Here's a fun one. For a house built in the mid seventies in Cape Town no sign of an earth spike (or associated cables) can be found.

Now it's possible that it was removed or covered over during subsequent additions, alternatively it was never installed.

Has anyone come across anything like this? E.g. was it a common practice to not add earth spikes in those days? Or is removing them common place?

I know those questions call for speculation so I'll provide some alternative questions for those who prefer not to speculate:

Have standards with regards to providing an earth to a property changed since the mid seventies?

Are there any acceptable (read: code compliant and effective) alternatives to using an earth spike?


And yes I find this sort of thing fascinating.