Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

Hello All:

This is my first post in this site. I'll try to keep my pest level down.

My son is thinking of buying a house in the next year or two. We were wondering if there is a construction date cutoff that makes sense. For example, I read that lead paint was banned in 1978. My house was built in 1959 and it's wiring and insulation are pretty lame by today's standards.

Anyone know where we can find info on the major milestones in building code changes.

Thanks,

AzDreamer

I wish it were that cut and dried. I've been in houses built ten years old that were already falling apart and built with cheap materials and shoddy workmanship, and I've been in beautifully updated and renovated houses that were 90+ years old...I will say that certain eras seem to have more solidly built than others...The 1980's are a decade with a lot of schlocky houses built.
And older houses, if nicely maintained and updated, have a whole lot of character, which newer homes don't.

I would be unlikely to consider a house built outside of 1950-1980. The years in-between were the sweet spot in construction standards IMO. An earlier-built house tends to need too much work or (if renovated) be too expensive. A later-built house tends to be wholly shoddily constructed. The quality of the 1990s house I sold pales in comparison to that of the 1950s/1960s house I'm renting now, including insulation it seems. I think houses from the 1950s/1960s era make the best use of space--no more formal dining rooms or foyers for me. Older houses also tend to be in the better locations.

I live in a 1956 rambler and it's pretty solid and well built. It does have some internal issues, like iffy wiring and a cracked foundation, but most of the things "wrong" with it were created by previous owners and their shoddy work.

Answer: it depends.

Advantages of newer houses include better energy efficiency such as 6" thick exterior walls, double-pane windows, and much better seismic design.

Disadvantages of many newer houses include PEX plumbing, use of chipboard (OSB) for wall and roof sheathing, spliced-together joists, lots of glue-impregnated wood products (so will off-gas more than earlier houses built using solid wood products).

My 1977-built house has 2x4" exterior walls with vertical cedar lap siding (so lots of cracks for exterior air to get into walls) and single-pane aluminum-frame windows. It leaks heat like crazy. My walls are basically sitting on the subfloor, so in an earthquake I expect everything from the walls up to jump up and come down a few feet away from the previous location. The sill plate is bolted to the foundation and that's it. The good thing is that it has copper supply plumbing (albeit with tin-lead solder).

I would agree with previous posters, no clear answer one way or another, best thing is to get a really good home inspector who knows what "quality" looks like (ie can distinguish if a house has good "bones" and mechanical systems installed).

I agree it's not so much the age but the era / construction quality.

In my experience of having rented a few different houses and from what I've seen in looking for a house 80's (especially later) should be avoided, 90's are hit and miss, and newer homes 00's + in seem to pretty well made homes. Early 60's may have good quality construction, but seem to me to be pretty boring designs and have lead-paint. In my opinion, houses built early 70's are the best in terms of overall quality of construction + unique and functional designs.

I'd avoid anthing pre-1960 mainly due to mechaincal / electrical / plumbing issues that are very likely to exist in some form (ie old oil furnace and/or underground tank, non-conforming outlets, faulty plumbing drainage etc).

What would be ballpark for updating plumbing and electrical? Is it like $100K or closer to $20K?

Markor,
Updating plumbing should be much closer to 20k than 100k. Depends on how many bathrooms, etc.the house has, and whether evrything needs to be replaced, whether you're including things like sinks/faucets/fixtures.

Twenty three years ago I bought a house and had a complete rewiring and replumbing done, using licensed plumbers and electricians. It cost something like 6000 dollars total then, and the house was big. Prices have increased quite a bit in 23 yrs, but I still think that doing it right now would not exceed 20-25 thou tops.

Thanks Ira. That'll be good to keep in mind.

in 2002 i bought a rambler built in 1951. the inspector i hired was very thorough. He noted the wiring (knob and tube) and plumbing (galvanized) were potential problems. but overall he pointed out that the house was built using very good materials (wooden beams of a size that are unobtainable in todays market) and was very well constructed. we bought the house.

we had a licensed electrician put in a new panel and run new wiring, so that each room had at least 2 new grounded outlets for computers and TVs. we also installed new light fixtures and wiring for those fixtures in each of the bedrooms, the living room, and the dining room. it was about $2800. we left the old wiring in place, for use solely for low power items like clocks and lamps.

in 2008, after a number of minor plumbing issues related to the galvanized pipes (rust in the lines plugging the faucets and shower heads), we had the old supply lines replaced with flexible plastic lines (made of a material that expands in cold weather, so it will never rupture due to frozen water lines). the old supply lines were left in place and capped off. we didnt hack into the walls to deal with the small amount of old lines servicing the tub and shower. no problem since. that job was done by a licensed plumber and cost $2500.

the house is 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, about 2000 square feet with a crawl space.

so i was able to deal with that issue for about $5000 over 6 years. the house in question is in tacoma.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. It seems that the age of a house isn't as important many other factors, so that's one less thing to worry about.