Free electrical rewiring for over 70's?

My parents have been told their house needs rewiring and the electrician said there was a scheme to have it done for free. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Also how dangerous is old wiring? My Father is currently refusing to even tak about it as it means ruining his decorating! The electrician said something about the type of wiring they have being illegal. My Father however insists it was rewired in the early 70's when the house was bought. Any help appreciated.
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  • My Mum had this done I think it was Warm front that arranged it(not sure)
    They did not make a mess they put the wiring behind plastic white casing and took all of her sockets up higher so that she does not have to bend down to use them. Tell your Dad not to worry and go ahead and get it done safety comes first.
  • If it was rewired in the early 70s it is 35 years old and probably due for renewal. I have a feeling this is about the lifespan of electrical wiring.

    Tell your dad not to worry about the decorating, he'd like it even less if they burnt in their beds.
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
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  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,116
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    Who was it that said it needed rewiring?

    Not a "free survey" by an electrical supplier was it?

    If if was, forget it, it was a salesman trying to get work & commision

    All wiring unless installed last week is likely to be "out of date" regarding current regs, earth points, gas bonding etc. The regs are not retrospective

    If it was rewired in the 70s it will be fine, there are thousand & thousands of houses around dating from the 1960s onwards, the danger of older wiring was it was rubber sheathed, which gradually perished over time, which was fine until it was disturbed in someway

    1960s onwards saw the introduction of plastic based materials, like you see today, these do not rot or perish but may become brittle with heat

    If you feel up to it, switch the electric off at the mains, unscrew a wall socket, and a light swithch, see what type of cable is used, if it plastic forget it
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • Thanks Farway, that's good for me to know too, because it was when we had our house re-wired in 1976 that we were told it lasted about 35 years by the electrician.

    However, we do have plastic coated wiring and my husband actually had occasion to look at it last year, and said it was fine (I'm afraid I didn't believe him, but kept my mouth shut and went round surreptitiously feeling sockets to see if they were getting hot - they weren't!).

    OP, just ignore what I said, Farway appears to have given sensible advice!
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
  • November2
    November2 Posts: 1,107
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    Hi, thanks for the replies. It was a man from the Electricity Board, he fitted a new elec meter recently and said the wiring was now illegal and needed replacing. I'll have to check if it's rubber or plastic, thanks for the advice. I've noticed the bathroom light keeps buzzing which made me worried after what he said about the danger of old wiring!!
  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,116
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    You could do quick check at the meter, if it is plastic wiring there it is fairly safe bet the whole lot is

    Regarding the illegal wiring, it may now be illegal to do it that way now, but it was not then, and as I said, the regs are not retrospective

    Buzzing bathroom light, is it a normal bulb or fluorescent?

    Fluorescents can buzz, nothing to worry about, oftern sign tube is on it's way out
    Normal bulbs should not buzz, could just be a terminal has worked loose over time & heat from the lamp, or possibly moisture in a damp bathroom

    Is the buzz from the light fitting or the switch?
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • November2
    November2 Posts: 1,107
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    Hi, thanks for your reply, sorry for the delay in replying. The bathroom light is a bulb and it buzzes now and again and the light dims, not sure if it comes from the light or the pull string fitting. Not had any other problems in any other rooms. The electricity meter was first replaced in the 80's which would be about 8 years after my Dad said the house was rewired, if it wasn't rewired in the 70's as he thinks it was wouldn't they have said something then about old wires as the house was built in the 30's. I'm guessing the recent 'meter fitter' was going on the basis that it was over 30 years since the rewiring.
  • I live in a bungalow which was built in 1932, I think it may have been rewired in the 1970s and I had it rewired in the mid-1990s. When I bought it in 1990 that was one of the things on the surveyor's list that became my 'to-do' list. Fortunately I get an annuity paid on this very day every year and mostly I have used it for home upgrading/improvements - rewiring was one. (This year it goes to help pay for the holiday we've just come back from, cost a lot but worth every penny!!)

    Our worst problem in this bungalow built 1932 was the asbestos-tiled roof, which we had replaced a couple of years ago. 'We' means DH and me, I was widowed in 1992 coincidental with redundancy, and now remarried, thank God!

    I have wondered a bit about the title of this thread. Why should it be assumed that someone over 70 should have 'free' rewiring? Shouldn't this be means-tested? Should it be assumed that all of us in this age-group are in dire financial need?
    [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Æ[/FONT]r ic wisdom funde, [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]æ[/FONT]r wear[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]ð[/FONT] ic eald.
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  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,116
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    November2 wrote: »
    Hi, thanks for your reply, sorry for the delay in replying. The bathroom light is a bulb and it buzzes now and again and the light dims, not sure if it comes from the light or the pull string fitting.

    It could just be the contacts on the bulb are worn down, or the contact springs in the bayonet fitting holding the bulb have lost some of their "springiness" over time

    Try replacing the bulb sometime and see it still happens
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • allydowd
    allydowd Posts: 4,911
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    Call Warm Front on 0800 316 2805 or go to their website:

    http://www.warmfront.co.uk/?icid=A069-51865924-107M
    Debt-free day: 8th May 2015 The Joy Account: £10 "Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck," Dalai Llama
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