So I am inheriting my grandmother's houseBuilt in 1972, has a pole barn style shop in the back that my grandfather built, house is mostly original. Appliances are from the 1970s lolNevertheless, what should I be mindful of in an early 70s house like this? Moderately good with tools
'72 is pretty modern. No fuses and no odd framing measurements. Mine was built in '72 - You might find that water heaters and fridges are no longer exactly the same size, but no big deal. I'd check the history of the roof and if it's over 15 years, inspect it.
>>2998362asbestos
>>2998376Possible but unlikely. It was well on the way out in most products by '72. There might also be lead paint but it would have been the first coat. It was banned in '78.Most of the 'issues' you will have will be things just being not as good as modern stuff but not terrible or dangerous. Modern insulation can be better, modern windows can be better, modern appliances can be better, etc. Not always of course. People buy cheap new shit and then are surprised it is worse than expensive old shit.As >>2998371 said, I would look at general maintenance stuff and shoddy repairs. Check the roof, the foundation, the pipes, the pointing on the brick walls, the condition of caulking and paint, that kind of shit. If you see any signs of a poor repair or upgrade you should dig into it. Check the attic insulation and make sure it was installed correctly and that a racoon didn't burrow into it or something. Same with the roof vents, if it has them.You could also have issues with the way they did things back in the day. A house I lived in had grounded outlets but the fucking dogshit electrician didn't connect the ground wire to the outlets, just to the box. Technically that isn't required because the screws that hold the outlet to the metal box provides ground but it is still lazy, incompetent bullshit you should look out for. Did someone later 'upgrade' some breakers to 20 amps because they kept tripping but left wiring that is only rated for 15 amps? Is the water heater strapped to the wall? What about elevated off the floor so it doesn't dump heat into the concrete? Drain pan? Does it drain to daylight? What about the relief valve? How old are the washing machine hoses? Do they have automatic shutoff valves if they burst? What about under the sinks? Did they waterproof the cabinet bottoms? Are they already rotting from old leaks? When was the last time the shut off valves were tested? More than once I have used a shutoff valve only to have it start leaking
>>2998371my house is '79 and it has fuses lmaono lead or asbestos though, and nice copper plumbing
>>2998362Tail end of asbestos Tail end of lead paintPossible aluminum wiringPrimetime for fire starter circuit breakers like zinsco or federal pacific
>>2998409>It was well on the way out in most products by '72.Peak US consumption of asbestos was in 1973.
>>2998455Ah fuck, you are right. I thought it was the 70s that they started phasing it out but it was the 80s. It seems the final bans rollout out in fucking 2024. Big Asbestos really had the regulators captured, eh?>>2998362OP, did your grandma die of mesothelioma?>>2998444Aluminum wiring! I forgot about that. I mean, as long as your electrician wasn't an alcoholic and did things right.. ah, who am I kidding. Move that to the top of the list of things to check. The best part is, do you know why they moved to aluminum wiring? I mean, it had been used safely outside of residential wiring for decades. Still is. What was the problem? The price of copper spiked and all of a sudden aluminum wire was cheaper than copper. So, to have more money to buy alcohol, electricians started using it for homes. The problem is you can't mix metals. Honestly, it is good practice for just about anything. If you have aluminum wire you have to have outlets and switches that are also aluminum. The problem is, these alkies would use old inventory of things with brass connectors. That is fine with copper but causes corrosion with aluminum. As the corrosion builds up resistance increases. More resistance means more heat and eventually you have a failure. Maybe even a fire. Even with the asbestos everywhere shit still burned down.
>>2998458
>>2998460Fun fact: About twice as many people died from the aftermath of breathing contaminated air as from the actual attacks and the buildings coming down.
>>2998474
>>2998460One tower got a complete asbestos treatment and the other only got a partial.The fully treated tower was almost completely evacuated when the partial tower collapsed.
I have a 72. The foundation is shit. No footing, just a wall on clay. The slab is 2.5-3" thick at best. Cast iron pipes are rotting out under the slab. Insufficient insulation in the attic. Rafters aren't supported as well as I'd like them to be, one is 3-4" away from a parallel wall that could be holding it up, I don't get why the wall was put in this spot, literally no reason.
