HELP - Make Good? Rewire? You decide!

[Carlos74]

Hi All,

Am new here so be kind

I've recently purchased a victorian semi which is a bit of a mixed bag & in need of a little tlc, I've also part moved into it.

The plug wiring and some of the lighting drops are surface mounted so seems to be quite modern, the cable is white 2core? Although I understand this to be dated now? As the house was split at sometime in the past for living spaces. Apparently, the mother lived downstairs and the son & his family lived upstars. The house has been rewired differently. We have the mains arrive downstairs in a cupboard which seems to have a very old consumer unit, this powers the downstairs plug sockets. Then from here, we have a 'spur' link to an upstairs cupboard where we have a more modern 'mcb'? consumer unit. This controls the ground lighting, 1st floor lighting/plug curcuit and also the loft rooms lighting/plug curcuit.

Hope that makes sense.
My main objective is to get the wiring chased & for it to be as safe. As the house is victorian I want to preserve the coving etc which I've been told if I rewire all the ceilings will need to go? Is that correct?

Anyone have any ideas on how I should move forward with the 2 fuse boxs? Which one should I really keep/update or should I keep both?

Any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,

C.

ps. Their is no carpet in the house so all floor boards are easily accessible.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[Carlos74]

Thanks Holmslaw, thats good news ref the coving.

That did come from a pretty young electrician, the only one I've had take a look so far. He was going to quote to rewire with 4 drops per room for plugs plus pendant?. So explained all ceilngs would be knackered. He was against chasing in the current skirting trunked cabling as he predicted it would come up short in places and he wouldn't be able to add junction boxs to extend. Never did get the quote, anyways.

I've got another spark coming to have a look at it tomorrow. Trying to arrange another one also.

If a rewire is the way it has to be, I don't mind about the mess, it all needs to be redecorated so now's the time to do it.

If anyone in the Bromley/Bickley area fancys quoting, their welcome to drop me a message.

 

[ColJack]

skirting trunked cabling? please expand on this comment..

what cabling and why does it run in skirting trunking??

 

[Taylortwocities]

The plug wiring and some of the lighting drops are surface mounted so seems to be quite modern, the cable is white 2core?

I really hope it is two core plus earth. Otherwise you will certainly need it all ripped out and started again.

 

[flameport]

He was going to quote to rewire with 4 drops per room for plugs plus pendant?. So explained all ceilngs would be knackered.

Clearly that person had no idea what they were doing.
Assuming the floors are normal floorboards (not concrete), then the usual methods are:

Cables for socket outlets run under the floorboards, with a short chase up from the floor to the socket. It is normally possible to get the cable up behind the skirting board with minimal/no damage.

Cables for light switches vertically above the switch to the ceiling. With care, it is usually possible to get behind any coving without damaging it.

Cables for the ceiling lights are run under the floor of the room above (or in the loft on the top floor).

Cables from the consumer unit would be vertically above and below it, and on the 1st floor there will need to be a floor to ceiling section where the lighting cables go from the consumer unit into the loft (for the upstairs lighting). Typically this would be in the corner of the hall/landing, or inside an airing cupboard if there is one.

The only time ceilings would be damaged is where there is no access to the room above, such as in a block of flats, or where there is a flat roof.
Cables for sockets would only come down from the ceiling if the floor was solid concrete, or the socket was needed at a high level for a wall mounted TV or similar.

 

[Carlos74]

The Trunking I mean is the usual surface mounted white box trunking carrying the cables, this is mainly around the tops of the skirting.

Yes, I beleive it is 2 core plus the earth, I have one light fitting off and can see the old cabling in place along with the more recent cabling. So, assume the old should be ripped out anyway! God knows why this wasn't pulled out at the time.

Thanks for the detail response Flameport. All floorboards and no real ceiling what can't get to the above as even the attic has an accessible space above it.

Thanks for all the responses people, this has put my mind at ease.

I have another spark coming tonight for a look and also one tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes and if he can ID the cabling for sure!

Cheers!

 

[electronicsuk]

As the surface mount wiring is at skirting level, you will have a hard time trying to retain any of it for chasing in, especially if the sockets themselves are attached to the skirting. With the amount of work you're looking at having done, it wouldn't make a massive amount of difference to the cost to replace this cable.

Let us know if you hear back from your next spark!

 

[Carlos74]

Just to go on from this and if it's decided the cabling is good and chasing in whats in place already is an option.

Whats the part P rule if we need to extend any of the floor sockets cabling? Would this be possible with a junction box etc? And with that cable would be used? The more modern grey type cable?

I suppose it might be a good time to add any more sockets as well?

EDIT: I posted this when you posted the above Electricsuk. Yeah, I was thinking that just in case my wiring is a little dated. So expecting a full rewire to be the route to go now and happy with as ceilings aren't likely to get trashed to much. I also have read that it's not a good idea to bend existing old cabling again into new position? Could be wrong.

 

[wingcoax]

You will have flooring up anyway, so why not move the trunked cables under at the same time? Ok you may need to replace the odd length of cable if it did come up short but i would think not too many.


edit; this post was done before most of the above showed up

 

[electronicsuk]

I also have read that it's not a good idea to bend existing old cabling again into new position? Could be wrong.

Depends on the age of the cabling. Certainly it's a bad idea to disturb old rubber VIR cables, but if the installation were that old then you'd be completely rewiring anyway. Plus, I'm not aware of any VIR cable with white outer insulation.

 

[londonboy]

I also have read that it's not a good idea to bend existing old cabling again into new position? Could be wrong.

.... Plus, I'm not aware of any VIR cable with white outer insulation.

Ive seen it once! Only the dark shades of the cores gave it away, down Sittingbourne way I think.

 

[Carlos74]

Yes, cable is defintely 2 plus the earth in same cable, it looks fairly modern. White cable with 2 main wires which are shielded black and red, then the earth not insulated cabled inbetween them both within the white cable?

Spark who visited tonight recommended rewire @ approx c£5K. Basically Start again, new fusebox downstairs at source of electric into the house. I don't think he wanted to mess about moving some of the existing, and said it would cost a bit to do that anyway. So best to spend a bit more and get it rewired. He also confirmed no damage to ceilings as we have no carpets and all is accessible from above.

I'm not surprised he's suggested that a rewire is necessary, still a little dissapointed we can't use whats in place already as it looks fairly modern.

Got another spark visiting tomorrow and possibly another Sunday to look at for options.

We'll see...

 

[wingcoax]

5k sounds a bit OTT even for your neck of the woods. How big is your house?

 

[1john]

Carlos, go for the re-wire if you can afford it, have sockets where you want and need them, add additional switching positions if required, the beauty of a rewire is that you can forget everything that is there and start completly fresh, in old victorian houses some doors tend to get swung the other way than intended and can put switches behind doors ect, dont forget to pull in any CAT 5 cables, phone lines (although you may use wireless so may not be required) ariel outlets are a good idea too, but get 2 cables ran to the location and ideally have them taken to a central location like the loft, this way you can choose to connect to a satellite dish or an ariel, if you run two cables to each point you can have sky+ in any room at any point.

As with all big jobs, get a minimum of three quotes, ask what qualifications the electricians have, and ALWAYS get and chack references, as many as possible. Make sure the quotes are detailed and that you understand every thing on them, you can double check anything that sounds suspicious here. The cheapest isn't always the best quote, although sometimes it can be. Make sure you feel comfortable with the person you choose.