Vancouver, a world-renowned livable city, attracts countless people to settle down and buy houses. Since the supply of new houses is still too small, second-hand houses still occupy a monopoly position in the housing market in Vancouver. If second-hand houses are in China, many of them are demolished after about 30 years. Although it is a bit wasteful, there are no annoying historical problems. But in Vancouver, houses can easily stand for 50 or 60 years, and the changing building standards, specifications, building materials, and designs are also mixed in, which makes buyers who don’t know the reason confused. In the history of Vancouver’s houses, basically every period of construction has its own problems. Even many insiders may not be able to explain it clearly. How can buyers know?
Today I will give you a brief introduction to the housing defects in Vancouver since 1950. I hope you will keep these in mind when you are looking at or buying a house.
Before 1950 :
Knob & Tube wiring: This wiring is the predecessor of modern wiring technology. It was used in Vancouver until after 1940, from the 19th century to the 1940s. It is not that it has any defects, but the layout of this wiring caused a waste of wire materials, and the wire materials used at that time did not meet the current fire protection standards, which could easily cause fires. Basically, if the houses of this period are up to date, 90% have upgraded the wiring. If you are unlucky enough to encounter it in the market, the bank will not lend money and the insurance company will not insure it before the upgrade is completed.
Lead paint indoors: Early paints all contained lead, which is a known neurotoxic element, especially for growing children, and can cause a series of developmental and intellectual problems. What’s more frightening is that lead paint has basically been covered by subsequent paint. Therefore, when decorating a house from this period, you must be aware of the situation before dismantling or sanding the walls.
1950 – 1960:
60AMP: 60-amp wires are basically not enough for modern home life, and in the early 60-amp electrical configuration, fuses were used instead of circuit breakers, and there was no grounding line. Therefore, if it is a 60-amp power distribution, Eric Tongran (WeChat/QQ: 219026) must be upgraded to more than 100 amps according to modern electrical standards.
Galvanized steel water supply pipes : Before the 1960s, most houses used galvanized steel water supply pipes. After many years of use, zinc began to corrode the steel pipes, a large amount of sediment began to form inside the pipes, and lead compounds affected the water quality and caused low water pressure.
No insulation layer on the exterior wall : No insulation layer on the exterior wall causes energy waste, low room temperature, and severe condensation, which corrodes the wall
1960 – 1970:
Aluminum wire: Starting in 1964, aluminum wire began to replace the more expensive copper wire on a large scale. Because aluminum wire is soft, it is easy to cause gaps during wiring, increase impedance and generate a lot of heat, causing some house fires.
If you want to replace all aluminum wires, the average cost is about 10,000 yuan. Another cheaper solution is to replace the wiring places such as sockets, plugs, and panels with designs specifically for aluminum wires.
Now, the buyer or seller must provide a statement that the house does not have aluminum wiring. And all insurance companies will not cover 15/20 amp aluminum wiring in the house.
Asbestos: Asbestos has been used extensively in building materials for many years, including heating pipes, plaster, floor coverings, and even ceiling paint. Asbestos was banned in the 1970s, but because asbestos-containing materials were widely used in building materials, asbestos stock products may have been used until the mid-1980s.
There is scientific evidence that asbestos causes cancer, but don’t worry too much even if there is asbestos material. As long as you don’t interfere with it, such as demolition or renovation, asbestos fibers will not be released into the air automatically.
1970 -1980：
Abandoned oil tanks : Although the Vancouver City Government officially stated that houses before 1960 used oil tanks, many residential houses in other towns in Greater Vancouver did not have natural gas supply before 1980. Relatively remote places at that time, such as Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby, White Rock, and Delta, used fuel trucks to deliver oil to households for heating in winter. With the popularization of natural gas, many houses cut off the oil supply pipes and switched to natural gas pipelines, so the oil tanks and the remaining oil were abandoned underground. Over time, the metal materials of the oil tanks themselves corroded, and the oil leaked out, polluting the soil and even surface water. Therefore, legislation now stipulates that if waste gas oil tanks are found in the home, the homeowner must remove them at his own expense. The general size of household oil tanks is 1,000 liters, and many are buried underground. If the refueling pipes and vents are removed, even the home inspector cannot see them. Therefore, based on the construction year of the house, I generally recommend that customers hire a professional company to scan with instruments. I just learned recently that the inspection in Victoria is government-funded and free.
UFFI : It should be called urea formaldehyde foam insulation material in Chinese. The energy crisis in 1970 caused the replacement of thermal insulation materials. At that time, a large number of houses used this urea formaldehyde foam material on their exterior walls. It has a good thermal resistance value and was an economical thermal insulation material at that time. However, it releases formaldehyde gas during the mixing and curing process, causing many people to become ill. In addition, even after it is completely cured, it will continue to release formaldehyde when it encounters rain. In 1982, Canada banned the use of this material. Although it was later confirmed that the amount of formaldehyde released after curing would be very small, some experts said there was no need to worry, but safety issues are no small matter, and UFFI’s bad reputation has spread. Now, if there is UFFI in a house, the house will also be rejected by the insurance company.
Vermiculite: Although vermiculite has been used since the 1960s, it was widely used in the 1970s. It was once considered a revolutionary thermal insulation material. However, as people realized that vermiculite contained a large amount of asbestos fibers, which would be naturally released when the temperature rose, vermiculite was also listed as a defect at the same level as asbestos.
1980 -1990：
The solder used in copper pipes contains lead. It was not until the late 1980s that all solder used in the joints of copper pipes was completely lead-free.
1990 – 2000：
Leaky apartments: Since Vancouver adopted new building standards in 1987, until 1998, a large number of exterior walls were sealed tightly with new coatings on the surface. The idea is to prevent rainwater from penetrating into the wall surface. Unfortunately, if the doors and windows are not sealed tightly, or even the roof is not sealed well, water cannot get out once it enters, and accumulates inside and rots the wall. In fact, houses have the same problem, but due to the smaller cross-section, the problem is not as obvious as apartments. The cost of repairing leaky apartments is so high that the Vancouver Parliament has specially introduced a bill to allow owners to take out special loans, which shows how common the problem of leaky apartments is.
2000 -2010：
Kitec Pex Piping: This new type of water supply pipe was widely used in houses built between 1995 and 2007. Due to design defects, it broke at the joints of the pipe, causing water leakage. On November 29, 2011, a class action lawsuit was heard by the federal court. Finally, an agreement was reached that Kitec/IPex would pay a total of 125 million to homeowners who had installed this type of pipe and experienced failure, with the deadline being 2020. After that, depending on the remaining funds, the replacement costs could be paid to users who had installed this pipe but did not experience any failure.
After seeing so many defects, are you a little worried? The good news is that there are not many problems with houses built after 2010. Ha, just kidding. In the field of housing, 10 years is the most basic cornerstone of quality verification. Houses built after 2010 are not long enough to confirm whether there are any quality problems. However, if you choose a house built after 10 years, you can at least live in it for 5 years without worry 🙂
Finally, I hope everyone can buy a house that suits their needs.
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