wiring
House rewiring, full and partial
A full rewire of a three bedroom house costs £3,500 to £7,500 and takes five to ten working days. The wiring itself is a fraction of that figure. What the money buys is the chasing, lifting, drilling and making good that getting cable from one end of a house to the other actually involves.
What this covers
What it costs. A full rewire costs £3,500 to £7,500 on a three bedroom house and £6,000 to £12,000 on a four or five bedroom property. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Full rewire of a property back to the meter
- Partial rewires of lighting or socket circuits only
- Replacing rubber and lead sheathed cable
- First fix during a renovation or extension
- Certifying and notifying the work on completion
What is involved
A full rewire replaces everything from the consumer unit outwards: every lighting and power circuit, every accessory, the earthing and bonding, and usually the board itself. First fix runs the cable while floors are up and walls are chased, second fix fits the accessories and terminates them, and between the two the plasterer and the decorator have their turn. In an occupied house the work is normally done a floor or a room at a time so the household keeps a kettle and a kitchen.
A partial rewire is a real and often better answer. Where the sockets were done in the nineties and only the lighting is original, replacing the lighting circuits alone costs a third of the whole job and removes the actual risk. The honest test is what the cable looks like at the board and at a couple of accessories: PVC insulated twin and earth in good condition has decades left, and rubber, lead sheath or fabric covered cable has none.
The signs that point to a rewire are specific rather than general. Rubber or fabric insulation that crumbles when it is flexed. A fuse box with rewireable fuse carriers and no RCD protection. Round pin sockets, or sockets mounted in skirting boards. No earth at the lighting points, which is common in houses wired before the late sixties and rules out most metal fittings. Persistent tripping that moves around the house. Age alone is not one of them: a 1970s installation that has been maintained can be perfectly serviceable.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask whether making good is included and to what standard, because plaster and paint are where quotes diverge most. Ask how many sockets and lighting points the price covers and what each extra one costs. Ask which rooms lose power on which days. Ask for the scheme registration number the work will be notified under, because a rewire has to be certified everywhere and notified as well in England and Wales.
Common questions
Do I have to move out?
Not usually. Most rewires are done in an occupied house by working room by room, with power restored each evening. It is dusty and disruptive rather than impossible. An empty house is quicker and cheaper because nothing has to be worked around.
How do I know if my house needs rewiring?
Look at the fuse box and at the cable behind one socket front. Rewireable fuses, no RCD, and rubber or fabric covered cable together make the case. Modern PVC cable and an RCD board usually mean the answer is no, whatever the age of the house.