Original electrics in 1956 house - would it need rewiring?

keystone

pinkteapot wrote: »

Before we spend hundreds on a survey, is it bound to say the house needs rewiring?

Yes - purely on a CYA basis if nothing else.

If you like the house get it done. If you are already happy with having to do kitchen, bathroom and a total redecorate it would be madness NOT to do the electrics at the same time and get it out of the way. Just negotiate the price accordingly to cover the cost.

Cheers

Ben84

We have similar age wiring throughout the house. It is in good condition, but the lack of sockets is a significant limitation. We can use extensions to put appliances where we want, but we can't use lots of high wattage appliances at the same time. Fortunately, we're not big electric users. In a situation where everything needed redecorating, and with finance potentially available for it, I would take the chance to rewire as there really won't be a better time.

Rockingit

Ben84 wrote: »

We have similar age wiring throughout the house. It is in good condition, but the lack of sockets is a significant limitation.

Hi Ben, just out of interest, how do you KNOW this? Not picking a fight, just genuinely curious. Most VIR cable is now very weak and certainly all that I see needs replacing as it perishes as soon as you look at it. Also, most VOELCB's are past their best now (assumes you even have one fitted). It does happen that old installations are still 'ok' but they must be few and far between! If I found a VIR inspection that was compliant today I doubt I'd give it more than two or three years on an inspection cycle.

There again, if you have even older lead sheath and cotton cables, the weigh-in on the old stuff will at least buy a few nice new lampshades!

Ben84

Rockingit wrote: »

Hi Ben, just out of interest, how do you KNOW this? Not picking a fight, just genuinely curious. Most VIR cable is now very weak and certainly all that I see needs replacing as it perishes as soon as you look at it. Also, most VOELCB's are past their best now (assumes you even have one fitted). It does happen that old installations are still 'ok' but they must be few and far between! If I found a VIR inspection that was compliant today I doubt I'd give it more than two or three years on an inspection cycle.

There again, if you have even older lead sheath and cotton cables, the weigh-in on the old stuff will at least buy a few nice new lampshades!

That's a good question. We had an electrical inspection a few years ago. It's not something that's easy to know otherwise, as something simply working isn't an indicator of it being safe. Fortunately we have PVC insulated cables from the 60s which are in good condition, but I believe other materials like rubber may not last as well as PVC does.

As for the VOELCB, we don't have one, we just have a fuse box. I expect that wouldn't be considered sufficient by itself today for a new installaton, but is the lack of a VOELCB something to worry about?