News and Press releases

Forget the new kitchen, sort that ancient wiring

28/01/2010

The old adage about the value of ‘repairing the roof while the sun shines’ relates not just to roofing but to piping, insulation, stonework, plasterwork and wiring as well. Ignoring these will, eventually, lead to a great deal of inconvenience at the very least; but it could literally bring the house down as well.

It is, of course, human nature to look upon a project like installing new kitchen units or bathroom suite, or laying parquet flooring, as rather more exciting than insulating the loft or updating wiring and fuses. Sadly, not for the first time have I come across households where new kitchen or bathroom equipment had to be literally torn out because the visually pleasing ‘upgrade’ was given preference over more essential renewal work behind walls or under floors.

Plumbing is by far the biggest single issue affecting households, although burst pipes are not so much due to a lack of proper maintenance but, rather, simply planning for cold weather. Thousands of householders seem to get caught out every winter yet burst pipes are not inevitable, even in the coldest temperatures. Most of those affected could have avoided angst by initiating a simple safety check to the property’s water and plumbing system just once every 12 months.

But at least owners generally have the freedom to act on their own in relation to plumbing. A roof can present a much greater problem, especially when it covers a communal tenement property where responsibility is split between a number of separate (and sometimes disparate) owners. If a roof repair becomes necessary there can be the added complication of securing every owner’s agreement to contribute to the cost. Should such an agreement fail to materialise, and the damage becomes a perceived threat to public safety, then the local council can order a statutory notice to have the repair carried out under their auspices – and the owners will be presented with the bill plus a handling charge of 15 per cent. This is one good reason why owners – and their factor – should maintain regular lines of communication with one another.

Recent regulation has led to tighter rules on property maintenance; these are basically for reasons of safety but regular checks do, by implication, help prevent other problems too. Gas boilers in all homes are now required by law to undergo an annual inspection, so can compulsory safety checks on electrical components and wiring be far behind? The wiring systems on many properties in Edinburgh’s New Town are still equipped with old-fashioned cartridge fuses, which really merit being replaced with the safer and more efficient RCD trip switches. The cost of this will vary from approximately £300 for a two-bedroom flat to £600 for a three-storey town house. This is a substantial outlay but if the prevention of fire is the result then it surely is a ‘no brainer’.

And if regular checks on electrical equipment become compulsory what of ceilings and other plasterwork? About 80 per cent of traditional tenements (which still make up a substantial proportion of Scotland’s housing stock) have lathe and plaster ceilings; these were very sound when first installed but many are now coming to the end of their natural lives. As a result, householders should never ignore cracks that appear in the ceiling of a traditional property – it’s a sure sign that large parts of plasterwork could fall down without warning, posing a potentially serious threat to life and limb.

Quite apart from the moral issue, skipping on maintenance is likely to be a false economy, especially in the present market where buyers can pick and choose and are, therefore, likely to have little time for a property whose owners have starved it of TLC.

Richard Gargaro is head of maintenance at D J Alexander, the Edinburgh- and Glasgow-based letting and estate agency.

THE SCOTSMAN, 28 January 2010

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