When to rewire?

Fleeting said:

To suggest a rewire you must support it with evidence. My house was wired in 1971 and it is perfectly sound.

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I would expect a rewire carried out in 1971 has had a number of additions and modifications since the initial install 50+ years ago
Back then the 3036 Wylex board was still the consumer unit of choice and ELCB's were generally only found on TT systems, the 14th edition regs were a lot less onerous and having moved on 4 editions and many amendments and the proliferation of appliances needing power over the last 5 decades and having also become a more litigious society it has certainly changed the landscape of how older installations are viewed

I'm sure that if you were carrying out an EICR on an untouched 1971 rewire you would not be giving it a perfectly sound assessment with no C2 or C3 codes

UNG said:

I'm sure that if you were carrying out an EICR on an untouched 1971 rewire you would not be giving it a perfectly sound assessment with no C2 or C3 codes

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I find older systems tend to test out better than many newer ones, except when bob the builder has been changing things. I have a theory that any electrical faults have been arcing so long they have welded themselves together

binky said:

I find older systems tend to test out better than many newer ones, except when bob the builder has been changing things. I have a theory that any electrical faults have been arcing so long they have welded themselves together

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Back in the day testing was not carried out much in all honesty, most sparkies only carried a megger, basic voltage test and a earth loop impedance tester if you were lucky.
IMO with the amount of testing today VIR cables would not take too much pulling about, especially at the accessories connected to the stuff just fell apart in your hands. Hopefully most of that has been relaced but I bet there is some still in service.

binky said:

True story time. Had a customer contact me about rewiring her smallish 3 bed semi. 2 other companies had told her she needed a full rewire costing either £12k or £14k , and this was around 8 years ago. I asked if they had done a full inspection, they hadn't. So I said we would do that and see if it was really needed. It needed a few things sorting out,a new board, and in short cost £1400 for the works in total. She gave me a 4 out 5 star review stating she thought we didn't offer good value for money. Worst review I ever got, no pleasing some folk

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Should of charged 14K

7029 Dave said:

1970 was still imperial cables went metric around 1976-77

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You're 5/6 years out there. Started '71 and never used anything but metric.

EICR installation over 60+ years old, 3036s....perfect readings....kitchen never refurbished. I've seen worse 10 years old....age does not matter.
Also rare VIR in good nick, yesterdays one falling apart in the CU.

binky said:

True story time. Had a customer contact me about rewiring her smallish 3 bed semi. 2 other companies had told her she needed a full rewire costing either £12k or £14k , and this was around 8 years ago. I asked if they had done a full inspection, they hadn't. So I said we would do that and see if it was really needed. It needed a few things sorting out,a new board, and in short cost £1400 for the works in total. She gave me a 4 out 5 star review stating she thought we didn't offer good value for money. Worst review I ever got, no pleasing some folk

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Too cheap to be any good you see . . .
No you usually can't please anyone

Bruspark said:

Too cheap to be any good you see . . .
No you usually can't please anyone

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This one really annoyed me. Should have told her £10k and rewired the place