And old remodeled homes. If the home has been remodeled ask for all documentation of hazards materials removed. If no documentation exist move on to a different house.
Got your eye on that lovely two-story Victorian in Charleston? A lakeside arts and crafts cottage in the Wisconsin Dells? That antebellum Greek revival in New Orleans?
Brace yourself. That old house can come with plenty of old problems, from asbestos in the attic to radon in the basement.
Such concerns don't necessarily mean you must give up your dream of buying a piece of the past. But you do need to bring along a knowledgeable architect or design-build remodeling contractor to scout out hazards common in older homes.
And keep your checkbook handy.
"When you're buying an old house, it's not so much a matter of what you end up putting back into it. It's the realization that you've bought old housing stock and it does need to be maintained to keep your investment up," says David Tyson, a design-build professional in Charlotte, N.C. "If you spend your dollars right and do it well, it will hold or increase its value."
Tyson and Dennis Gehman of Gehman Custom Builders in Harleysville, Pa., have each renovated their own vintage homes. Here are eight hazards they say typically await older-home buyers, along with ways to deal with them and ballpark estimates of what it'll cost to correct them.
Radon
Radon is a naturally occurring gas that has been identified as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. It usually enters the home through cracks in the foundation.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that one in 15 homes in the United States has a high level of radon. Real estate agents, contractors and home inspectors can help you test for radon before you buy.
"Options might be as simple as sealing the basement floor and installing ventilation or as costly as tearing up the floor and pipes and redoing it," says Gehman.
The costs to deal with radon range from $400 to $500 if you only seal the basement floor; $1,000 to seal and install a vent pipe up the exterior of the house; or as much as $5,000 to $6,000 for a new foundation and plumbing.
Cracked foundation
In addition to admitting radon, a cracked foundation left unaddressed can be a prescription for disaster. Common foundation materials used back then, such as cement and cinder blocks, crack and leak over time, especially if they weren't sealed on the exterior side, which also was common in those days. Water seepage can lead to both structural threats (rot and termites) and health issues (mold and mildew).
"There are numerous sealants that can be applied on the inside of the block, but if there is a lot of hydrostatic pressure from the outside, it can just peel it off. Then you would need to do some sort of an interior drain on the inside of the foundation walls and pipe that into a sump pump pit and discharge it," says Gehman.
An easy external tip: Make sure downspouts are draining water away from the foundation. Raised beds and extended runoffs might save you thousands in foundation repairs.
The cost for foundation repair runs from $1,000 for interior sealant to 10 times than for sealant and drain work.
Lead pipes
Even after lead pipes were replaced in the late 1940s, the earliest galvanized steel pipes still contained lead until it was changed over to zinc. Lead also was present in much of the solder used to join copper pipes as recently as the mid-1980s.
The easiest way to take care of lead in water pipes is with a filtration system. A kitchen system would run $500; a whole house system around $2,000.
It could cost upwards of $5,000 to replace all pipes in the house depending on how much of the structure has to be destroyed to get the old pipes out.
Lead-based paint
Lead-based paint is a tricky issue in a vintage home. In its solid form, whether on interior or exterior surfaces, it is not harmful unless ingested, such as by an infant chewing a sill. In all likelihood, the interior paint has already been painted over several times and is well encapsulated in a Latex-based product.
But when it peels or flakes off of exterior siding, particles can become airborne or drop into soil where children or pets might ingest them or they could contaminate a vegetable garden. As a result, contractors typically prefer to remove exterior siding altogether rather than sandblast or attempt to strip layers of paint that could contain lead.
To remove and replace siding, get ready to shell out between $12,000 and $15,000.
Asbestos
This household hazard was most commonly used to insulate furnaces and boilers, as well as the water pipes leading to radiators. It also was commonly used in vinyl floor coverings, a cement-and-fiber siding called transite, and in a similar composite roofing material.
The health threat (asbestosis) comes primarily from the softer "friable" form found in insulation; when you touch it with your finger, it sends up a small puff of toxic dust. Remodelers won't, and legally can't, touch the stuff without a permit.
"Some of it is still safe and some of it isn't," says Tyson. "Anytime you see a white cloth covering ductwork, you've got to assume that that's asbestos, and you need to bring in a licensed professional to remove it."
Interior repairs generally will run you between $500 and $1,000. The exact cost depends on the type and extent of the work required:
•$8 to $16 per linear foot for pipes and ductwork;
•$7 to $14 a square foot for wall and ceiling plaster; and
•$1 to $3 per square foot for floor covering.
The rule on exterior asbestos is let it be.
"It's a good insulator and moisture barrier, and because it's non-friable, chances of an asbestos particle flying free are pretty slim," says Gehman. "If it's in good shape, just leave it there."
If you must redo the outside because of exposed asbestos, the cost will be $12,000 to $15,000 to remove and replace siding.
Asbestos
Until the late 1970’s, more than 3,000 products containing asbestos were commonly used in house construction, including materials for furnace duct insulation, deck undersheeting, and roof and wall insulation. So if your home was built before then, chances are you may stir up a little asbestos if doing a renovation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Asbestos in Your Home”, asbestos in good condition should be left alone. However, if you find asbestos that is crumbling or fraying, it poses a health risk. Worst-case scenarios of asbestos exposure include respiratory illness, including lung cancer. If you think you have asbestos issues, it can be easily disposed of – simply contact a local professional and have it taken care of before moving ahead with your renovation.
By taking a look around your home prior to a major renovation, you’ll be able to spot (or smell) a few potential health hazards that may slow down a costly home renovation. If you’re unsure, ask your Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate sales associate for a referral on how best to handle your specific circumstance.
Grounded outlets
Electrical wiring in older homes differs from modern wiring in several respects.
The electrical box of yore was typically 60 or 100 amps. Today's standard is 200 amps.
Wiring was typically not grounded. You have a visual clue here: two prongs on the outlets instead of three.
And parts of the older home where water is available (bathrooms and kitchen) were not fitted with a ground fault interrupter (GFI) circuit or outlet, which cuts off power immediately if an appliance comes in contact with water. Today, GFI also is required in at least one outlet in the garage because of the potential for water from vehicles and weather.
Rewiring your old house can be done room by room or all at once. In homes where behind-the-wall wiring is not practical, a good alternative may be concealing the new wiring behind the baseboards.
A single GFI outlet can cost as little as $75. The cost to rewire a kitchen so every appliance has its own circuit runs from $750 to $1,500. And if you have to rewire the entire house, expect to spend from $7,000 to $10,000.
Oil tanks
This was a common heating fuel source for many older homes. Most states require contractors to obtain a special environmental permit before removing buried heating oil tanks. Samples must be taken from the soil around the tank to assess contamination.
Disposal guidelines vary. In Pennsylvania, Gehman says tanks are usually taken to a scrap metal yard where an acetylene torch is used to cut the tank in half, thereby igniting (and burning off) any remaining oil, while in North Carolina, tanks must be taken to a tank farm. Filling tanks with sand or rock may be an alternative.
If your old fuel oil tank didn't leak, it will cost around $2,500 to dispose of it.
Wells, cesspools and septic tanks
Many vintage properties long ago converted to public sewer systems, leaving unused wells, cesspools and septic tanks on the property.
When a remodeling contractor unearths one of these surprises, the solutions vary, from draining the contents to filling it in some manner. If building is planned over the area, an old septic tank may have to be removed.
It costs around $1,200 to $1,500 to fill a septic tank, $2,000 to remove it.
Regardless of the type of hidden hazard that might lurk within "This Old House," don't count on your remodeling contractor to pick up the cost of fixing surprise problems.
"We actually have a clause in our contract called concealed conditions," says Tyson. "While I can do inspections all over the place and crawl in the attic and underneath the house, I don't have X-ray vision. No contractor does."
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