House Re-wire?

pmartin86

Just my opinion, but if a possible 2-3k for a rewire is "well out of" your budget, you should probably be looking at cheaper houses.

PMurphy

pmartin86 wrote: »

Just my opinion, but if a possible 2-3k for a rewire is "well out of" your budget, you should probably be looking at cheaper houses.

Thanks for that beacon of optimism.

We've decided not to pursue, as it is out of our price range, we have enough in savings to decorate but not rewire, or rewire but not decorate.

But thank you Mr keyboard hero for making me feel like getting onto the property yet wanting to stay in our current location is a nigh on impossible dream.

in response to the other chap - "Deck mixer shower". I couldn't remember the name of it! But yes, that thought also crossed my mind.

pmartin86

Im sorry you took my post in a negative light, but its exactly the sort fo clear thinking you need when buying a house. There are almost ALWAYS exepnces you didnt expect, and if you would struggle with 2-3k, your really not going into it without really knowing what you're getting into, or you do, and you have the blinders on. I bought my first house 3 years ago, I expected the (albeit extensive) reonvations to cost circa £23-25k. The house is just about finished on and its probably cost me closer to £32k.

As for pursuing your drea, go ahead, it just seems that you need to save that little bit extra or lower your expectations.

PMurphy

pmartin86 wrote: »

Im sorry you took my post in a negative light, but its exactly the sort fo clear thinking you need when buying a house. There are almost ALWAYS exepnces you didnt expect, and if you would struggle with 2-3k, your really not going into it without really knowing what you're getting into, or you do, and you have the blinders on. I bought my first house 3 years ago, I expected the (albeit extensive) reonvations to cost circa £23-25k. The house is just about finished on and its probably cost me closer to £32k.

As for pursuing your drea, go ahead, it just seems that you need to save that little bit extra or lower your expectations.

No, it's alright. I've been in a grump all weekend about it. Tooing and froing about going for it or not. The house is a great place, a great size, admittedly it does need a lot of work, and I could confidently say it would easily swallow up £15-20k to make it how we want it, but that would be work that we could do over time. And in the short term it could be made very nice quite quickly and for not very much.

Our main thing is that a rewire would cost say 3k, but may not be required for the next 10 years. Then again it may be required immediately. Ultimately if the wiring was even 10 years newer we would be going for it. but 43 years just seem that little bit too close to the "wiring should be replaced every 50 years" rule that people bandy around.

Pennywise

The other point is that if the wiring is worrying you now, it WILL worry your prospective buyers when you try to sell it in 5/10/15 years time and the wiring is even older. So expect your prospective future buyers to want to get you to knock it off the price they're willing to pay.

Also, re-wiring WILL make a mess of your house, carpets have to come up, walls chipped away, so the time to do it is when you first move in before you decorate and before you lay new flooring. Basically now or never. Realistically, you won't be able to do it painlessly in 5 or 10 years time.

PMurphy

Pennywise wrote: »

The other point is that if the wiring is worrying you now, it WILL worry your prospective buyers when you try to sell it in 5/10/15 years time and the wiring is even older. So expect your prospective future buyers to want to get you to knock it off the price they're willing to pay.

Also, re-wiring WILL make a mess of your house, carpets have to come up, walls chipped away, so the time to do it is when you first move in before you decorate and before you lay new flooring. Basically now or never. Realistically, you won't be able to do it painlessly in 5 or 10 years time.

.

And that my good man (or woman) is how we arrived at our conclusion. If we had the money to rewire now it would be a no brainer, we'd go in, rip it up and make it good. Hell, if it's on the market in a month or 2 we might have the money saved, but houses in that area, go so fast its unlikely.

Hopefully something else will come up.

Risteard

PMurphy wrote: »

43 years just seem that little bit too close to the "wiring should be replaced every 50 years" rule that people bandy around.

People generally state between 25 and 40 years. Not many would advise leaving it for 50 years as a general rule.

phil24_7

If this is the only thing stopping you going for it then I would bite the bullet.

You could replace the consumer unit, wire and decorate the ground floor say, then save up to do the top floor. Or if you have access to the attic and the cellar/underfloor you could rewire the downstairs lights and upstairs ring main ( by lifting the upstairs floor) as well as decorate upstairs. You could then tackle the upstairs lighting and the downstairs ring main at a later date with a lot less mess.

Or could you ask a family member for a loan, downgrade a car?

Regards
Phil

Carmk2008

Same position except I bought the house I know it needs electrical work but to what extent I don't know. The way I see it is its a long term investment so worst case a 2-3k lay out is not that much, bonus if its less

Bigphil1474

We bought our current house 20 years ago - needed new windows as they were rotten, new kitchen (as the kitchen was completed gutted), bathroom, and decorating top to bottom. Other than that we loved it, and we had a tight budget. We got the essentials done properly - kitchen, bathroom, windows. We then chucked up some cheap wallpaper, bit of paint here and there, moved our furniture in, and made it liveable. We then saved up to decorate properly, and we've been right round the house (nearly twice since then), and it's now a nice home. If you really like he house, but have to chose between a rewire and decorating, can't you put up with an undecorated house for a while? Never give up on your dreams.