Did you know household wiring comes in two colors? Pretty pretty copper and ugly ugly silver (aluminum), the latter a building fad of the 70's.
Guess what I have!
The weird thing is, not all of my wiring is aluminum. Some of it is copper. Perhaps it was added on later?
So how did I find this out, you ask? Well, my first clue was a note on my home inspection that some of the wiring was aluminum. Not a big loopy handwritten note that said "DEAR GOD THIS HOUSE HAS ALUMINUM WIRING!" but rather an "X" next to both the "Copper" and "Aluminum" boxes in the Wiring section. This in itself would have been a giant red flag to me had I known anything about wiring. But I didn't.
There are two schools of thought on aluminum wiring: 1) it is fine as long as it was properly installed and is properly maintained, or 2) it can spontaneous combust at any moment so run, run away!
My house has not burned down due to bad aluminum wiring for 36 years so it should not be a problem, except for the part where I am changing out all of my switches and outlets. The new switches clearly say DO NOT USE WITH ALUMINUM WIRING but I am going with the Lowe's guy's advice and just sticking a gob of anti-oxidant goop on the wire and the connecting screws before I tighten them up.
Pray for me.
I wonder how much it costs to rewire an entire house? I shall add that to my wish list, right below "brand new kitchen," "spa-like master bathroom," and "updated guest bathroom."
Ouch. I shall pray that you do not go up in a spontanious electrical fire any time soon.
It will probably be the Christmas Tree that does you in.
On the bright side, at least you'll go out on a festive note.
Posted by: JCW | September 10, 2007 at 12:07 AM
As a warning, insurance companies are getting really touchy about what they can call "required repairs." I consider it a way of trolling for extra cash in the wake of Katrina and other disasters that have empited the coffers they have so busily filled over the years.
What occurs is that they see something-- for example, when my friend replaces a two-foot square section of roofing that had been blown off by a storm-- and say, gee, let us force out client to pay big bucks to us! Then they say you aren't getting their insurance renewed until you do X. And then kindly offer you very EXPENSIVE coverage until you get X done.
After that (as they did to the same friend I just mentioned) they say, Gee, you need to to Y now, thereby forcing you to get another quarter of thousand ddollar homeowner's coverage.
And then (I kid you not, they did this) they say Now you must do Z and shell out another 2 grand for six months of coverage.
My friend had to replace the sill on her garage, replace her roof, and remove and old chimney and resupport an old addition to her house before she could get 'normal' insurance coverage. AND SHE HAD TO PAY MORE FOR THE INSURANCE THAN THE FIXES!
Posted by: writtenwyrdd | September 12, 2007 at 03:34 PM
What I forgot to mention during my tirade is that aluminum wires are such a trigger. As are knob and tube wiring.
Posted by: writtenwyrdd | September 12, 2007 at 03:35 PM
I have never heard of knob and tube wiring. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW. lalalalalalalalal - I can't hear you!
Posted by: GetSheila | September 12, 2007 at 04:36 PM