Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

My DH and I finally found our dream home.. one problem. there is aluminum wiring.. we just had the inspection done this weekend and the inspector said the box was pig-tailed correctly, but was unsure if the rest of the outlets were done correctly. we are going to have an electrician come in to check it out.

ive been researching aluminum wiring and now im a little nervous-- would you buy a house with aluminum wiring (even if it was pigtailed)?

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

Only if I had money in reserve to change it in the near future which is a huge project.

Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

My DH said absolutely not.

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

I think you can't go by what the home inspector says. You must have an electrician come in and then evaluate.

I had an inspection the other week where a home inspector said that there was aluminum wiring in the electrical service, and a master electrician came in and said it was actually tin-covered copper, and therefore no problem. If my buyers had a knee jerk reaction based on the inspector (who actually made a mistake), they would've missed out on a great house.

Aluminum wiring was common in homes built in the 1950s/1960s, from my understanding -- and that's a lot of homes on Long Island. In all of the inspections I've been on, and there have been a lot, the inspectors say that if it's properly pigtailed with copper, then there's nothing to worry about. And no inspector is going to check every outlet, so they usually recommend that you have a qualified electrician come do a full electrical inspection. But I believe that while "pigtailing" the outlets is a safety necessity, it's not a huge cost, relatively speaking. And I believe that's the recommended fix for it. I've never heard anyone recommend re-wiring the whole house.

Of course, everyone has their own comfort zone, but I think aluminum wiring will be found in other houses you find, too, unless you are looking at much older homes, or newer construction. And the key is making sure that it's been taken care of so it's not an issue, or finding out what you would need to do to take care of it (and what the cost would be to do so, if it's not been done).

Home inspectors are generalists. They flag potential issues and then advise you to have a specialist come in for further investigation. So I would wait to see what the electrician says and make sure you fully understand what is going on before you decide.

Personally, I'd buy the house if the wiring has been pigtailed. Very common.

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

This has some extremely useful info, from the Consumer Protection Safety Committee

http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/118856/516.pdf

Pigtailing is a recommended solution, but only if done properly. According to this document, simple twist connections with wire nuts may actually cause more problems than not fixing it at all. All junction boxes, switches, dimmers, etc, must also be pigtailed properly.

Definitely get a qualified electrician to look at the wiring, but it's not an automatic dealbreaker.

Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

My house is pigtailed. We were a little worried at first, but my dad came to take a look at it and gave us the go-ahead. Everything is done correctly, so it's not an issue.

Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

I would have an experienced electrician come inspect the home. The big issue is you cannot tell what is within the walls unless you open them up.Personally, I would only consider buying the home if I knew I could upgrade the electric in the near future.

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

My house was built in 1971 and therefore had aluminum wiring (all copper was going to the war effort). We bought our house in the Aug 2005. It needed a lot of work, all original... in a hot market it was sitting for several months.

After the home inspection, we knew the dangers, knew it was over 30 years old (often when the arcing in the walls occurs) and negotiated with the sellers. I only wanted the house rewired. After speaking with several electricians I've known for years they told me, if it was their house, they'd rewire. The seller's agreed to give us back 80% of the cost at closing. We argued that it was a fire issue and our insurance company had a concern insuring the home.

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

Only if I was going to have the electric re-done before moving in.

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?

Our house has aluminum. Our inspector alerted us to the issue. We then had the seller pay for an electrical inspection. That revealed that not all outlets were pigtailed.

The seller gave us a credit towards the cost of the pigtailing which we then had done by our own electrician after we closed on the house. This way we were sure it was done correctly and fully.

Everything I've read and everything the electrician told us is that there is no cause for concern is everything is properly pigtailed. You do not need to rewire the entire house.

It's really up to what you feel comfortable with though.

Re: Would You Buy a House with Aluminum Wiring?