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What the hell! I am dreaming? Just rewire the property, seriously...???
 
What the hell! I am dreaming? Just rewire the property, seriously...???
They Don't want the hassle of a rewire, or really 100% need it mate. Its a 'not for profit' job for family.
My plan is Change CU,
Upgrade bonding,
Replace a few od the dodgier sockets,
Rewire upstairs lights
Fit double insulated downstairs lights.
Give it an EICR and EIC for works
 
I'm not saying make a profit out of it mate, just do the job properly instead of 'bodging' as a favour. I doubt you will get thanked if something goes wrong.
 
I'm not saying make a profit out of it mate, just do the job properly instead of 'bodging' as a favour. I doubt you will get thanked if something goes wrong.
they would be happiest if nothing could be done and they got a cert for the insurance mate, as with a lot of the population!
At the end of the day where's the bodge? It is safe meggers ok has enough sockets for what they need etc.
 
Doing a bit of work for a family member, fuseboard change etc..

Having a look around I found that the DB is a bakelite, wooden backed wylex 10mm tails 4mm earth.
All earthing is in black cable.
No bonding
Lighting circuits have no earths
Many switches are round on wooden pattresses
Oval-ish shaped bakelite MK sockets on wooden pattresses
PVC twin, 3cores have white has L2

Anyone guess a date just out of interest? they seem to think it is from 1961.


Problem I have is the lighting circuits, I can rewire the feeds but not the switchwires, as they are clipped, painted, caulked, painted and painted onto the door frames of recently decorated rooms and are extremely awkward to remove!
Is this worth doing?
Or should I just convince them to change the odd metal fitting back to pendants/class 2 fittings?

EDIT:- Forgot to mention IR is fine, well over 100 mOHms

Sorry if you think I'm being negative mate, but what you have just described above needs ripping out and rewiring. In your own estimation it is over 50 years old. How many alterations could have been buried in the walls etc. Why make them pay anything at all and then decorate when in a few years they may be having to re decorate as well.
They are asking you as the competent person for your honest opinion, don't be swayed by someone non technical asking you for a favour. Don't lower your standards mate.
 
I'd love to say re-wire it Jdd mate, but they won't do it. They're not interested in doing it... yet, maybe next time they do major works. The fact is with a few mods it could pass an EICR and be 'safe for continued use' In fact it is pretty much intact original spec with only 2 extra sockets added over the years and no extra lighting points!
It would be a nightmare to rewire with split levels, flint walls, lathe and plaster etc.
If I rewire upstairs lights, thats one less thing to do when it does come to need rewiring.
A good days work now would see it through another ten years, to do a decent spec rewire would take 2 weeks and cost a fair bit, I can see no reason for it not to pass another couple EICR's after this one, although it is only delaying the ineveitable!
 
An uncle and aunt of my wife got someone out to get their upstairs lights working again a few years back. I went up a few days later on an unrelated thing and took a little look at what they had, it was an old memora CU with rewireable porvelain fuse carriers, VIR cable which was well past it's sell by date and the CU was showing signs of water ingress. I told them that the CU needed to be moved and they should seriously think about rewiring, her uncle (who was tighter than a duck's backside)told me that I didn't know what the hell I was talking about because everything was working and that I was trying to screw him for money.
What can you do? When he died he left just over 250k in cash
 
An uncle and aunt of my wife got someone out to get their upstairs lights working again a few years back. I went up a few days later on an unrelated thing and took a little look at what they had, it was an old memora CU with rewireable porvelain fuse carriers, VIR cable which was well past it's sell by date and the CU was showing signs of water ingress. I told them that the CU needed to be moved and they should seriously think about rewiring, her uncle (who was tighter than a duck's backside)told me that I didn't know what the hell I was talking about because everything was working and that I was trying to screw him for money.
What can you do? When he died he left just over 250k in cash

Well we can only advise mate, this place seems a tad better then that, well at least no VIR in sight! I have suggested rewire but I won't go as far as saying its dangerous - as IMO it isnt.
A rewire would be to much for me to do anyway, I don't have much experience of doing them and no chasing machine etc., and more importantly - not enough time!
 

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