Buying house - rewiring query

izools

Hey all!

I have the opportunity to pick up a property at a very reasonable price (well below it's ceiling value).

It is cross-wall construction but interestingly, Countrywide surveyed another on the same terrace for Nationwide in January and put it down as "Standard" construction. Nevertheless, I already know of a couple of lenders happy to lend against that form of construction so no matter.

The property was built in 1965 and the interior is mostly original. Externally it has new uPVC double glazing and frontage throughout.

Inside it has the quintessential mid-60s decor and more frustratingly, mid-60s wiring.

Now it's not all doom and gloom as it appears to be PVC sheathed wiring throughout but it is very old PVC wiring. It is original - and most of the lighting pendants have the old "twisted" wire from the ceiling roses to the lamps.

What I'm wondering is whether this would need re-doing.

If it is in serviceable condition would I be able to get away with new fittings throughout, new consumer unit, and equipotential bonding, without having to replace the wiring itself?

I know at that time it was very much in the early stages of using PVC wiring and the thicknesses would be imperial not metric but aren't imperial guages of wire ever so slightly thick anyway? There's only three circuits - a 5A lighting circuit, a 30A ring main and a 30A cooker run.

I'd use a gas cooker anyway - there's already one in situ, in fact, so that 30A could be used for a shower upstairs but I'd probably want a spark to install a second RCD protected ring main for the kitchen due to all the high load appliances in there.

Any thoughts and budget considerations would be greatly appreciated.

The property itself isn't massive - it's your average two up two down arranged over two stories and footprint of approx 36m2.

G_M

1960s wiring should be OK (subject to any cowboy/DIY additions), but if in doubt pay £50 for an electrical inspection.

However, frankly, if you are going to fit new consumer unit, new fittings etc, I would bite the bullet and redo the lot.

For a sparkie's view, try posting here.

izools

Yeah but really ripping PVC cable out of the walls in a crosswall construction property only to replace it with identical PVC cable? Overkill much?

I could do the local authority notification / replace CSU and fixtures myself, anyway, and get my spark mate to help put the equipotential bonding in the right places

I'm happy to stand corrected, but am genuinely interested as to what benefits it would hold to replace the wiring itself?

G_M

For a sparkie's view, try posting here.

DVardysShadow

izools wrote: »

Yeah but really ripping PVC cable out of the walls in a crosswall construction property only to replace it with identical PVC cable? Overkill much?

I could do the local authority notification / replace CSU and fixtures myself, anyway, and get my spark mate to help put the equipotential bonding in the right places

I'm happy to stand corrected, but am genuinely interested as to what benefits it would hold to replace the wiring itself?

If the cable has been protected by rewireable fuses, it will have been at risk of substantially higher overloads for substantially longer than cartridge fuses or MCB's would allow. If there have been no overloads, it will probably be fine - I have removed lead cabling as much as 60 years old and stripped it - the rubber in some was as fresh as the day the cable was made. But any circuit which had been overloaded smelt of burning rubber and the insulation disintegrated when the cable was stripped.

So, 50 year old PVC cable. How good is it now?

izools

Yeah, good shout.

Although I'm now a bit worried about buying a crosswall construction house altogether after reading some of the other threads, namely

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1182451

... Hmm

DVardysShadow wrote: »

If the cable has been protected by rewireable fuses, it will have been at risk of substantially higher overloads for substantially longer than cartridge fuses or MCB's would allow. If there have been no overloads, it will probably be fine - I have removed lead cabling as much as 60 years old and stripped it - the rubber in some was as fresh as the day the cable was made. But any circuit which had been overloaded smelt of burning rubber and the insulation disintegrated when the cable was stripped.

So, 50 year old PVC cable. How good is it now?

Excellent advice, thank you.

The ends of the cables entering the antiquated fuse box look fresh - no signs of discolouration or overheating.

I'll be going back with a screwdriver to check all the other ends of the cables to ensure no overheating or discolouration has taken place - but you make a good point - if it's overheated / discoloured / etc, then ofc it'll need replacing.

Will go back and do a full reccy soon

Thanks!

bob2

Brick crosswall houses are technically known as "rationalised standard construction" not "non-standard".

Concrete crosswall would be a different matter - but based on brick you shouldn't have too many mortgage or insurance difficulties.

They tend to be quite well laid out with a decent size third bedroom in 3-bed versions.

izools

Well yeah this one is laid out well and a good size, too

James_N

DVardysShadow wrote: »

If the cable has been protected by rewireable fuses, it will have been at risk of substantially higher overloads for substantially longer than cartridge fuses or MCB's would allow. If there have been no overloads, it will probably be fine - I have removed lead cabling as much as 60 years old and stripped it - the rubber in some was as fresh as the day the cable was made. But any circuit which had been overloaded smelt of burning rubber and the insulation disintegrated when the cable was stripped.

So, 50 year old PVC cable. How good is it now?

One thing I didn't realise until my electrician son educated me was that cable now comes dated - and has a life expectancy the same as medicines, etc. The way he put it was why do a job with old materials where u are building in a shorter life?
So I got rid of 20 years accumulation of ends of reels and "useful" wires stripped out from other places. Actually, thinking about it, the unused cable was prob Ok - but I had also kept used wiring - with no idea of the stress it had been under when installed.
Way it sounds with the OP, this small installation with a new board, new runs and all would be the "sleep-easy" route.

Gromitt

I've seen houses before where the wiring "looked ok" at the CU and at the sockets, but since it was easy to get at, I took some of it up anyway (pulled it up straight from the loft area) and the rubber insulation broke up and turned into breadcrumbs as I was doing it. After seeing that, I removed all of it.

BillTrac

Izools, just curious

why are you asking here when as you say your mate is a sparkie? Can't you ask him for his opinion? Or is he a sparkie's mate? Big difference.