buying a house

[lanswerted]

Hello there,

We viewed a house we really like, built in the 1970s and unfortunately it still has the original fuse box. I noticed the downstairs floor had a reasonable number of sockets and those are chrome plated. upstairs the rooms have a couple of sockets each but are all plastic. this either suggests previous partial rewires or maybe the owners have put chrome sockets to market the house....naughty if earthing is missing.

Now we are already at the of the budget and i was wondering if said house would need a rewire in case we need more sockets. I understand a CU change and earthing upgrade could enough if we add no sockets. Could do with advice.
Obviously if a rewire is 70% required then we would offer less for the house.

many thanks

 

[flameport]

Sockets always have earth connections, it's only lighting circuits from the mid 1960s and earlier which may not.

if the wiring and fusebox is from the 1970s, then a rewire is required. The wiring is over 40 years old and there will not be enough outlets.
If additional sockets have been added more recently that makes it worse, since who knows what kind of mess could have been made of that.

 

[winston1]

Modern PVC wiring does not generally degrade so it is quite possible to extend it for more sockets rather than rewire. The fusebox will probably have rewire-able fuses, but if it conformed at the time there is no regulation that says it has to be changed.

Don't bank on getting a price reduction, the vendor probably priced it to take account of such things.

 

[Iamchamps]

I changed my sockets in living room to chrome when decorating I have not done all of upstairs. They look nice with the decor I am not trying to hide something.

 

[JP_]

Make an offer and if accepted get a survey of some sort, and say you want electrical survey. if it's old, get a quote for work and negotiate a lower price.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

those are chrome plated. upstairs the rooms have a couple of sockets each but are all plastic. this either suggests previous partial rewires or maybe the owners have put chrome sockets to market the house

Or it suggests they like chrome sockets.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Now we are already at the of the budget

That's the mistake most people make.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Make an offer and if accepted get a survey of some sort, and say you want electrical survey. if it's old, get a quote for work and negotiate a lower price.

Any seller with an IQ bigger than his shoe size would reject that.

The time for offers is when you first look at the house. Once a potential buyer has made an offer, and invested money in the purchase, the seller knows that any further lower offer based on something as trivial as needing electrical work is just trying it on.

 

[lanswerted]

ok thanks

there is conflicting info online as to whether adding sockets to a 1970s
install is possible.

 

[JP_]

well, it worked for me last summer, got £4k off my accepted offer after the survey brought up some issues that needed fixing.
But, I accept it doesn't always work.

 

[lanswerted]

Modern PVC wiring does not generally degrade so it is quite possible to extend it for more sockets rather than rewire. The fusebox will probably have rewire-able fuses, but if it conformed at the time there is no regulation that says it has to be changed.

Don't bank on getting a price reduction, the vendor probably priced it to take account of such things.

i was assuming that old installs do not have ring mains but only have radials hence the current regs
do not allow extra sockets on radial circuits. Am I totally wrong?

 

[Taylortwocities]

ok thanks

there is conflicting info online as to whether adding sockets to a 1970s
install is possible.

Of course you can. Its done all the time. The only issue is that the sockets are not RCD protected because you have an old style fuseboard. But that was OK at the time of installation.

i was assuming that old installs do not have ring mains but only have radials hence the current regs
do not allow extra sockets on radial circuits. Am I totally wrong?

Wrong. Ring final circuits were designed and introduced in the 1940's. They have been the norm for most of the years since then. The return to radials for socket outlet circuits has been a more recent fad, mostly driven by what johnny foreigner is up to.

Sockets on radials are absolutely OK, and have as much popularily now as recorded music on vinyl.

If you have concerns like this, you need to have a report done on the installation. This will highlight what must be done and you can (try and) seek a price reduction based on findings.

 

[crystal ball]

i was assuming that old installs do not have ring mains but only have radials hence the current regs
do not allow extra sockets on radial circuits. Am I totally wrong?

Yes

 

[winston1]

i was assuming that old installs do not have ring mains but only have radials hence the current regs
do not allow extra sockets on radial circuits. Am I totally wrong?

Yes you are on both counts. Rings have been around since the late 40's. There is no prohibition on adding sockets to radials.

 

[EFLImpudence]

i was assuming that old installs do not have ring mains but only have radials

That's most unlikely; almost guaranteed to be the other way round.
Ring final circuits; not ring mains.

hence the current regs do not allow extra sockets on radial circuits. Am I totally wrong?[/QUOTE]
Yes, totally.