just bought a new house - how do i know if my house electrics need rewiring?

Question

Rather not pay for an electrician unless I know it needs doing.

Thanks for all the comments, where do I start... New in this case means new to me.
Built at turn of century, had many updates since then though. Had valuation report and homebuyers report neither survey mentioned anything.
Estate agents/realtors - lets not go there, I have a 3 year old nephew that is more helpful, more competant and less sarcastic, no regulation in UK means they are 'mostly' cowboys - apologies if there is actually a good estate agent reading (I think a good estate agent is an urban myth though). Have had a few quotes for electricians to attend to check over all seem fairly high. Thought there might be an easy way to check if there is a high likely hood eg twisted wire showing (there is none). Will check fuses/circuit breakers this evening, light sockets all seem to have earth cabling, not seen any old wiring. Nothing to suggest it needs rewiring other than a nagging suspicion hence reluctance to call in electrician.

Answer 1

Go to Home Depot or Lowes and ask an employee where the Romex is. When you find, note what it looks like and the different gauges. Then if you have an unfinished basement, look at the wiring and see if it compares to Romex. If it has the braided cloth type wiring, you might need to have it replaced. This site has good info on how to tell: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/10327.shtml

Answer 2

Hopefully, since this is a new purchase of an existing home, you had a home inspection done. Most mortgage companies require an independent 3rd party inspect the home. These inspections should have validated the home's electrical system. My inspector check all the breaker panels, tested all the lights, had a little device that he plugged into the outlet's to test their connection and reviewed the outside connections.

If you did not have a home inspection, then I highly suggest you get a certified electrian to come out and inspect the home. Possibly even get two if the first one says a lot of work has to be done in make sure your not being 'conned'. If you do get a second inspection, don't tell him/her anything about the first inspection. Then compare the two and see how accurate they are.

Now... if you did have a home inspection, you should have received a document either from the inspector directly or with your closing papers. This document should outline everything that was inspected. If you do not have the document or it only has 'Pass or Fail' then I suggest you contact the inspector and ask for the full report. They should provide this at no additional cost as you paid for this inspection either prior to or at closing.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Presuming you had a survey or even a basic valuation done before you bought the property the surveyor would normally recommend an electrical inspection by a qualified electrician if he suspected the wiring was in any way suspect. If his report didn't make this recommendation then that tells you something.

Is there any sign of a fault in the installation? Is there any of the old style twisted wiring visible? If so get it checked.

Answer 4

Since you mention estate agents I wonder if you are in the UK. In US would generally be referred to as real estate agents or realtors. If for some reason you managed to purchase a home without a general inspection then it would be worth it to have one done now. In Arkansas and Texas where I have lived in the U.S. there are "Licensed Home Inspectors" Probably in most other places they have the same things. These agents can give you a good idea of the condition of your electrical wiring and since they are not in the business of repairing it themselves you should be able to trust their evaluation. If you need electrical help, best to finid out sooner than later when it could cause a fire, damage to property or worse. Look through your closing papers for any kind of inspection that you may have had. There may be someone who can already give you that information. Look for a good electrician if you need work done. Ask friends for recommendations, or ask a company you select for references. If they do good work they will have them and be glad to pass them along to you. Better safe than sorry. I envy you the old house. Love them.

Answer 5

Certainly some silly, but valid answers here.

With NO detail at all I suspect no real answers that strictly relate will be forthcoming.

NEW suggests just that, and since you didn't say NEW to ME. we can't know it's age or it's condition.

You also don't state the process you went through inbuying the house, and most states I'm aware of, to get a loan a house should be inspected before a sale. Certainly if you bought a house you should have a Real Estate Attorney on your side. Without question,,, the saying Buyer Beware applies,,,even to housing.

I've owned a few houses in my day, even old houses, and have yet to find one that needed total re-wiring.

Steven Wolf

Answer 6

if your in the UK then you must have switches on all sockets and a modern consumer unit (fuse box)with separate switches for lights ,sockets etc.Also if you have a modern system it will trip off(automatically cut off the electricity) if a light bulb goes or you use a faulty appliance.But an electrician shouldn't charge you just to check if it needs a rewire and really you should have had a survey done before the purchase that would have mentioned any worries regarding the electrics in the report,you could then have knocked the cost of any work off the asking price of the house.

Answer 7

You should be able to plug a lamp into an outlet and start a hair dryer on the same outlet without the light dimming too much.  If the light dims too much or the breaker or fuse blows, you've got wiring or power-center problems respectively.

You should also get an outlet tester.  This is a gadget built into a plug with three lights on it.  The outlet tester will show if an outlet is dead or mis-wired.  If it's mis-wired, it will need fixing.

And of course, every switch and outlet should be secure in the wall and all outlets should hold plugs firmly.  Anything that's loose should be tightened, and loose outlets should be replaced.

Answer 8

Well, are you having any problems? Are you tripping breakers or blowing fuses in your main panel?

You may be able to find a home inspector in your area willing to do an "electrical only" inspection pretty cheap, but if you didn't do it, have one go through the entire house.

I could list things to look for like old wiring and such, but if your not familiar with electricity, it's best to get some one in to look at it.

Answer 9

You should have had a Home Inspector go through the house prior to the settlement. They should have looked at that for you. I do recommend that if your wiring is aluminum you get a qualified electrician to cold weld your wires to copper connections. I know of two house that caught fire due to having aluminum wiring connected to copper wired fixtures/appliances. The two metals corrode over time. You can buy special caps, but that is a short term fix.

Answer 10

whole house inspection should of listed problems do you have fuses ,if so upgrade to breakers if you have fuses then its an old house
wiring made need looked at (might have knob and tube) is there gas appliances if no gas and you have fuses then you need 200 amp . to find out if you need upgrade turn everything on see if you overload any thing (trip breakers or blow fuses) go in attic and basement if you have one examine wire pay the service call and have electrician come and do inspection runs about 50.00