Quote:
Originally Posted by trip
Just want to say that's a pretty stand up thing to offer (not sure if you guys know each other)
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This offer stands for anyone in this thread who is buying a new place and wants some help with deficiencies, buy me a case of beer and if i'm available i'll come for your walk through.
I've done deficiency lists for approx 300+ townhomes and done about 25 home owner orientations with brand new home owners so ive got a decent handle on what to look for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallydrv
If buying a place over 30 years old. Can inspector check for asbestos and copper wiring etc?
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Asbestos is a tough one because as GLOW said, without samples you're kinda SOL, the cut-off for asbestos was 1994 but some containing materials were still used after that due to inventory etc.
I'm trained in both moderate and high risk asbestos abatement and ran a crew for my former company where we abated two 4500 sq ft houses where the drywall mud was containing as well as some floor tiles.
The problem with containing drywall is that if you dont have a proper vapour barrier behind the drywall, the insulation is also considered "containing"
If your job requires an abatement a good contractor would tell you this, however, a shady one may pop it on you after the fact and increase the cost.
To be perfectly honest doing the abatement of the two homes we did is probably the biggest regret of my working career because even though we did everything by the book and had proper equipment and procedures in place, I think quite a bit about the long term potential effects of any fibres i may have inhaled during that time, it could be a lot, it could be none. hard to tell. However, i think in terms of minor renovations and work within a home, its not as big of a deal as it's made out to be.
if you notice the commercial with the contractor from love it or list it who is talking about asbestos on behalf of WorkSafe, the fucking guy never once mentions the actual safety and well-being of the home owners. He just goes on about how its the responsibility of the home owners to ensure that asbestos is dealt with properly and the "workers are protected"
Fuck that.. you mean the workers who are going to be there for a week? how about the home owners who are going to have fibers kicking around their house for years..
Basically Worksafe doesnt want to be paying out any other settlements to workers.
In a minor reno however, its pretty easy to take down drywall, clean the space, and get work done without paying $5000 for an abatement of a 300sq ft room.
In terms of the Wiring, GLOW has a lot of good points as well, i think one of the main things with older wiring is whether it's grounded or not. You want to make sure you have an inspector that knows what they are looking at, because in my house for example, we kind of had a jumble of knob & tube and varying types of splices etc.
in some of the switches and outlets though, the mickey mouse electrician who brought the house up to the point where former owners could get insurance just grounded his plugs and outlets to the boxes, so on the surface it looks like they were grounded, but you have to know what youre looking at to know the difference.