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Re-wiring House

cwest on 2002-07-10T13:51:56

I bought my house in January and I know what the first project needs to be. This is an old house, by the way.

Project number one: Sealing the basement.

That's not so much fun, I know, but it leads to the next thing on my ajenda.

Project number two: Re-wiring the house.

This is the fun part. Well, mostly. Right now I have four power boxes in my basement. One of them is still the old fuse box. I need to get one box in my house. I also get to rewire the cable and phone. I *also* get to put in a wired network (House Of The 21st Century(tm)).

So I'm looking for bulk deals right now and I haven't really come up with any. I don't know enough about where to buy network stuff, phone and cable stuff, and power stuff all at warehouse prices.

I figure I can buy a little here and a little there and then I'll have everything I need.

Slashdot

2shortplanks on 2002-07-10T14:11:19

There have been a few articles on Slashdot about this. If this is useful advice or not is another question  ;-)

Old? Old?

pdcawley on 2002-07-10T14:13:51

Listen mate, a house isn't old unless it was built before the Civil War. The English Civil War. Which means the house I'm currently living is doesn't really count as old; the oldest bit of dateable timber in it dates from around the mid/late 17th century.

Bah! Damned colonials! Mutter, mutter. Grump, grmpfh.

Old world thinking vs. new world thinking

jmm on 2002-07-10T14:32:25

A North American thinks a hundred years is a long time.

A European thinks a hundred kilometers is a long distance.

Re:Old? Old?

pudge on 2002-07-10T15:39:29

Some houses in the town I grew up in date to the 17th century, but then again, the founder of my town was actually on the Mayflower.

Re:Old? Old?

jdporter on 2002-07-10T16:11:20

I think by "old" he meant "not new".

What is new? Would you say of your own house, "it's fairly new, only about 250 years old"?

And years aren't much of a measure, because so much depends on how the house was built, and what it's been through. If the timbers are rotting and the field-stone foundation is crumbling, the house is old, in any practical sense.

Re:Old? Old?

pdcawley on 2002-07-10T19:22:52

It depends on context really. Compared to most UK housing stock, it's old. Compared to the town end of our street, it's older than most and younger than a few (the oldest on the street goes back to the 15th century). It rather depends on how old it actually is; the dated timber supports a floor that looks like it might have been inserted some time after the house was originally built.

sealing the basement

jdporter on 2002-07-10T16:29:15

Sealing a basement on the inside wall is generally a bad idea. It's cheap, and it hides the problem. (Hmmm, I think that's enough reason to call it a bad idea!)

Why is it so bad? Because it still allows water to enter the foundation wall -- and then holds it there. And that is what causes damage to the wall. It's far better to allow moisture to flow through the wall, than to let it seep in but not out.

So you might be able to do what I did (my "old house" is about 50 years old), namely, have a french drain and sump installed. Holes were drilled to let water flow through. This relieves the hydrostatic pressure and decreases the rate of flow through the porous material and cracks.

Or you could seal the wall on the outside. This can be very expensive, since it means excavating around the foundation all the way down to the footers. Also, it can be bad if the hydrostatic pressure outside is very high, since that greatly increases the risk of the wall bulging and ultimately failing.