Full rewire needed? First time home owner

[bd1777]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the helpful advice in this forum. We've recently bought our first house - yay! With that being said, our building survey highlighted the wiring in the house, and an electrical installation report from 2017, when a new consumer unit was installed, suggested a rewire was necessary. We used this to reduce the sale price a bit, but I'm wtill wondering if it is needed. We will likely be replastering the house, so any chases shouldn't be a problem. I am a little worried about disruption to floorboards and things like kitchen tiles. With that being said, the house does have a new consumer unit, and so the grounding should be ok. The wiring looks like maybe 1970s uPVC? I've attached a picture. I've also attached the installation report from the new consumer unit, but I can't find what on it suggests new wiring may be needed. My thoughts are the circuit layout is not great, so a rewire would fix that, and we could add things like mains wired fire alarms, ethernet, etc. It's a 1904ish 3 bed semi that appears to have had the last major renovation in the 1970s.

Any thoughts based on this, or any questions I should ask the electricians we are having come in to provide quotes? Also, since we are going to replaster, would it help to have the plasterer strip the plaster before having the electrian in? I would think this should speed things up a bit and make it easier.

 

[buzzlightyear]

did the spark put in no compliance board ,like mix and match mcbs .

 

[loz2754]

The test results sheet doesn't correspond to the current configuration of that consumer unit.
That aside, I would strongly recommend taking this opportunity to do a complete rewire. It will allow you to have sockets exactly where you need them and will future proof the house for decades to come.

 

[Baddegg]

IR readings are all perfect so the cabling must be fine.....

 

[littlespark]

did the spark put in no compliance board ,like mix and match mcbs .

The board was put in 2017, would mix and match be an issue then? Possibly.
At least everything that needs RCD/RCBO protection has it.


The cert says the existing wiring is "poor". Can we get photos of how poor that is? 1970's would be twin and earth, nothing wrong with it. Only thing might be the number of sockets per room compared to new builds nowadays.

Obviously, if youre planning on redecorating, then now is the time to do any electrical work, even just additions rather than full rewire.

 

[buzzlightyear]

circuits 1to 4 me thinks non rcd ,but on the test sheet says rcd values .

 

[kropaske]

circuits 1to 4 me thinks non rcd ,but on the test sheet says rcd values .

They are RCBO's, Wylex on MK board, intresting

 

[steph-tux]

Hi,
I confirm that the protection seems very poor : my flat (60 square meters, 2 bedrooms) will have about 40 circuit breakers, on 5 rows, with 5 RCD.

I think you have only 1 RCD, only for the lights, and no RCD protection for all the sockets !!!
I would rewire everything, but it probably means to rewire all the house...
Stephane.

 

[MJPD29]

Hi,
I confirm that the protection seems very poor : my flat (60 square meters, 2 bedrooms) will have about 40 circuit breakers, on 5 rows, with 5 RCD.

I think you have only 1 RCD, only for the lights, witch are not so critical as sockets...
I would rewire everything, but it probably means to rewire all the house...
Stephane.

40 circuit breakers in a 2 bed flat? I'd like to see that

 

[nicebutdim]

40 circuit breakers in a 2 bed flat? I'd like to see that

Respondant is from France and seems to be unaware of different practices employed in UK.