Asbestos found in house I'm buying as well as other problems

Noneforit999

If the consumer unit is 70 years old, the wiring is likely to be a similar age. An EICR is almost certainly going to advice you need a rewire so factor this in.

Wiring that old is likely on its last legs at the very least and chances are it needs so many remedial things done, the cost of getting them all fixed would be better spent on a rewire. 

An electrician may not be comfortable putting a new RCD protected board on 70 year old wiring. Parts of our house wiring are from the mid 60's and an EICR said they only just passed the 'Insulation resistance' test but there were some many other things which needed investigating (borrowed neutral from landing lights, a couple of spur off a spur, undersized electric shower cable) that he said its not worth bothering fixing them, the cost would outweigh just getting a rewire done.

Bigphil1474

OP, if it was me I'd advise the buyer that you aren't wanting a gas and electric inspection to see if they meet current standards but to identify what works need doing. As you say, if the electrics are that old, they wouldn't meet the standard anyway.

MobileSaver

Bigphil1474 said:

As you say, if the electrics are that old, they wouldn't meet the standard anyway.

For the avoidance of doubt, electrical standards were last updated in March 2022 so even electrics just two years old would probably not meet today's standard. 

Of course not meeting today's standard has little bearing on whether any particular wiring is unsafe or not...

Noneforit999

MobileSaver said:

Bigphil1474 said:

As you say, if the electrics are that old, they wouldn't meet the standard anyway.

For the avoidance of doubt, electrical standards were last updated in March 2022 so even electrics just two years old would probably not meet today's standard. 

Of course not meeting today's standard has little bearing on whether any particular wiring is unsafe or not...

Indeed, you have to strike a balance between what is unsafe and what actually need updating. I would be shocked if any electrician looked at a 70 year old consumer unit and wiring and didn't recommend a rewire though. 

An EICR will give codes which show what needs to be done as a safety thing vs what is recommended to bring it up to modern standards.

Even if the wiring passes the checks for the EICR (will be barely most likely) then its probably not going to have an Earth in the lighting circuits which means Class 2 fittings and switches only so this will be noted on the EICR and likely plenty of other things which don't meet modern regs but the safety aspect can be mitigated by fitting appropriate switches/lights. 

FreeBear

tinytunes said: We have requested gas and electric safety certificates and are prepared to pay for them but the vendor has refused and said "due to the age of the house the gas and electrics will not comply to safety regulations".

I viewed a house last week, and it is the first time I have seen screw-in fuse holders - It was probably installed before the war (Boer War ??). Old round bakelite light switches also hinted at vintage wiring. Immediately budgeted for a rewire in the back of my mind. Wouldn't have dreamed of asking the vendor to pay for an ECIR as it was clearly not up to any standard in this century.

tinytunes

Asbestos survey revealed asbestos in the soffits, in floor tiles under the kitchen laminate flooring as well as the board the fuse box sits on. We will get the full report when the tests on the asbestos are complete. 
We have contacted an electrician who is going to give us a quote for the work required. 

jonnydeppiwish!

Op, a lot of houses built before the 90s will have asbestos in the ceilings/shed or garage roofs, soffits etc. it’s normal and doesn’t mean you need to replace them.

gas and electrical safety certificates mean nothing - rewire if you want to and have an electric hob. The gas pipe I now have in the house is 3m long and feeds the boiler.

Seriously, these are none issues

Noneforit999

tinytunes said:

Asbestos survey revealed asbestos in the soffits, in floor tiles under the kitchen laminate flooring as well as the board the fuse box sits on. We will get the full report when the tests on the asbestos are complete. 
We have contacted an electrician who is going to give us a quote for the work required. 

Common places for asbestos in older houses, certainly not unusual. There could be a number of other places asbestos exists too like in artex on ceilings, many people simply skim over these so you would not know it was even there unless you scraped off the plaster skim and took a sample of the artex underneath.

It sounds like the consumer unit needs to be upgraded regardless so the asbestos there will need to be dealt with but unless you plan to disturb the soffits or floor tiles, you could just leave them in place as they have been for 50+ years without issue but depends on what sort of risk level you are prepared to take.

We had artex ceilings in every room, we just skimmed over them. The internal garage ceiling could be asbestos plasterboard, I am not sure but was common back when the garage was built. The outside garage ceiling is almost certainly asbestos sheets, its mid 60s and visually it looks like asbestos. We have the 9x9 marley tiles all downstairs which also often contain asbestos but we just screeded over them and on top went Amtico. 

I don't plan to drill into any of these things and when the time comes to replace the ceilings, I will get it done properly. 

Ozzig

It is a wonder material, used to be used in toilet seats and cigarette filters. 
If it weren't for the killing people part it would be perfect.