House Rewiring

[Cliff178]

My elderly (70s) parents are adding a conservatory to the back of their house and remodelling the kitchen.

They have been told by their electrician that in order to connect electricity to the conservatory they will need to have their whole house re-wired to meet current regulations before he can sign off the instllation. This includes moving ALL sockets from the skirting board to a position up the wall.

The house wiring is not spectacularly old (1980s), is there any reason why an entirely new circuit and board can not be fitted which just supplies the new areas and only this gets certified?

If this is so where can I find it in writing as they are unlikely to query the electricians initial advice \\\"he\\\'s such a nice chap you know\\\".

Also, having been persuaded that the whole house needs re-wiring they would like to move the consumer unit to a new location, I can see why this may equire an upgrade to the current regs, but I still don\\\'t see why the sockets need moving.

Any help, and any ideas as to where I can find the exact rules online in an easily digestable format.

I can\\\'t help but feel they are about to be ripped off.

[JohnD]

Socket position: If you have an existing house (not a new build) then you are not obliged by law to have sockets at the current height standard (which is min 450mm max 1200mm from the finished floor).

However: "on the skirting" is bad practice, and is way out of date. Back in the 1970's sockets were being installed at 300mm above the floor. Sockets on the skirting are very prone to damage from hoovers, boots and furniture, so this is not a safe place to have them, and anyone buying the house in future will consider it a defect.

The other reason for the current recommendation for higher sockets is so that the aged and infirm, including people with dodgy knees and bad backs, can get at them with reasonable ease and comfort, and also those in wheelchairs.

Without wishing to seem gloomy, if your parents are already retired then a time may come when they will appreciate the higher sockets.

Need for rewire: If the house is only built in the 1980's (can you check this in view of socket position? What kind of fusebox/consumer unit does it have?) then it would not normally be due a complete rewire yet. i presume this is going to cost some thousands of pounds. It would be good practice to get at least one other comparative quote, from a local electrician recommended by a friend, neighbour or trusted tradesman. Local people in other building trades will tend to know who is reliable and does a good job. Make sure whoever does it is a member of a self-certification scheme, and ask which one. This means he is qualified to test the installation and issue a certificate for it. If the installation is done by someone who is not so qualified, you will have to pay the local Authority Building Inspectors to check the plans and inspect the installation at extra cost (unless you have it done by some cowboy under the counter); and although opinions differ, my view is that anyone who rewires houses for a living ought to be qualified to test and certify them himself.

The initial electrician should not be offended by them having an alternative quotation as it is usual practice.

p.s. "Nice Man" is no guarantee. All succesful conmen are noted for their warmth and charm. Of course this does not mean their electrician is not a thoroughly decent and honest fellow; but it is not a reliable indicator.

[securespark]

How high are the skirting boards, and can you confirm whether the sockets are just above them, or mounted in them?

__________________
As George Michael once said, "..if you're gonna do it, do it right, right?"

[Adam_151]

I see no reason why if the wosrt comes to the worst he can't just bring main bonding upto scratch and install a new RCD circuit for the conservatory (installing a separate CU if neccessary), and not any concerns he has about other cicuits in writing to the householder, thus discharging his duty of care towards them...

(if I had 1.5mm of tread on a tyre and I had my car in the garage for an oil change, then I wouldn't expect the garage to refuse to change my oil unless I had the tyre replaced as well)

[Taylortwocities]

Adam, skip the training and get out there, you know it all.

Yup, upgrade the main bonding, install mini CU for the conservatory & u only need to cert the bit you've done.
Rewire should not be necessary for 1980's house. It will have been done in PVC.