Rewire and Demolition

[Donnchadh Murphy]

Hello,
I'm wondering if you can help. We're due to move into our new house next week. It needs a full refurb, and we are looking forward to getting our hands dirty.
We had booked an electrician to do a full rewire 3 weeks after we move, so that this is done just after the initial demolition phase.

Unfortunately I tore my Achilles tendon last night and now I'm on crutches for the next 3 weeks... So it's unlikely I'll be good for much for another month or two. I'm a bit worried I won't have the house ready for the electrician and rewire and would value some advice, please.

I was hoping to pull off all the old plaster (walls and ceiling) in the kitchen before the rewire, with a view to then installing some insulation plasterboards on the walls and ceiling. I was also hoping to pull up all of the old carpets around the house beforehand. Unfortunately neither of these are likely to be done.

I'm wondering if I should postpone the rewire, or whether it would be possible to have a rewire before demolition?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The plaster will not cause much of an issue, but the carpets will. Could you maybe engage a handyman type to lift the carpets and get them in a skip? Your electrician will have a bit more work to do, where the cable runs are, but just make it clear he can wreck as much plaster as he needs to - because it is all coming off.

Rescheduling an electrician, to get the job done within a reasonable time-frame, might prove almost impossible.

 

[blup]

If the electrician quoted on the basis all ceiling and plaster plus floor coverings are removed, his price may go up if they remain there.

Good luck with the recovery.

Blup

 

[Taylortwocities]

Suggest you pre-warn him that you couldnt do as much prep as hoped. It'll probably be ok.

Don't postpone, most decent sparks are booked up for weeks ahead and a replacement is as rare as hens teeth these days.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Just an extra idea which might help compensate your sparks for some of his time and reduce the cost - If you engage a handyman to clear the floor coverings, you could maybe get the same guy the chop the chases in the plaster under the electrician's direction and maybe lift/refit floorboards for him too.

 

[sparkwright]

The best thing to do is contact the electrician and explain the situation.

The chances are he is will be behind on all his other jobs, and may be willing to re-schedule.

If he's any sort of experienced electrician, he will be so used to pull back the edges of carpets and lifting up some floorboards he won't even think twice about it.

Hope you get better soon.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The best thing to do is contact the electrician and explain the situation.

The chances are he is will be behind on all his other jobs, and may be willing to re-schedule.

If he's any sort of experienced electrician, he will be so used to pull back the edges of carpets and lifting up some floorboards he won't even think twice about it.

Hope you get better soon.

However, he will need to and be entitled to charge extra beyond the quoted price.

 

[sparkwright]

Yes, naturally.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes, naturally.

So really, he would be better paying for a much cheaper handyman to tackle those tasks if he can find one, or at least, as you suggested - ask the sparky if he might be possible to delay the start a while..

 

[sparkwright]

Not necessarily, in some old houses the floorboards can come up so easily it's hardly worth getting someone else in.

However, if they are tongue and groove boards, or chipboard, or something like that, then a handyman will be... well, handy.

 

[mattylad]

Consider what you will be doing in each room now and in future.
Put in ethernet cabling while you can, multiple lines to each room.