used the 30 amp breakers for 15 amp outlets. The electrical box was made by a company that had been out of business long ago, so I had to replace the box and get all new breakers, as they had also added more outlets with 15 gauge wiring going to those 30 amp breakers. I wound up rewiring the whole house with 12 gauge wiring to everything, with the appropriate 20 amp breakers and receptacles. Fortunately, I had access to ceilings and the basement, so I didn't run into a lot of roadblocks when running my wiring. But it was really frustrating that the house inspection didn't mention anything about this. I was also lucky, to have had a dad who taught me about wiring. All I had to do, was get a licensed electrician to okay my plans, and I was able to do it all myself. Took me 2 years doing it little by little. But now I have a great electrical system in my house, and I did the ethernet cat 6 at the same time. Worked out well.
Because it was ok. If your only drawing 15 amps on 14 guage, a 20 or 30 amp breaker is ok. What you can't do is draw 20 or 30 amps on a 14 guage 15 amp circuit, as your asking for a fire and blown breakers.
@@jamesross160 Problem was, those circuits went to the kitchen and basement, where there were multiple devices which pulled high current. And a malfunctioning device could also draw more current than that line could carry without overheating. After all, if you'll never have any situation where you are drawing more than 15 amps on a 14 gauge line, then you don't even need a breaker!
@@jamesross160 I agree with D.E.B. There’s no way to know what someone mat plug in without knowing, such as a carpet cleaner or heavy power tools, or even something less obvious like a fish tank or treadmill in a bedroom. Also, a partial short or a bad outlet could draw extra current, without immediately tripping a larger breaker. If the wire is undersized it will overheat, potentially causing a fire.
An inspector may not be able to tell immediately that this is a problem.
Bought my house in 2020 right before it went nuts, house was built in 1910. I was told a few times by the selling agent and seller himself that all the knob and tube was pulled out. Well went to change ceiling fan and the wire looked strange. Went up into the attic and pulled up the floor and sure as shit irs knob and tube with spray in insulation all around it. I think it's only in the front and middle bed rooms. I really gotta replace it
Get it replaced eventually definitely but if I were you I would install a GFCI breaker on that circuit to be safe. If it starts tripping as soon as you install it then I would disregard it as they have neutrals from 2 circuits combined somewhere making the GFCI trip which won’t work unless you undo the crossed neutrals wherever it is. But if you can install that GFCI breaker and keep it be safe for you, your family, and your equipment it will trip on the smallest imbalance leaking out of the circuit. Good luck man!
whats wrong with knobs and tube wiring?
Also check the envelope of the home. Most older homes are not sealed properly with many drafts. Is there insulation in the walls and attic and if there is what type is it, how old is it, is there any moisture damage to it. Does it have the proper air and moisture barriers, do windows and doors seal properly and are they single pane or double pane. Does the siding or roofing need fixing or replacing.
Wow, did you buy this place because it had SO MANY SIGNIFICANT ISSUES? A 1000 part YT series to come. I also love the reroof that left all those combustibles to flatten out the already bad OC pink insulation. R-value 2. LOL!
With a home this old, not much standard was followed on construction. I have a friend renovating a 100 year old family home. The have tore it down to the frame. Super big timbers but far different construction that what you are use to seeing
Oh yes, expect the unexpected 👍
Very good info! I wish I watched this video before we bought our first house last year! We found mold combined with asbestos tiling underneath the carpeting I tore up (yes mold was growing around the asbestos tiling) 😢 I had to hire someone to take care of it (which not knowing anything about either one took a lot of digging lol), and our realtor and home inspector were "no where" to be found lol. But great tips!
The house im looking at currently has the old 2 conductor cloth wrapped wire, and a cracked joist similar to the one you displayed. I feel I can attempt the wiring myself to snake romex through to the outlets and such via crawl-space and attic access. The joist damage im looking at getting repaired asap though from qualified personel.
The flashing clock on the stove is making me insane!
The flashing light can be easily addressed; however, those ceiling panels are more distracting, as they could be covering some hideous stained or damaged plaster. These panels belong in a business office or a school, not a house.
Great Topic & Presentation (roof & chimney conditions, could be included).
Another thing too regarding HVAC, depending on when it was installed and it's still under warranty, you may need to send them your information to transfer the warranty within a certain time frame (mine apparently was 30 days). I was a 1st time home buyer, had no idea about this. Old homeowner left me all the warranty information-for everything. When I needed to do a repair on the heat pump, saw it was still within the 10 year warranty period. And, that's when I found out I was supposed to email/call them to transfer the warranty. Amazingly (sarcasm) the unit crapped out 1 month after the warranty was up. 2200. for the part, 4000. to replace. Hello window units and space heaters :)
Most of the time the warranty on HVAC equipment is only to the original home owner. Some company’s offer to transfer at a cost to transfer. Sometimes a shorter term like 5year versus the original 10year. Also keep in mind a 10year warranty is usually just the compressor and or heat exchanger. Labor warranty is usually only one year and some components like motors and controls are 3-5years. Another recommendation as a licensed tech is add a whole home surge protection device and have electrician update ground from panel to locality specific rods or ground ring. If you can provide a low impedance path to ground vs just a ground clamp on a metalic cold water pipe.
HVAC warranties aren't worth much once you're out of the 'paid labor' period and even then they do the quickest/cheapest possible repair that often leaves your system to fail again within a year or two. The warranty likely wasn't even worth transferring and I usually don't bother claiming warranties if I can fix it myself. Costs less and ends up being a better repair.
Some 1950s homes do have breaker panels, but they often have issues.
You didn’t mention the attic or exterior wall insulation. I see in this example the attic is multiple forms of insulation what are your thoughts on refreshing the attic insulation and sealing any air leaks into the home?
Yeah, I think a round of insulation in the attic is a no brainer for this home. I needed to first clean up the raccoon 💩
@@EverydayHomeRepairs I bet, well I have been watching videos on extracting the old then creating a sealed barrier so very little energy escapes the living area. Love to see what you determine works for you.
One caution on sealing a home too tightly is the potential for depleting the oxygen, or buildup of carbon monoxide, especially if you have a fireplace
Notice the Lack of insulation in the attic and crawl space No R30 in attic. No R19 in crawl space If none there, than probably no R13 in wall cavities. At least they had plastic on the ground.
In Illinois, it’s R-49 to 60 in attics. That house must be miserable in the winter.
Yeah, this home definitely needs some insulation 💯
Bootleg grounds, plastered over outlets, wires w no boxes next to copper pipe, knob and tube, asbestos cement board, oversized breakers, chewed attic wires, still has cast iron drains etc etc house from 20’s.
Also lead paint on houses pre 1978
Open ground is not a big deal. I have lived most of my life in houses that did not have proper ground wires and never had a problem.
I would diffenintly replacy any knob and tube wiring (some insurance companies wont insure you with it and when you add in new insulation to compansate for total lack of , which wasn't discussed , you can't bury knob and tube in it). Also some talk about the plumbing distribution, including the pex in the crawl would be nice. The crawl barrier is horrible as well as it didn't looke sealed around the CMU wall and the crappy supports for the girder. \
Honestly, I am seriously beginning to wonder. We bought a newly built property, in 2019 (built in 2019), and I cannot begin to tell you the problems we have had. I will add, with trying to get the problems resolved (via the Builder and Warranty department), I have learned a lot.
Some things I did not even think about asking, prior to moving in. Like the flow of water in the backyard, will it sit, or flow to somewhere? With the sloped grass on the side of the house, should there be a foundation wall (answer is yes!). Anyway, thanks for another detailed video...
It’s tough man, sorry you are going through that type of situation which can be super stressful.
Proper water drainage in a yard or around your house seems to something builders offer fail at doing properly. Then it’s up to the homeowner to figure out a solution which can be costly. I had to deal with a crawl space that had standing water. Finally dug a French drain and installed a sump pump to address this issue. Let’s just say glad I did this when I was much younger. But still a pain. Good luck with your problems.
it's funny the led paint just gets thrown in the trash but they make a big deal over it
1:20 If someone needs to put in additional circuits and the main panel has no more spaces, the least of their problems would be to change out the panel for a bigger panel with more breaker slots, assuming 100A load is not exceeded in this case. Or, simply add an adjoining subpanel to gain more slots for additional circuits.
But this house has far bigger problems than that - other electrical, plumbing, structural. I don't see how a bank would approve a mortgage on this before a lot of corrective intervention is completed. And aesthetically it's a mess - mish-mash of ill-suited trim, drop tile ceiling, low ceiling, and on and on.
Wow, I sure do wish I had some friends that are as knowledgeable as you are or still alive! I am buying a older home that has had alot of updates and remodeling, and is in pretty darn good shape, I had a home inspection and been here 3 yrs now. It was a pretty thorough inspection and I'm pretty knowledgeable but due to permanent injuries and income am limited. I sometimes wonder if there was something important that the inspector might of missed! So I kinda live with my fingers crossed permanent. I do have ins and main waterline coverage also. Thanks man!
Yeah, I am a fan of older homes but you are right that most home inspections aren't going to cover each system in detail. Best of luck on the house 🤞
A home inspection by a qualified, reputable professional is a must. But, like here, some of the issues are very obvious and apparent. It if looks really ugly, it's likely a problem.
Of the three home inspections I've had done, all were essentially useless. They all end their exam with 'should be evaluated by a licensed electrician/plumber/general contractor/roofer etc., essentially alleviating them from doing any detailed inspections at all. Before buying a home, try to find a general contractor to go through the house with you being present if at all possible. Otherwise, you'll likely find problems later on, which the 'inspector' didn't bother to check. Their warranties are essentially useless too, as most go out of business, and form another LLC with another name.
@@d.e.b.b5788 Inspector’s don’t offer warranties. Inspector’s are doing their job recommending further evaluation. They are telling you what’s wrong and telling you the proper professional to have repair it. Inspections are a snapshot of the home at the time of inspection nothing more. Having a general contractor inspect your home is a terrible idea, they make money off repairs not inspections. Either they will sell you repair work or charge for their inspection. Either way, they won’t be as thorough as me.
@@chrishall2594 So, basically, all you do is write, 'get further evaluations from qualified specialists in every area'. Useless.
@@d.e.b.b5788 What he’s saying is that the inspector can’t recommend how the repair is done, only what looks suspicious. As in all professions, you will occasionally find a bad apple. I’ve dealt with a variety, but the best I’ve found actually work for the city.
Was that grass growing in the attic at 2:45 ? You really need to turn off the clock on the stove.
There is probably a lot of things growing in the attic but don't think I saw any grass.
Wish I had this before buying my first home. Still a useful checklist to plan repairs. 👍🏿
Thanks Victor!
A big thing that I would look for as far as the electrical goes are Federal Pacific or Zinsco electrical panels, I have no issue with knob and tube in good shape, or a fuse panel in good shape, but Zinsco and Federal Pacific are both fires waiting to start, and if you then pair these already faulty panels with old or hacked up wiring then you are double stacking issues.
Hey Walter, thanks for the feedback 👍
The problem is that knob and tube systems were almost invariably installed and sized for a grand total of one outlet, one light fixture, and one light switch per room (maybe two outlets in a kitchen). If the house has anything more than that and still has active knob and tube, it's been hacked together.
@@burgundyyears I agree that this is the case most of the time, and that K&T was definitely not made for the needs of today. I have seen quite a few times around here where there are a bunch of smaller old farm houses and stuff like that, where they have the original K&T that HAS NOT been all hacked up, and has just been left alone and either new circuits run separately, or just little old farmer grandpa does not need more than one plug for his lamp and TV.
All of the small but serious electrical problems that you’re not allowed to see on an inspection behind cover plates etc. no wires nuts, hidden open splices, crispy wires, shared neutrals and surprise shocks. Same with not being able to take the chimney apart and look up or down and realize you’re going to have to reline it...
I had to open my breaker box to realize that whoever did the update for my panel just electric taped wires together to run the tiny distance longer to the breaker. Don't know how that passed the inspection (that was written on the panel)
@@Bremend grease the palms.
@@Bremend there could be a proper solder joint under the tape, that was an accepted joint in use in the past.
Hey you got some quick cardio there lol, where do that asbestos and lead paint go after it's removed mean a landfill an incinerator where they just discovered a dumpsite in the Pacific of DDT
I love DDT. It's delicious!
I assume all states might be like California regarding lead and asbestos disposal because it starts with Federal regulations. First, only certified remediation contractors allowed to remove and they have special dump sites. For California, there are legal dump sites close by in Arizona. Lead and asbestos removal is not a diy, or regular contractor job. Yea it can be very expensive.
@@stevelopez372 Big money price.
Go back, I want to see more of that PEX Manifold.
Hahaha, sorry the home is already gone. Just to note we did rewire the whole home.
Great as always!
Our first home we bought we waived inspection. BIG MISTAKE! Also I inspected the home with no electricity and no water because the home was vacant for a time. BIG MISTAKE! Please do not repeat my mistakes.
How is it going so far? I m in the process of buying one now but it scares me how expensive it could be to fix things around.
@@fernandomaldonado9373 What are you talking about?
I love the sound of you crawling on the plastic. It's like ASMR lol
More of this stuff please! 🙏 inspection and rehab estimates would me awesome.
Thanks for the feedback!
Considering bidding on a home built in 1880’s for back taxes, this video is making me pause. I think it has such potential, on a beautiful scenic paved country road, beautiful mature trees, one acre charming lot, but afraid the renovation could be a money pit. Is there any way to learn about a home sold as is with no walk throughs allowed before tax sale auction?
Great information. Subscribed.
Also does the city have records of when last hookups to city services?
This house has been connected to utilities the whole time. The boiler was just out of commission from a failed pipe.
Imagine bonding your 14/2 Romex to knob and tube… 3:15
Yeah gluck finding all this in today’s market… all this sounds great in video ..
Which happens first. Collapse or electric fire?
Thanks, great info. You should have so many more likes & subs. Much appreciated.
Great Video, once again.
Thx Melinda 👍
How do I remove critters from the walls in a house that's been vacant for awhile?
Get a powerful sound system and play the sounds of various loud screeching owls. That scares off the occasional ground squirrel in my crawl space.
Knob and tube can be a deal killer if you can't get insurance. S-traps are not allowed. That structure is terrible. There WILL be asbestos there as well as lead paint. The price better be really cheap.
Thanks for all the information! Looking at purchasing our first home :)
I like your video thx
we looking for investing buying house then rent it out
but we want affordable house price
but we want to know if is old house the maintenances would be more since it’s not new house or how does that maintenances work ? Thx
I really wish someone would set the clock on the stove.
😂
every time the ower goes out for more than a second, our clocks all default to 12:00. There's a clock on the: 1. microwave. 2. Stove. 3 wall clock above the sink in the kitchen. clocks on the dvrs. The list just goes on and on. I wear a watch so I leave setting all the clocks to the rest of the family.
Great points, thanks.
For the record....What licenses do you hold, if any? Do you need a license? What is the $$ limits someone can do without a License? What is your experience or background in the trades?
I don't hold any licenses and I’m just a DIYer that has also invested in properties over the past 10+ years.
I'm a software engineer but like Everyday Home Repairs, I taught myself to replace receptacles and switches, fix my own plumbing, repair drywall, fix my HVAC, and repair my brick walls. There is no law that says you must have a license or even work in any trade to work on your own home (at least in the SF Bay Area). This is pretty much all easy stuff that an average intelligence person can do themselves.
License requirements vary. In some areas plumbing or electrical have restrictions on what you can do yourself. For example, in St. Louis County, MO, you need a licensed electrician to obtain a building permit for a new breaker panel, or to run power to an outbuilding.
Thanks for this video!
My pleasure!
Copper pipe before 1988 used solder with lead. This is a problem, that’s why I don’t like old homes. The amount of repair needed in the home you’re looking to purchase, is too great for me to consider buying it. The repairs for just the electrical and the structure could easily be $20-30k. What about no air, another $30k. Windows, insulation, etc…….? Thanks Jim
Leaded solder is not a problem. Even lead pipes aren't really an issue except in special cases. Old houses have a lot of potential issues but that isn't one of them.
I've always heard that you're better avoiding 2br houses and going for 3 br or you could have issues selling when it's time to upgrade or otherwise move. It's always been from the same person. How in line are they with the actual market?
3 bed / 2 bath with a 2 car garage are usually the easiest to sell. If you buy right and know what you are doing you can make good money on 2 bed / 1 bath but the buyer pool will be smaller.
No one buys a one potty home?
@@seniorcomputer3292 That's for bedroom not bathroom
English no my natural language. I discovers not to long ago that latte and plaster could have asbestos. To be precise, it is in the cement between the latte and plaster. Attention it's not always in the cement, some plasterer would use it to make cement strong. I never thought this would be in cement. I knew all the other place that i could found asbestos, but cement...
Do you mean lath and plaster? Latte is coffee with milk. (No offense meant towards your English skills, you still speak it much better than I could speak any foreign language)
@@alexcat3121 None taken. Yes lath and plaster.
Surely it was the post WW2 miracle materiel used for thousands of products! Cheap and easy to mine by the ton lots, fireproof and durable, used like glass fibers are today in concrete tiles and boards for roof tiles and siding, flooring, insulation etc. I recall lots of it all over my school buildings both in Germany and USA, nothing but the best for our kids ya' know!🙄😉
Those under house supports. Goodness.
My house would be an inspection nightmare. Everything is outdated.
As a vintage fanatic if what your saying is true I would fall in love and marry your house
If you buy an old house, just assume you will have a bunch of outdated stuff and hamfisted DIY modifications that will need to be removed. At this point in my life, I wouldn't buy an old house unless I got a sweet deal and I had a bunch of extra money to gut it and fix everything. Even houses that look like they have been well cared for can have crazy crap going on behind the walls.
Good job.
What about aluminum wiring? That a concern?
5:40 that shark bite is definitely not installed properly, it's at an angle
You said the house has radiant heating. Even under the wood floors?
No, just old radiators.
Probably heard this already. Picture of the jack in crawl space is not a bottle jack. It is a very old cast iron screw jack designed for house jacking. A bottle jack might be preferable because it’s smaller size and lighter weight. Maybe you should be pointing out that your site is having a problem with water infiltration previous pictures of the block efflorescence and missing mortar. Then this problem is the ground underneath the home is sinking since it’s been jacked up over the years to try to resolve the problem.
This is handyman work because they don’t dig new footer’s and install new pier’s so they are being stupid and trying to fix it in a cheap way the screw jack and multiple types of blocks are evidence that this has been going on for years. Hire an engineer and a mason and get someone who can help you replace the foundation and waterproof the walls and regrade the slope of the site so water flows away from the house.
Knob and tube and circuit brakers are not a good mix. Fuses - while in convenient they break instantly.
:)...I've done some welding with K&T trying to short them out to figure out the breaker...:) Old house are a pain in the ass...My electrician charges 12 K to upgrade the service...
Buying any used home is endless work...
Excellent video.
Thanks!
Thank you.
knob and tube is most of the time required to be changed.
I know someone who bought a 1920s house. Insurance companies wouldn’t touch it until she replaced the knob and tube wiring.
Yes indeed, this is more common then you think. My in-laws went through the same thing with a major insurer. And they had been living in their home for ages. New electrical, water lines, sewer and some structural. Fortunately the City in Cali. That they lived in had programs for the elderly.
Those darn insurance companies can put you over a barrel.
Yeah, that amount of repairs could add up in a hurry especially in the expensive markets.
I just bought a 1922 house with knob and tube. I got insurance but it was difficult, the issue i faced though was it was in an area in Nor Cal that is currently having a lot of fires in the area. Had to go with a smaller insurance company because the big boys wouldn’t touch it.
Gaping drywall holes around your pipes are not an encouraging sign of craftsmanship.
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All good tips but I am of the opinion that the fear of lead based paint is very overblown. It seems that fear creates many industries of a questionable nature such as lead base paint determination and remediation. I would like to see statistical analysis of just how many men, women, and children have been affected by lead paint. I would much rather have my house covered in lead based paint than to have knob and tube electrical.
I agree on the lead paint. Lead keeps mold from growing here in FL. If the govt says it's bad, need to see who is paying for the study. Also lead paint shields us from electromagnetic waves. IE 4G, 5G. You just wonder was that the plan all along??