Professional Home Inspectors in Saint Louis, MO

Did you know that if your house was built between 1965 and 1975 and wired with aluminum wiring, it is 55 times more likely to have a house fire than houses built in the same period with copper wire? Homes built from 1965 to 1975 used a lot of aluminum wiring because this was the period when the Vietnam War was getting hot. Copper went sky-high in price mainly because copper is the main ingredient in brass casings, and we used many of them in that period. How do we identify aluminum wiring? The easiest way is to read the labeling on the vinyl cover; if the lettering is not visible, aluminum has a soft, silvery look compared to copper wire. You can tell the difference between aluminum wire and tinned copper wire because the tinned copper wire isn't quite as shiny and soft-looking as the aluminum wire. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is to look at the wrapping on the wire itself when it comes into the panel. If it is vinyl wrapping, it's 99.9% sure that you have aluminum. If It has a cloth-like wrapper, it is 99.9% sure you have tinned copper.