Rewiring - advice needed!

Peggers

Hi everyone, any advice greatly appreciated on the below.

We moved into a 1960s former council house in Leicestershire a couple of years ago and are finally in a position to renovate it (it needs fully redecorating). It's a roomy 3-bed semi.

We had an electrical check done in 2018, and that electrician's view was that we needed a full re-wire (except for in our extension which was completed after 2000). That was quoted at around £3.5k at the time.

More recently, we sought a quote from another electrician, whose view was that we didn't need a full re-wire. However, he then went away and priced up the job, coming to the conclusion that there were so many different bits of work (literally each plug etc was priced up individually) that we might as well have a full re-wire, which he quoted at more than £5k.

So what I'm wondering is:
1) Do we actually need a re-wire or not - surely we either do or don't?
2) How do I find out if we do need one, other than getting endless second opinions, which potentially are all different anyway?
3) What is a reasonable price for a full re-wire?

Any advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated, as I don't know where to start with this. It's not something I know anything about, but I'd rather learn the basics of what I need to know and look for, rather than potentially do the wrong thing.

We can't do any renovation work until this is settled and it seems to be dragging on endlessly, so I'm keen to get this moving somehow, just not sure how!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

-taff

If the electricity and points are suitable to you, you don't need a rewire. Unless something was done fairly recently then older wiring won't conform to current regs, for example, new regs say 10mm earth wife is required for pipes etc, old regs said 6mm (this i found out last week)
If you want anything changed,, you want extra plugs, you want the wiring on different ring mains, for example, you want the upstairs wired separately to the downstairs, you want an electric shower etc, then you might as well have a full rewire. If you're renovating, might as well have one because you are future proofing your house with regards to lighting, plug points etc.
We were quoted roughly 4k for one last year. We are in the South West .

ka7e

If you're going to do it, do it now! The disruption and mess are not to be underestimated. Everything you own will be covered in dust from chasing the walls. Floorboards up in every room upstairs. Holes in walls and ceilings. We are 3/4 through a rewire and have both old and new wiring in place (switch to new meter tomorrow). We'll be working off temporary sockets and lights in the kitchen and bathroom as new ones not fitted yet. I'm just hoping the electrician will be available to strip the old wiring and finish the job when we need him, as he's pretty solidly booked until the New Year.

We were quoted £4200 (SW UK) -

11 ceiling light fittings and switches - including 2 bathroom-compliant light fittings
24 double sockets (not incl kitchen)
Induction hob and extraction fan
Double oven
Fridge/freezer
Dishwasher
Final number of other kitchen sockets undecided.
1 x triple switch
1 2-way switch
2 electric showers
2 bathroom extractor fans
2 external lights
1 external socket
4 TV points
2 smoke detectors
New consumer unit in new location

Meter is being moved so electrician is fitting meter box and will be on hand to switch power from old meter to new.


We are supplying light fittings to main rooms.

Risteard

-taff wrote: »

If the electricity and points are suitable to you, you don't need a rewire.

This is an absolutely ridiculous and outrageous thing to state without ever having seen or inspected the installation in question. Wiring doesn't last forever even when it's installed perfectly.

tacpot12

The wiring in a 1960's house could have been in place for nearly 50 years and the insulation could be starting to breaking down. To determine whether the installation is still safe, your electrician could conduct insulation resistance tests on all the circuits. This would normally be done as part of an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). You could pay an electrician to do an EICR.

You can ask to see the test results. This will provide the certainty that the insulation is still safe or that it has reached the end of its life. If any circuit fails, I think I would have the house rewired as the other circuits will not be far behind.

Peggers

Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts. Ka7e your rewire doesn't sound dissimilar to ours so good to know we're in the right ballpark price-wise.

In terms of the wiring, Mr Peggers doesn't think its original but reckons it was likely rewired when the council sold the house - so late 80s/early 90s.

Our previous electrical check said that there is high resistance (too high for the fuse) on the circuit and it isn't a proper ring main.

So with all that considered - plus the good points about future proofing the house - a rewire sounds like the sensible option (especially before a full renovation!)

-taff

Risteard wrote: »

This is an absolutely ridiculous and outrageous thing to state without ever having seen or inspected the installation in question. Wiring doesn't last forever even when it's installed perfectly.

I admit it would be a ridiculous thing to say if the wiring had been condemned in any way.

Ectophile

Any wiring from the 80's/90's will be PVC, which lasts pretty much forever. So that's not a problem. Actually, most wiring since the mid 60's has been PVC, so much of that is still perfectly usable.



However, if it's been mucked about with, then rewiring may be a cheaper alternative to extensive fault-finding and fixing things that were done wrong.


It's really down to finding an electrician you trust to inspect it, and see how big the job of putting it right is.

Risteard

Ectophile wrote: »

Any wiring from the 80's/90's will be PVC, which lasts pretty much forever.

PVC doesn't last forever. Like all wiring systems it deteriorates with age and use, particularly where overloaded etc.

Manufacturers of PVC cable claim a lifespan of around 25 years. Whilst this may often be unduly pessimistic it's certainly not correct to state that it lasts "pretty much forever".

chiny

tacpot12 wrote: »

The wiring in a 1960's house could have been in place for nearly 50 years and the insulation could be starting to breaking down.

My 1965 house is wired in pvc and until recently, I'd have thought pvc could not break down. While having some work done by a qualified sparkie, he showed me the wiring going in to the consumer unit which appeared to be liquifying, most odd. If I hadn't seen it myself, I'd simply not believe it.

Up until then, I'd assumed that the biggest danger was the diy bodger who owned the property previously.

cybervic

I recently bought a flat built in 1965 and it needed a full renovation (last renovated in 90s). I thought a rewire was necessary (cost around £4k) but our EICR suggested all the cables are absolutely fine even thought they are the original one from the 60s. We eventually did a partial rewire, i.e., a new kitchen ring, separate oven/hob circuits, and add several sockets & light switches to our preference, cost around £2K in the end.