Rewiring of House

[pennelldj]

Hi Guys, I know nothing about electircs, wondered if anyoen can help me, how do you know if a house needs rewiring?.

Moved into a mid terraced house about 6 months ago, all the electrics work and I have a fuse box with trip switchs and different circut fused etc installed in the hall, but was in the attic today looking at fixing a ceiling light on the landing (was looking where the joits were)

Basically whoever has run the eletric cables has just run them over the joists and attic insulation, they arent nailed down or anything, we dont use the attic and it appears no one ever has but thought this was a bit dangerous, dosent seem right to me, is this normal?

Appreciate your help

Darren

 

[JohnD]

It is "normal" but not very tidy.

If you expect to be walking about up there, it will be better to staple them to the top of the sides of the timbers (i.e. as far as possible out of the insulation, but not where they will get trodden on).

The current load on lighting cables is so light that it does not matter if they are buried in insulation.

However, cables for electric showers and imersion heaters are heavily loaded, so should not be buried in insulation.

 

[oharaf]

Take a look at the cables behind a switch socket, if they are red/black and gren/yellow then you are wired in the old system, this may well be fine.

Your fuse box/ consumer unit is often a good clue, if it looks old then the chances are your house wire is old.

Did you have a full survey carried out? HOw olds the house?

A full survey should say if the house should be rewired (but not always they didn't on ours and my brother and myself were nearly killed by the state of the elecs)

It would help to get an electrician NICEIC in to have alook.

If it is piece of mind your after then get it done but beaware the average house is costing about £2.5K but you can have enough sockets etc for the modern life style none of those trailing extention leads

 

[Taylortwocities]

I'll agree with much of oharaf's post but:

1. Surveys dont tell you much about the state of your electrical wiring.
2. You should get a Periodic Inspection Report (PIR) done by a competent electrician. Go to www.competentperson.co.uk for someone in your area. Does not have to be NICEIC. The report will tell you what needs doing urgently and what should be done. It will tell you if you need a rewire, or not.
3. If the fusebox looks old everything may be OK.
4. Cable colours are no indication of an installation's health. A PIR will.

TTC

 

[kevnurse]

Unused lofts are deemed to be the first level of mechanical insulation from the householder, which is why the cables are not fixed. Basically, your loft is treated like a big conduit. Based on the fact that you have mcbs and pvc cables the system should be OK.

However, if you lay down floor boards in the loft and/or go up there regularly, the loft space borders on becoming a habitable room and the electrical regs, not to mention common sense, begin to kick in.

 

[pennelldj]

Hi Guys thanks for the responses, the report stated the hose had been rewired, however the lose cable in the attic space just concerned me as for fixing posts some of the cables were wrapped around nails in the joists, i thought this was a bit danergous. Is there anyhting you could suggest to make it safer?

I intend to lay down some good insulation in the attic, not going to lay any floorboards or have it as an extra lviing space - so is there any considerations i should make with the insulation?

FYI the hosue is approx 100 years old, all nex switches and fittings

Thanks