We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
How long for a house rewire?
Options
Comments
-
Gemsgalore wrote: »I remember our surveyor mentioning that our house hadn't been rewired when we bought it 10 years ago. It was built around 1960 I think, can anyone tell me how long does wiring last as I am dreading having to do this!
I think they recommend getting the house rewired every twenty years, but to me this seems to be to often.
I think 2 men took 10 days here, large 3bed semi. And what a mess it was, you'll need to decorate right through where cables have been channelled inLiverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
What it may grow to in time, I know not what.
Daniel Defoe: 1725.
0 -
I think they recommend getting the house rewired every twenty years, but to me this seems to be to often.
I think 2 men took 10 days here, large 3bed semi. And what a mess it was, you'll need to decorate right through where cables have been channelled in
Honestly.....the wallpaper gets ripped as well as the carpets all being up etc?? OMG, my health isn't good so I certainly wouldn't be able to decorate or paint afterwards etc and can't afford to pay someone to decorate either. I didn't think it would damage my walls......can't have it done then as I'm not living in a mess afterwards
Thanks for reply Sam.0 -
Gemsgalore wrote: »Honestly.....the wallpaper gets ripped as well as the carpets all being up etc?? OMG, my health isn't good so I certainly wouldn't be able to decorate or paint afterwards etc and can't afford to pay someone to decorate either. I didn't think it would damage my walls......can't have it done then as I'm not living in a mess afterwards
Thanks for reply Sam.
If your wiring is 50 years old, it almost certainly will need re-wiring. However, if you decide not to, make sure your consumer unit is up to date and that you have at least one RCD to protect you and your property from shock and fire.0 -
Thanks Wayne, do you mean the electrical box in the house? It is a steel box with 4 fuses in it, there is no trip switch or anything like I had in my previous council flat. I should get that replaced then for one with a trip thingy on it then? Will phone round a couple from local paper then and see how much it costs. Thanks for reply0
-
Gemsgalore wrote: »Thanks Wayne, do you mean the electrical box in the house? It is a steel box with 4 fuses in it, there is no trip switch or anything like I had in my previous council flat. I should get that replaced then for one with a trip thingy on it then? Will phone round a couple from local paper then and see how much it costs. Thanks for reply
Yes, thats right, your fuse box. You've probably got one where you have to replace the wire in a fuse if it blows. Get a few quotes off local tradesmen, just make sure they are registered with one of the schemes (Elecsa, NICEIC etc.)0 -
Gemsgalore wrote: »I remember our surveyor mentioning that our house hadn't been rewired when we bought it 10 years ago. It was built around 1960 I think, can anyone tell me how long does wiring last as I am dreading having to do this!
I recently bought a 1960s house with original wiring. The issue seems to be that old insulation degrades, so I had an electrician friend look over it before buying (not a full inspection, but visual checks, pulling the fronts off light switches and sockets etc).
I had the consumer unit replaced with a 17th Edition one 2 days after moving in, which will hopefully prevent or mitigate any serious issues. Screwfix and others sell these, so you can get an idea of hardware costs.
This is probably the quickest and cheapest thing you can do to improve the safety of your wiring.
My friend also took care of some of the uglier bodges perpetrated by the previous owners and made sense of it all for me so I can do DIY (where legal).
I was a bit concerned that the RCD would just constantly trip and signal the need for a complete rewire, but I've been lucky!
I'm also lucky in that the entire house is dry lined and it looks likely that I'll be able to feed new wiring between the plasterboard and the wall when I get round to the rewire, but as others have mentioned you can go for surface mounted conduit if the idea of plaster dust and redecoration fills you with dread.5 year BOE + 2.49% capped tracker (cap 5.99%)
MFW 2012 #51 OP: £4,244/4,500 (94% complete)
MFW 2013 #51 OP: £5,126/5,000 (102.5% complete)
Mort. free with/without OP: 2023/2029
Quidco: £417 / Topcashback: £105 / £2 jar: £3200 -
Thanks Jay, now I'm worried about getting a new fusebox in case it hates the old wiring and keeps tripping like you mentioned. :eek:
Hmmmm, can someone please advise if this is likely to happen as thats all I need!!0 -
If you want to know for sure, you need to get your electrics tested before the fuseboard is changed - this is called a PIR (Periodic Inspection Report) and will take around a day to do properly. This will tell you if you have any underlying problems which would cause a new type of fuseboard to trip.
However, I think I can safely say that your house would not pass as it has no RCD (newer type of safety protection) to your ground floor sockets. There may of course be other problems.... But fingers crossed!
Fluff0 -
I am rewiring a older commercial premises this week.
The consumer unit was replaced with a modern dual RCD complete with additional RCBO's
2 circuits were not connected as they tested out poorly. The old circuits were reconnected to give tempoary power prior to the new stuff going in
When a consumer unit is changed testing is carried out. In this case the circuits were left out as there was rewiring to be donebaldly going on...0 -
This is a very useful thread for me too so thank you. I have offered on a property today (and had it accepted). The whole house is dated and I noted the wall sockets are not flush into the wall. As it needs a lot doing anyway in terms of modernising, I'm going to get the house re-wired.
I can't get decorating anyway until I've had the windows done so I might as well get the messy stuff out of the way at the same time.Mortgage free as of 10/02/2015. Every brick and blade of grass belongs to meeeee. :j0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.8K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.8K Life & Family
- 257.1K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards