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Or they needed to beef up the loading by slapping a piece of joist between two joists at 90 deg thus blocking your carefully planned cable routing, have seen some floors where lou look at the way the joists are running, only to find in the middle of the room they change direction, that's a pain isn't it?
I’d expect to find that during the route planning stages?
 
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Sound and sensible ideas in theory, but of course if all goe to plan you could be on a winner, we all know that the best intentions hardly ever work, in my experience if you chase everything before any wiring is done, what would happen if when it come to actually doing any wiring you find that it's impossible to get the new cables where your chases are? get the cables in situ prior to any chasing.
Rewires done using obviously skill, but more importantly thinking on the hoof, you will never be able
plan your cable route 100% you have to change routing as you go most of the time, depending on how the House joist are laid out, yes I agree check the way the joist are running, but like most things it doesn't always turn out the way you think, knowing the theory of the circuitry required is only half of the story, solving routing etc is the rest, your ideas are sound in theory, but having done many rewires, they don't always pan out the way you would expect. Sorry for the ramble.
Not really theory Pete more tried n tested :) just trying to give the op some tips, we all have to start somewhere and a little encouragement doesn’t hurt..
 
Spot on @Pete999 I couldnt have described my approach better than how you did it.
I like to plan the cable routes from the new CU and how i will get them to the attic for the light and likewise use same holes wherever possible to route other circuits.
I also like to where possible have the new CU on the wall ready to connect each part up as it is done and then remove the old circuits as you go. this is my preferred approach if its lived in,
 
Not really theory Pete more tried n tested :) just trying to give the op some tips, we all have to start somewhere and a little encouragement doesn’t hurt..
Not meant to be having a dig Mate, sorry if you took it that way, just my experience tells me it 's not always as cut and dried as you propose, but yes you're right we all need to start somewhere, guess it is a disagreement between 2 Sparkies, always good to have a debate.
 
Spot on @Pete999 I couldnt have described my approach better than how you did it.
I like to plan the cable routes from the new CU and how i will get them to the attic for the light and likewise use same holes wherever possible to route other circuits.
I also like to where possible have the new CU on the wall ready to connect each part up as it is done and then remove the old circuits as you go. this is my preferred approach if its lived in,
Some of the places I have rewired leave tell tell evidence of cable routing, by spotting the floor boards that have been lifted a few times, at least that's my experience.
 
no probs Pete honestly, I don’t doubt you’ve wired and rewired more houses than I’m ever likely to! But I do agree that all the planning in world won’t cover every eventuality, the work arounds is what comes with experience and understanding how a building works can only be learned by coming up against this stuff.

OP,everyone has they own way of approaching this and every rewire is different, rewiring your own house (assuming you are competent) is a great way to learn this stuff without to much pressure.
 
[QUOTE="

OP,everyone has they own way of approaching this and every rewire is different, rewiring your own house (assuming you are competent) is a great way to learn this stuff without to much pressure.[/QUOTE]

Only if you are single. :)
 
send wife and kids on a 2 week holiday. this gives you 3 distinct advantages.

1. you can rewire without putting everything back.
2 you can go without a bath for a fortnight
3. no nagging (wife) and none of this "want it now" crap from the saucepans.

winner.
 
oh; and you v]van have your mates round for a pi$$ up.
 
Up stairs lighting

Start by rewiring the upstairs lighting, this will give you a feel of how labour intensive a rewire is, if yo have any help you should be able to complete this area in a long day.
You don't mention, if you have a wooden floor on the ground floor, if you have, you could then tackle the ground floor sockets, cooker, bonding and anything else that may become evident whilst this area is being pulled apart, forgot to say leave the old switchgear inplace, by doing this you can if the client wishes temporarily connect a socket for overnight, this part with help could take up to 3 days, leave any making good until the rewire is complete, if you are making good yourself, if makes sense to do it all at once, not piecemeal on a daily basis.
Now comes the hardest part in my opinion, the ground floor lighting, and the upstairs sockets, this needs careful planning, try to get the homeowner to dissapear for the day, plan which areas you want to disturb, move the furniture around to suit, if you have employed a carpet fitter/floor layer to lift any carpets or laminate, this also needs planning beforehand. The biggest problem will be leaving the house habitable after you have knocked off for the day, 2 to 3 days should see this part to completion.
Remember to leave any old wiring still left in situ safe as well.
Once these areas have been rewired, time to fit new CU etc and testing and certifying, 2 days should be ample, if there are no problems, if you are making good a day should see this off, depending of course on how much damage you have caused.
Its been a long time since I have done a live in rewire, so there could be some omissions, on the last day it's always a good thing to take the client around the place, explaining why you had to do it this or that way, snagging I think it was called, if you are confident you have covered everything this shouldn't take long at all, good luck.
If I have missed anything, or miscalculated the time frame, I'm positive there will be someone on the Forum with something to say, as I mentioned it's been a while.
Not creative at all it's the Dogs do dahs of rewiring imo:tongue::imp::):D
 
Everyone has a different way of working but I generally would cut all boxes first, then wire sockets and any radial circuits, then lights etc and fit all conduits etc in walls last. Whatever works best for your situation
 
When doing a complete rewire, my first thing is to completely remove the existing CU/fuseboard and hook up a temp supply with enough sockets for my works (and maybe one for other trades too).

Then you can do the next bit, and that is ripping out and removing the existing wiring and unwanted sockets etc. Then you've got some cable routes all ready for your new lumps of PVC.

If you don't do step 1 first, you'll always be having to check if there's no power, and worrying each time you chop a bit of cable.
 
make sure you have a floor plan of the house all drawn out with wiring diagrams included. if you follow the plan exactly then any fault finding will be a lot easier to deal with.
i would never take both the lights and sockets out at the same time because you need light.
preferably do all the lights first and use sockets for temporary lights e.g site lights etc. this will save you running around in the dark with your phone torch
 
Re-wire whilst 'living in' your own house with a family!
Best of luck! no right or wrong way, whatever way you feel best. As it is 'lived in', you may adopt a room by room approach but not easy maintaining supply to lighting and power along the way.
Send the family on a weeks holiday then you'll be able to rip out the old and install the new before they return!
 
As Pete said I did a chase for my brothers kitchen when he came to do the first fix he couldn't route the cables where he wanted and had to 're chase new points. I'd route cables first then chase. He wasn't living there but my mate has 're run cables clipped to the ready for when his wife has a holiday and he can chase them in
 

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