Renovating a single room in old house. Should I do plumbing / electrics?

guitarless

1940's house. Wiring and plumbing was probably done ~20-30 years ago.

I'm planning on doing "superficial" renovations to a room where the wall will be stripped back, insulation put in, and the floor replaced. I have old rads around the house that work well, and likewise old wiring that I've had no issues with. I'm conscious that eventually these will need to be updated even though they present no issues now.

If I'm tackling a single room is there any point and is it even feasible to get someone in to replace the rad & pipes before I finish the room with plaster / floorboards? Optionally wiring, but maybe it's less likely you can rewire just a single room.

My idea is that if I ever opt to get a full house replumb/rewire the room can be left alone. I'm not sure if this is really possible. Maybe it's not technically possible to split this work into a room by room thing, and I imagine it'd be hard to get someone out for small jobs to do it.

Any advice for this kind of "renovation"? Doing a whole rewire / replumb is far too invasive right now given I have no issues. I'm tempted just to go ahead and do the work around the existing wiring / radiator but I'll be kicking myself if I have to undo it all in 2/3 years.

Shauna677

There really is no need to redo wiring and plumbing that was only last updated 20 to 30 years ago.

DublinDilbert

Yea no harm in doing some updates or futureproofing while you are getting work done. What dept of insulation board will you be using?

If you are getting internal insulation done the main external wall with the window will probably be done, this is typically the wall with the radiator too. So the radiator would need to come down off the wall to allow that work to progress, no point fitting the old radiator back again.

I would replace the rad / plumbing (if needed) for that room, also take the opportunity to fit a TRV to the new rad, as with the additional insulation and more efficient radiator, the room might be too warm now.

Depending on the size of the wall being insulated i would probably fit 2 double sockets on that wall and run back to an existing socket, possibly do a couple of other sockets if you are taking up the floor.

Also decide if you want to run any CAT 5 cables under the floor before closing it up, these might be used / finished at a later date, but it is very easy to do when the floor is open. I would push the ends of the cable out of that room under say the hallway floor, so i could finish them later when doing the hall. If they are never used, the cost of the CAT5 cable is very low. Also if you have a wired alarm, put a new 8 core cable in before the wall is insulated, so new sensors can be re-fitted to the window easily.

ted1

do people actually use Ethernet anymore , all

My devices are wireless , with the exception of the XBox.

DublinDilbert

Yes people use ethernet, although many people survive without it.

JameGrooms

We renovated our 1950s house a couple of years ago, and I opted to update the plumbing and wiring as we went along, room by room. We decided to wait, but I think it’s worth considering if your current setup is showing signs of wear. If you’re in Oxfordshire, I had good experiences with a company like PM247—they’ve got emergency plumbing services that are pretty flexible and affordable for smaller jobs. Here's their link in case you’re curious: pm247.co.uk. If you’re not having issues right now, I’d say it’s totally okay to go ahead with the superficial work and deal with the bigger updates later on.