Problematic Full house rewire

IvyFlood

So we are getting quotes for rewiring our house and we’ve had a number of electricians round who have all scratched their heads!

In a nutshell, the house is a 3-bed 1960s semi and it’s all original wiring bar the kitchen which is new and has new wiring except we have since found out that it is connected somewhere to the old wiring, as there is no new cabling going back to the board.

The most recent electrician we have had round and who we will probably go with (still waiting on his quote) has given us a best and worst case scenario. Best case being that the ‘joint’ is under the floorboards somewhere (we are happy for kitchen floor to come up as we wanted to replace anyway) but the worst case scenario is that it’s in the wall somewhere in which case half of our new kitchen will need to come out. Does anyone know where the most likely place for it would be? We have two other sockets on the other side of the kitchen which aren’t part of the new circuit and still have old wiring.

I think the previous owners had some sort of cowboy electrician in to do the work and its defo been done on the cheap. We want it done properly for peace of mind and before we start decorating.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

it is more than likely to be in the wall!

Question. Do you like the Kitchen?
If no, get the sledge hammers out and do a good job, as you say it is probably a cowboy who did it, then the cowboy probably ill fitted the kitchen.

On other things I read, it will cost around £20,000 to do up a three bedded place, so I would get the electrics and heating sorted out before you get the paint tins out!

IvyFlood

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

it is more than likely to be in the wall!

Question. Do you like the Kitchen?
If no, get the sledge hammers out and do a good job, as you say it is probably a cowboy who did it, then the cowboy probably ill fitted the kitchen.

On other things I read, it will cost around £20,000 to do up a three bedded place, so I would get the electrics and heating sorted out before you get the paint tins out!

We do like the kitchen! It was one of the reasons we bought the house cause its new and to our taste really and we didn't want to put a new kitchen in. There's nothing wrong with the heating (I hope!) but yes get the electrics sorted before we start the painting.


This is intended to be our forever home so if we're going to do it now is the time.


Why more than likely to be in the wall if you wouldn't mind explaining?


Thanks

SG27

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

it is more than likely to be in the wall!

Question. Do you like the Kitchen?
If no, get the sledge hammers out and do a good job, as you say it is probably a cowboy who did it, then the cowboy probably ill fitted the kitchen.

On other things I read, it will cost around £20,000 to do up a three bedded place, so I would get the electrics and heating sorted out before you get the paint tins out!

£20k?? If only.. we are up to about £38k and still not finished!

tacpot12

If it has been done on the cheap, then there is small chance that the connection might show up on thermal imaging camera, but it is very unlikely so probably isn't worth trying this unless the electrician already has a thermal camera.

If the kitchen units haven't got anything built into the worktops like a gas hob or sink, then removing them isn't that big a job. It will be a bit messy, but basically everything just unbolts. Refitting might need re-grouting or siliconing. If there is a gas hob or sink set into the worktop, then there will extra costs to get the worktop out. I would start with the wall cabinets and hope that you find the connection above worktop level.

IvyFlood

tacpot12 wrote: »

If it has been done on the cheap, then there is small chance that the connection might show up on thermal imaging camera, but it is very unlikely so probably isn't worth trying this unless the electrician already has a thermal camera.

If the kitchen units haven't got anything built into the worktops like a gas hob or sink, then removing them isn't that big a job. It will be a bit messy, but basically everything just unbolts. Refitting might need re-grouting or siliconing. If there is a gas hob or sink set into the worktop, then there will extra costs to get the worktop out. I would start with the wall cabinets and hope that you find the connection above worktop level.

There is a gas hob smack bang in the middle of the part that would need to come out! The same electrician came round last night with his kitchen fitter friend just to assess which is when he figured it could be either in wall or under the floor. But we'd need a gas safe engineer to deal with taking the hob out. The kitchen fitter didn't seem too perplexed, he just said that some of the worktop could get damaged when he takes it away (its part of an L-shape). No one mentioned anything about the upper wall cabinets needing to come out, they are assuming the rewiring has been done from below - under the worktop, as cables generally run under the floors?

Mista_C

Have you removed the socket plates in the old sockets in the kitchen to look? The new sockets may have been "hooked" into the old wiring via one of those sockets as you would adding an additional socket to the ring.

IvyFlood

Mista_C wrote: »

Have you removed the socket plates in the old sockets in the kitchen to look? The new sockets may have been "hooked" into the old wiring via one of those sockets as you would adding an additional socket to the ring.

Yes, they are old wiring. The 'new' kitchen sockets are on their own ring and connect to the old wiring somewhere but not from any of the remaining sockets in the kitchen. There is also an old single socket on the same side of the wall where the new sockets are which is original and we thought it would connect here but he checked and it wasn't. I'm not sure how it works whether you can identity where its connected from looking behind all the sockets?

ratrace

Can i ask why do you want to get the rewire done is here any problems with the wiring, our house is a 1930's and most of the wiring is still the original, i do agree that the old wiring is of good quailty than the new stuff but we have had no issues with it, not being harsh but wanted to know what the reason was for the rewire as we may do our in a few years time if it really needs it

phill99

You would be better trying to find the first socket that is fed from your new kitchen ring main and then wire it from there back to the new consumer unit. You may have to knock some tiles etc off the wall, but that will be a far better solution.

IvyFlood

ratrace wrote: »

Can i ask why do you want to get the rewire done is here any problems with the wiring, our house is a 1930's and most of the wiring is still the original, i do agree that the old wiring is of good quailty than the new stuff but we have had no issues with it, not being harsh but wanted to know what the reason was for the rewire as we may do our in a few years time if it really needs it

In the upstairs rooms there is only one single socket in each room and its by the doors so lots of extension cables. Its not practical for modern day living so we want more double sockets in each room.
Also light switches are behind doors which again isn't practical.
Because we want a number of additional sockets its best just to upgrade the whole system as it won't have been done for over 60 years.
Also the entire house is on one circuit. I think usually you have separate circuits for upstairs, downstairs and kitchen.