Rewiring in stages?

[Uvularia]

Hi,

We've just bought a 1920 Victorian house . A few days after moving in, realised that the quirky electrical installation of metal boxes in the cellar was not a decorative momentum that the owner had left to remind those of what the first electrical installations looked like, but the actual, working electrical installation . When we first visited the house we though "aw, look, how quaint ... " without even crossing our minds to ask, where the electrical equipment was. We were too busy falling in love with the high decorated ceilings and period architecture

Anyway, I digress ... we now have to rewire a 5 bedroom house ... (oh Lord, let there be money!) Of course, after payment of a very hefty deposit, not to mention moving and solicitors fees, money is not as abundant as it used to be ...

We've had a few quotes (still reeling from the amount of zeros in them ) but no electrician is very willing to replace the wiring in stages, so we could do the house a floor at a time (4 floors in total).

Can rewiring be performed in stages, perhaps by having two electrical systems working in conjunction until all the house has been rewired or does it really have to be done all in one go We want to rewire the whole house but still have to live in it, never mind pay for it and a full rewire would imply a lot of financial hardship, not to mention the blasted black lime which is sure to spread everywhere

Can any electricians please provide an unbiased answer?!

Thanks in advance

 

[RF Lighting]

Yes it can be done like this.

It does entail more work than doing it all in one go, and obviously this will cost a bit more for each part of the works, as compared with going at it all in one go.

I fully understand your reasons for not wanting to do it all in one go.

You may find that work in one area may entail disturbing other pats of the house, such as running new wiring back to the CU, and any circuits which are interlinked such as mains smoke alarms and two or three way switching circuits.

Any decent electrician will however be able to keep disruption / mess to a minimum in the parts of the house you are not currently redoing.

I have rewired my own house a room at a time over the last 10 years. It is more work, but we decided to do each room as it was redecorated to keep mess and disruption to a minimum.

 

[sparkybird]

I concur with RF - and that it'll cost you more. Also if it's done in stages then you are likely to be living in the house at the time, which will also slow things down (= cost more money) plus I hope you like eating dust.

Not sure if any of your electricians' suggested it, but it MIGHT be worth getting it tested as some parts might not necessarily need replacing. This would give you a better picture and an idea on what was the priority. However, if you want lots of extra sockets/new lights anyway, then rewire it is.

SB

 

[kirkgas]

i stay in an ex council semi and when we done the loft conversion into a bedroom & ensuite the spark suggested he rewire the (now) midfloor lights while he was doing the conversion as it would save disruption when we decide to get the existing house rewired, thought it was a great idea and it didn't add too much to extention and should reduce cost when rewire is done