Rewiring a house - what condition is the place likely to be in afterwards?

Mr Hindley · 05-09-2022 12:04AM #1

Sorry for the noddy question, but I'm considering making an offer on a house, and am factoring in costs for a full rewire - going by the fuseboard, the wiring is untouched since about 1980. My plan is to get this done before I move in.

Obviously, you can't rewire a house without making a bit of a mess, but I'm not sure what to expect e.g. do I need to organise someone else to come in after to replaster over where any chasing was done for cabling etc..? Or will the electrician do that and just leave bare plaster that I can paint over..? Can I expect wooden flooring to be back to how it was (assuming no massive surprises uncovered), or do I need to budget for repairs there also..?

Thanks for any advice!

AirAmp2019 · 14-09-2022 10:13AM

Recently had a full re-wire done.

Be careful who you get, one electrician told me that he'd have to smash through the tiles in the bathroom (which we were keeping) and the one we got was able to do all the work without touching the tiles. I'd absolutely recommend getting at least 2 quotes.

Depending on your wall type, they'll need to kango through the walls and you'll need those sections to then be re-plastered. If you're getting new light fixings, the damage to the ceiling should be minimal.

Our laminate flooring was damaged a small amount. I'd suggest getting worker-safe plastic or similar floor covering to stick down for the duration of the job being done and it would help with clean up too.

Once the electricians are done, yes, you need a plasterer to patch up all the chasing holes and will be left with bare plaster to prime and paint. Whether you arrange this yourself or whether the electrician has someone on the books to do it would be a discussion that is worthwhile to have with your electrician.

To bring the house up to spec, you may be surprised to learn that the sockets and switches have to be a certain height off the floor and that there needs to be a smoke alarm in every room. The price of the cables has gone up quite a bit in recent years, as with other materials. It is not a cheap job at all. You can also expect to wait a considerable length of time (my wait was nearly 3 months) for ESB to come out and finish off the tails.

Expect a very, very messy house to clean up afterwards! Our work took 5 weeks but we went with a very small, reliable team.

Padre_Pio · 14-09-2022 10:25AM

The electrician is an electrician, he won't do the plastering or carpentry, at least not to the standard you'd expect from that particular profession. What they may do is minimize the amount of patching that needs to be done.

Mr Hindley · 14-09-2022 01:45PM

Thanks, both - very much appreciated!!

@AirAmp2019 - do you mind if I ask how much your rewire job cost? No problem if you'd rather not say. I'm looking at a 3-bed semi so was budgeting for 8-10k for a full rewire, to an 'average' spec i.e. not looking for anything fancy, not looking at wiring sound into every room etc., just want to bring the wiring up to date and maybe some more plug sockets etc.

AirAmp2019 · 14-09-2022 02:28PM

@Mr Hindley we went basic/average too (two double sockets in each bedroom and a single ceiling light and each room wired for LAN - this was the electricians idea as our wifi isn't great in the bedrooms; spotlights in bathroom and kitchen diner; all rooms with at least two double sockets; flood light exterior front and back - no extras like wall lights beside beds or low level switches or floor boxes for kitchen island or under cabinet lighting etc.) and the higher end of your quote would be in line with where we were at for the house.

Rewiring a house - what condition is the place likely to be in afterwards?

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