Hi all I've just bought a new house and looking at some of the wiring it looks fairly old. Judging by the picture attached would I need to rewire my house? Cheers
Need to???? Most will say yes, but have you had it tested? Did it get done for the survey. What'd the survey say? What's the condition of the rest of the installation. Lots of info that'd help. Although the board is old the installation might still be ok, it's really up to you. If it has tested out ok it'll probably still be recommended to be brought up to the current edition of the regs. The big question is, can you afford it. If so, now is when to get it done because there will be a mess and it means you can get on with settling in and doing the decor!
i agree with geeham. get the installation tested and go from there. pleased to read you are thinking about this before anything else. a lot of people spend a fortune on decorating, carpets, doors and stuff and then realise the major disruption of a house rewire
Thanks guys. At a glance it appears it needs it I'll get thorough survey done. I'll probably still opt for it anyway as don't fancy getting it done after the decoration. On average how much would it cost in plastering to fix the areas affected by the rewire? The house is at least 50+ years old. Cheers
That would depend on how much disturbance is caused e.g how many extra sockets you want, anything you want moving, anything else you want adding and what quality of job your wanting. If your seriously lucky the install will all be in conduit and won't disturb any plaster but the image you posted is mainly the meter and cut out and this wouldn't get replaced in a rewire as its owned by the metering companies and the DNO(elec board) get a trusted local independent sparks to take a look the wiring might be good just supplied by an old CU (Fuse Box)
Just had a closer look that's a smart meter and is dated Dec 14 that won't be getting changed anytime soon, get a sparks to do an inspection of the wiring should only cost you 1 hours labour and most will discount this if you need a rewire
I can assure you DNR plumbing it takes a lot longer to do a full inspection and test of a property than an hour, you look after your patch and we will look after ours. Dead test the lot on a full blown set of tests as regs and your spark will give you a Condition report on what you have, once you know this outcome, then you will have an idea that your groundworks are ok to build on, if not and its been added and cut by every DIY Dan in the land, rip it out and make a fresh start. .
That pic does not mean anything, whip a switch cover off to see if any CPC's are evident inside, if they are, your half way home!
It looks a lot better than most of the old wiring I see in houses over this neck of the woods. When we moved in to our house, I had it rewired after I found this in the loft:
Have it checked professionally. I accepted a surveyor report backed up by looking at the wiring in a few sockets and switches, everything ok Decorated throughout, then after moving son into a bedroom his light kept going & knocking the fuse out. Replacing the light fitting pulled more wire out the ceiling void to get a bit more length &....!!! 3" of newish cable twisted onto ancient unearthed rotted insulation wire; turned out entire top floor lighting circuit was like that. How the place hadn't burnt down or electrocuted the occupants I really don't know.
Seen this before 6 inch of new wire to every socket and switch and into all the lights and the cu was new with new wire but only 6 inch again so the wires between the cu and the plug was still the old rubber coated stuff just made to look like a full rewire and they had put loads of insulation up in the loft to hide the bad job
I can beat that My first house had two shiny new double surface mounted sockets either side of the lounge fireplace. Plugged in the TV. Switched it on . Nothing happened. No cables at all. Just a pure con.