Asbestos and Electrics :( - FTB

JohnOfLeeds

Hi money saving friends

I am looking for opinions please.

I am a FTB and love the house I have chosen and am currently going full steam ahead with the purchase.

I just got the Homebuyers survey back (Colleys Surveyors) and it states "There may be asbestos in the Artex on the ceilings" and "The electrical installatiopn gives cause for concern and we reccomend an electrician inspects."

What does this mean? Is this butt covering or a serious issue? I am especcially bothered by the Eletrics part.

Tell me it will all be ok.. :T+
The house is a wimpey style house built around 1970, anyone know what the wiring etc in these is like? It seemed in good nick to me.

Thanks in anticipation

JohnOfLeeds

Apologies for my terrible spelling above

Niv

RE: the asbestos, it says that becasue the house is a 1970's house and asbestos was used in some artex in that time period. The risk is mega low and if it is in good condition and you dont drill it the risk is zero.

Niv

WestonDave

Its possible that if the artex was original with the house then it might contain a small amount of asbestos - albeit of the least dangerous white variety. If its not disturbed its not a problem - if you decide to remove it you can get it tested, but often people just skim over it with new plaster to avoid dealing with it. Its not really a big issue - I've got an asbestos sheet garage roof - same warning on the survey - just means care needed if you start working on it.

1970's wiring is not going to be up to todays standards but is not necessarily a big problem. What you may find is that the fuse board is old cartridge fuses rather than micro trip switches, there are limited numbers of sockets, and the earthing (particularly in the lighting circuit) may be below standard. Plus some wear issues. £50 to £100 when you move in will get you a full inspection report from an electrician with a list of work that needs doing and work that might be nice to do - to be fair its probably safe to assume it might need a rewire but there are plenty of houses around with 1970's wiring in that are not about to burst into flames.

Too_Hairy_Husky

IMHO... Home Buyers Surveys are a liability in themselves!!! I was there when our old house was "surveyed" and it took 20 minutes. 15 minutes of him drinking my coffee and 5 minutes of looking at the house. He pointed out a "loft conversion" that was original to the house and caused four weeks delay in our sale... what I'm trying to say is, it is their job to point out stuff that they have not been paid to look at properly. I would say that both factors are detarmined PURELY on the age of the house - any pre 1980s property MAY have asbestos and any house that has not been rewired for 40 years will not be up to today's standard!!!

I wish you well!!!!

tim123456789

JohnOfLeeds wrote: »

Hi money saving friends

I am looking for opinions please.

I am a FTB and love the house I have chosen and am currently going full steam ahead with the purchase.

I just got the Homebuyers survey back (Colleys Surveyors) and it states "There may be asbestos in the Artex on the ceilings" and "The electrical installatiopn gives cause for concern and we reccomend an electrician inspects."

What does this mean? Is this butt covering or a serious issue? I am especcially bothered by the Eletrics part.

Tell me it will all be ok.. :T+
The house is a wimpey style house built around 1970, anyone know what the wiring etc in these is like? It seemed in good nick to me.

Thanks in anticipation

It seems very hard to believe that there is anything wrong with the wiring in a 1970s built house unless the current owner has hacked in some modifications.

It won't, of course, have an RCD and it might not have earthed lighting, earthed faceplates or even an MCB fuse box. And there definitely won't be enough plugs in each room as designed.

But there's nothing inherently wrong with any of that.

Though if the current owner has installed extra plug circuits (even if professionally done) it could be that the installed rings are now overloaded and need to be split.

JohnOfLeeds

Thanks for your view guys. I have booked an electrician to view it tomorrow so will await his outcome. I really hope it doesnt need rewiring.

Wish me luck!

ValHaller

WestonDave wrote: »

1970's wiring is not going to be up to todays standards but is not necessarily a big problem. What you may find is that the fuse board is old cartridge fuses rather than micro trip switches, there are limited numbers of sockets, and the earthing (particularly in the lighting circuit) may be below standard.

Cartridge fuses, which are disposable ceramic tubes with metal end caps like a plug fuse, are fine - in some respects they are better than MCB's. The thing to be concerned about is rewireable fuses which you rewire with fuse wire. Unfortunately, people seem to be very hazy about the distinction between rewireable fuses and cartridge fuses

googler

I sold a 1971 Wimpey when dealing with parents' estate a year or so ago.

The wiring was grey-sheathed twin & earth of exactly the same style as I see on a regular basis on the shelves of B&Q. The fact that it's 1970s wiring does not, of itself, make it faulty or dangerous.

The fuse box was exactly that - ceramic-block cartridge fuses. It was in good condition, hadn't been abused, and again - the mere fact of it being dated does not render it faulty or dangerous.

I'd be asking the surveyor to specify exactly WHAT 'concerns' him.

JohnOfLeeds

Thanks for your replies.

Does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to rewire a 3 bed house?

TY

Slinky

No idea but I'm sitting here in a 1970s house with original wiring and not losing any sleep over it. Certainly not planning to rip it all out and start again. We had an extension about 5 years ago, the fuse box was upgraded then and the sparky checked things out. He didn't seem particularly bothered about it, certainly signed it all off as being safe, and I'm sure he would have said if it was a problem seeing that he lives a few doors away down the same street in the same sort of house

Probably nothing to worry about.