Electrical Safety in Older Fibro and Beach Cottages
<p>Umina Beach and the surrounding suburbs are full of character, and a good number of those character homes are original fibro and weatherboard cottages. They're lovely places to live, but the electrical systems in older homes weren't built for modern life, and decades of coastal weather don't help. A bit of awareness goes a long way toward keeping an older home safe.</p><h2>What ages in an older home</h2><p>The things that quietly age out of date include the wiring insulation (which can become brittle), the switchboard (often still on fuses with no safety switches), and outdoor fittings worn by salt air. Older homes also tend to have far fewer power points than we now need, which leads to overloaded adaptors. None of these are dramatic on a normal day, which is exactly why they're easy to overlook until they cause a problem.</p><h2>Signs worth acting on</h2><ul><li>A switchboard with ceramic fuses or no safety switches.</li><li>Power points that are warm, scorched or no longer hold a plug.</li><li>Lights that flicker or dim when appliances start.</li><li>Cloth or rubber-insulated cabling visible in the roof or subfloor.</li><li>Frequent tripping, or a burning smell near fittings or the board.</li></ul><h2>Making an older home safer</h2><p>The good news is that older homes can be brought up to a safe modern standard without losing their character. Often the priorities are a switchboard upgrade (which adds the safety switches that protect against shock), addressing any perished wiring, and adding enough power points to stop the reliance on adaptors. An electrical safety check is the sensible starting point, it tells you what's fine, what's a priority, and what can be planned over time.</p><p>If you've recently bought, or have lived in an older Umina cottage for years without ever having the electrics looked at, a safety check is one of the more worthwhile things you can arrange. We'll give you an honest picture.</p>
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