Rewire on red brick early 1900’s Victorian house

[Georgemidnight]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on doing a rewire in an empty red brick house, no one will be living there or any furniture as there are new owners.

I have researched on how to chase red brick, as I already have a brushless grinder I think buying a diamond disc is my best way of doing it. As I want to keep dust levels low I have been looking at buying a makita dust collecting guard. As I can’t find how deep you can cut while using one I will assume I cant cut up to 50mm. Therefore I will need to cap the cables.

What’s the best way of capping them in a narrow space, oval conduit? But how do you get them to stay on top of the cables?


Is this the best way to go about the rewire? Any tips and advice is greatly appreciated as this is my first time working with red brick

 

[telectrix]

you don't want to be chasing 50mm into brick. be nowt left to hold the roof up. is it plastered?

 

[DefyG]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on doing a rewire in an empty red brick house, no one will be living there or any furniture as there are new owners.

I have researched on how to chase red brick, as I already have a brushless grinder I think buying a diamond disc is my best way of doing it. As I want to keep dust levels low I have been looking at buying a makita dust collecting guard. As I can’t find how deep you can cut while using one I will assume I cant cut up to 50mm. Therefore I will need to cap the cables.

What’s the best way of capping them in a narrow space, oval conduit? But how do you get them to stay on top of the cables?


Is this the best way to go about the rewire? Any tips and advice is greatly appreciated as this is my first time working with red brick

Hi George,

I presume the internal walls are plastered over the red brick and not 'face brickwork' as making good would be nigh on impossible!
Assuming the chases are for circuits serving sockets, not sure why you would want to chase 50mm deep as the sockets would need RCD protection and therefore also protects the cable.
Chases therefore needed are probably only plaster depth!
The cables thread through the oval conduit so not sure what you mean by 'getting them to stay on top of the cables'?

 

[7029 dave]

What finish is going on top of the red brick ie bonding/finish/plasterboard. If any of the mentioned are being used then no need to go that deep.

 

[Georgemidnight]

you don't want to be chasing 50mm into brick. be nowt left to hold the roof up. is it plastered?

Haha, the house is plastered yes

 

[Georgemidnight]

What finish is going on top of the red brick ie bonding/finish/plasterboard. If any of the mentioned are being used then no need to go that deep.

The house is currently wet plastered so was going to chase into that then into the wall partially. The chases will then be plastered over

 

[123]

Buy a cheap wall chaser and suitable vacuum. Angle grinder will be horrible to work with the amount of dust produced. Wall chaser can be set to the depth you want to cut the chase to.

 

[Georgemidnight]

Hi George,

I presume the internal walls are plastered over the red brick and not 'face brickwork' as making good would be nigh on impossible!
Assuming the chases are for circuits serving sockets, not sure why you would want to chase 50mm deep as the sockets would need RCD protection and therefore also protects the cable.
Chases therefore needed are probably only plaster depth!
The cables thread through the oval conduit so not sure what you mean by 'getting them to stay on top of the cables'?

Yes, only red brick being plastered on. Yeah good point, how many mm do I need to leave for the plaster to sit in the chase?
I meant just using oval conduit lid to sit on top

 

[Dustydazzler]

Buy a cheap wall chaser and suitable vacuum. Angle grinder will be horrible to work with the amount of dust produced. Wall chaser can be set to the depth you want to cut the chase to.

We used to use an angle grinder on unoccupied rewires back in the day , I would put on a cheap old mask and googles and be sent in to do all the chasing. Within 15 mins your literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face due to dust in the house...
Those were the days, you would be blowing black snot out your nose for the rest of the day

 

[Georgemidnight]

We used to use an angle grinder on unoccupied rewires back in the day , I would put on a cheap old mask and googles and be sent in to do all the chasing. Within 15 mins your literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face due to dust in the house...
Those were the days, you would be blowing black snot out your nose for the rest of the day

Doesn’t sound fun that haha, what would you recommend to do nowadays bud?

 

[brianmoooore]

Be very careful chipping out any chase or box on a dividing wall with a neighbouring property. The mortar holding these bricks isn't very strong, and I found out by experience that neighbours don't really appreciate random holes appearing in their walls.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Be very careful chipping out any chase or box on a dividing wall with a neighbouring property. The mortar holding these bricks isn't very strong, and I found out by experience that neighbours don't really appreciate random holes appearing in their walls.

Wish someone told me that when I was an apprentice , I was smashing out a load of boxes in an old house only for the neighbour to come round ranting that I had blown holes in their wall...

 

[Dustydazzler]

Doesn’t sound fun that haha, what would you recommend to do nowadays bud?

Twin disc wall chaser and a good vacuum attached

 

[brianmoooore]

Wish someone told me that when I was an apprentice , I was smashing out a load of boxes in an old house only for the neighbour to come round ranting that I had blown holes in their wall...

Was just the one hole in my case, and it went through into a bedroom, behind a wardrobe, so I got away with it with minimal repairs.

 

[littlespark]

How are the existing cables run? Can you reuse any of the chases?

You mention oval conduit lid?? #8

Conduit is simply a pipe…. Do you mean trunking lid?
Capping would be just as good.
You just need to be deep enough from the finished wall surface to cover. 15mm maybe.
Obviously deeper if it’s a bigger cable.

 

[Simon47]

And something else to be aware of, or prepared for ...
You start chasing into the plaster and big lumps fall off the wall. At our last house, we took several walls back to bare brick and had them re-plastered as the original (1960s in that case) plaster was no longer attached to the bricks.
Also in that house, the bricks were 'kin ard. When I say 'kin ard, they were the hardest bricks I've ever come across. Fragile, so if you go at them with too much of a drill then they break up, and I ended up having top spend hours per chase with a 1" scutch comb slowly taking them back so as not to end up saying hello to the neighbours through the wall.

But, a mate told me a funny story many years ago. Old terraced houses, and the shelves in the kitchen weren't needed. So removed the shelves - which left some timbers sticking out of the wall. Cut them off with a saw, but they were still proud of the plaster - so he thought he'd just push them back into the cavity a bit ...
Some will be ahead of me at this point. He heard a lot of noise from the other side of the wall, and a not very happy neighbour who's shelf had just collapsed. Single brick leaf, and one piece of wood supporting the shelves on both sides.

 

[Georgemidnight]

And something else to be aware of, or prepared for ...
You start chasing into the plaster and big lumps fall off the wall. At our last house, we took several walls back to bare brick and had them re-plastered as the original (1960s in that case) plaster was no longer attached to the bricks.
Also in that house, the bricks were 'kin ard. When I say 'kin ard, they were the hardest bricks I've ever come across. Fragile, so if you go at them with too much of a drill then they break up, and I ended up having top spend hours per chase with a 1" scutch comb slowly taking them back so as not to end up saying hello to the neighbours through the wall.

But, a mate told me a funny story many years ago. Old terraced houses, and the shelves in the kitchen weren't needed. So removed the shelves - which left some timbers sticking out of the wall. Cut them off with a saw, but they were still proud of the plaster - so he thought he'd just push them back into the cavity a bit ...
Some will be ahead of me at this point. He heard a lot of noise from the other side of the wall, and a not very happy neighbour who's shelf had just collapsed. Single brick leaf, and one piece of wood supporting the shelves on both sides.

Last thing I want is to upset a new neighbour! Haha. I will be extra careful when it come to chasing walls back to back with the neighbour. Thanks for your comment. G