When does a domestic property need a rewire ???

[Deleted member 9648]

A substantial proportion of the board changes I do are on installations with imperial stranded pvc cables. As has already been stated provided it hasn't been subjected to DIY or kitchen fitters it's usually fine for continued service.
Another point for home buyers to be aware of is that a 'rewire' isn't always a rewire. It's surprising how often a few repairs and upgrades to an old installation suddenly becomes...'it's all been rewired' when the house is up for sale.

 

[Midwest]

Just because the test results are fine, and inspection of a sample of accessories suggest the same, doesn't reveal the condition of cabling etc under floors. Manufacturers typically guarantee their cables 20-30 years, subtract the abuse handed out by diy'ers, pretty much lines up 1970's properties for a rewire. I know in reality, most would opt for a shiny new CU, utilising manky old imperial cables, but I wouldn't. But then its easy for me to say being a sparks, but not so for others.

If I moved into an older property, where the central heating was upgraded, with new bathroom & kitchen, I'd consider putting aside some money to upgrade the electrics. Which is exactly what I advised my customer, the other week, with no cpc's in the lighting circuits. I don't do EICR's, but that's my personnel opinion.

 

[Andy78]

When the property has been owned by a builder for ten years .....

Been to a couple of those patchwork bodge ups lately ...

 

[kingeri]

The job I've just finished, one socket circuit on a 4mm radial for the whole house, tested fine but only 4 double sockets on it! One in living room, two in kitchen and one in a bedroom. Two bedrooms with no socket outlets at all. One lighting circuit, basic as it comes, lots of darkness in that house. I suppose it was a rewire, but felt more like doing a new build! Not a lot to rip out, but a lot of new stuff going in, should have seen the old dears face when she could actually plug stuff in wherever she liked and could ditch the extension leads for good, she was like a little kid on Christmas morning!

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Just because the test results are fine, and inspection of a sample of accessories suggest the same, doesn't reveal the condition of cabling etc under floors. Manufacturers typically guarantee their cables 20-30 years, subtract the abuse handed out by diy'ers, pretty much lines up 1970's properties for a rewire. I know in reality, most would opt for a shiny new CU, utilising manky old imperial cables, but I wouldn't. But then its easy for me to say being a sparks, but not so for others.

If I moved into an older property, where the central heating was upgraded, with new bathroom & kitchen, I'd consider putting aside some money to upgrade the electrics. Which is exactly what I advised my customer, the other week, with no cpc's in the lighting circuits. I don't do EICR's, but that's my personnel opinion.

I'd have to disagree on the point about 1970's cables being past it. In my experience properly installed quality PVC cables are good for a great deal longer than 20-30 years. Other things excepted, I would not advise a rewire purely on the age of PVC cables.

 

[Midwest]

A friend of mine moved into a property, after obtaining i

I'd have to disagree on the point about 1970's cables being past it. In my experience properly installed quality PVC cables are good for a great deal longer than 20-30 years. Other things excepted, I would not advise a rewire purely on the age of PVC cables.

Well I have to disagree with you. I predate 1970's, and her indoors thinks I'm well past it. In fact she reckons I've only got twenty years left

 

[Dozer 73]

Agreed pvc copper has a very long life , new dB with rcd massive improvement for shock/fire protection , wired smoke alarms yet another improvement
I wonder why all local councils don’t just do upgrades instead of doing full rewires when not really needed , with massive costs of plastering , decorating vouchers , big overheads of contractors ?

 

[KEV 1 N]

I wonder why all local councils don’t just do upgrades instead of doing full rewires when not really needed , with massive costs of plastering , decorating vouchers , big overheads of contractors ?

When I did my house bashing stint many years ago, I often wondered why is this coming out? I sometimes think we ripped out a better installation than the one we put in! And the damage created to rewire a house in a day was unreal....I used to hate it!

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Well I have to disagree with you. I predate 1970's, and her indoors thinks I'm well past it. In fact she reckons I've only got twenty years left

Never mind what the painted one thinks, I predate 1970's and I bloody know I'm well past it, I don't need her reminding me

 

[PEG]

I assumed everybody knew,a full rewire is needed,somewhere between,the Fire Brigade leaving,and the plasterer arriving...tell me i'm wrong?

 

[John Guy]

This is an interesting read. It's been suggested that I rewire my property. The original part of the property is old colour wires on a not at all modern CU. I was under the impression that old colour wires were fine as long as old colour wires were used for any additional sockets i.e. not mixing and matching
I was sold on the idea/fear after hearing my property has no earth.
Now, how does this fit in with the discussion? Apart from don't touch anything metal and connected to electricity...

 

[John Guy]

P.S. if I'm hijacking the thread, tell me, I've got thick skin!

 

[telectrix]

This is an interesting read. It's been suggested that I rewire my property. The original part of the property is old colour wires on a not at all modern CU. I was under the impression that old colour wires were fine as long as old colour wires were used for any additional sockets i.e. not mixing and matching
I was sold on the idea/fear after hearing my property has no earth.
Now, how does this fit in with the discussion? Apart from don't touch anything metal and connected to electricity...

it's perfectly fine to mix old and new colour cables. in fact, we're not allowed to use red/black anymore. a sticker is placed on the CU indicating 2 versions of colours used.

the only way to determine if a rewire is needed is to get the installation inspected and tested. you would then receive a consition report (EICR) with recommendations for any improvements required.

 

[John Guy]

I'm getting the report done Wednesday. I'll, erm, report back

 

[John Guy]

Here's the report, which doesn't look that bad...
There's some stuff that obviously needs doing, but I'm not so sure on a rewire now
P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

 

[Andy78]

Most of those codes I would take issue with. Also they have recorded no main earth yet recorded Zs values for each circuit. Something is a bit odd there.

 

[KEV 1 N]

Also, the type of system has not being ticked.

 

[plugsandsparks]

The readings for ZS are high though. Photo of service head might give a clue to system type or he didn't know what it was supposed to be. Pretty impressive though to have no earth or bonding.... wonder what happened to it..

 

[Dozer 73]

Mmm some thing doesn’t add up there with the earths and loop readings , also ins res to earth
Some of his comments are hard to make out , writing should be a bit clearer
I’d also guess installation older than 25 years , but it is a rough estimation

 

[Dozer 73]

Also no ring results on sockets but wired in 2.5 t and e on 30A fuse