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hoppy

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HI Guys.

Got my first lived in rewire coming up, so after some help on how to go about it.

I am a fully qualified electrician, but only do commercial and industrial work.

I have done one other rewire, byt it was vacant, so i just killed the whole house and ripped everything out no problems.

Obviously i need to leave power and lighting througth th course of the job, so just wondering how you more experienced guys go about a lived in rewire?

All help and advice is seriously appreciated!

Thanks

Craig

 
i assume your either scam reg'd or notifying LABC?

i usually rip out existing board straight away and connect temp board. then connect existing lighting to this

rip out all socket & other wiring

install new wiring

on a full day, rip out existing lights & second fix new. connect these to temp board

finish everything else

install new board

job done

all power to everything (& cooker is req'd) is fed from temp board via extension leads

 
I avoid 'occupied' rewires like the plague, sorry mate but they can be nightmares.... You are constantly having to move furniture, boards up , boards down. My advice is, assuming there are poeple in residence, leave everything in place until the last minute. Good luck!

Dunx

 
day 1, disconnect upstairs / lighting, into loft get upstairs first/second fixed, put on plug top in area of c/u temp on flex to twing and earth, for a few nights, start downstairs lighting get route planned trhough floor space. day 2 carry on with downstairs lights first and second fix get working, if time left in day get heating/boiler/imm heater feed through and connected, day 3 finish imm heater/boiler if need be, then get upstairs sockets started first and second fix, and usually get cable to shower, start down sockets, day 4 get kitchen first second fixed and finish downstairs sockets and get cooker point wired, day 5 get c/u done finish any bits that need finishing though property, this depends obvously on how many points there are to wire, and how big the property is, how much stuff to move, normally me and a mate can do an occupied in 5-6 days max.

 
This is how we (me plus a decent mate) do it...

Day 1. Get boards up and get EVERYTHING, including loft, wired, no chopping. Existing lights are unscrewed and left hanging safely (if heavy, replace temporarily with pendant) so that the same hole can be used for new wiring. If they want a socket where existing is, try to put it to the side a bit so you can do new one while old is still in place. Boards back down never to be up again lol.

Day 2. Chop everything out, make sure you have some crimps / terminal strips for temp repairs. Try not to hit any old wiring, but.......it happens. Core fans if required. Begin tubing/capping and 2nd fixing sockets, well actually get most of them done.

Day 3. Turn old juice off. Change Cu and finish second fixing rest of house. Juice up new and test. Say thanks and bye...

Now this method obviously has requirements. Its only works for upto a large 3 bed or poss a small 4 bed if there aint too much stuff to shift etc. Also we do this day in day out so have a routine setup that allows us to do efficiently. Now, no disrespect but you wont have this as its your second job. But the method can easily extend over more days. If chopping takes all day then slip an extra day in of just second fixing. One thing I will say is try to get wired on first day, even if you dont do the loft. That way your only move the bulk furniture and getting boards up once...

Good luck with it mate. I'm sure you'll pull you hair out. We do, every time. lol

 
Thanks for the great advice, these are exactly the little tips i was after.

Andy, not reg yet, I am going self employed at the moment and intend to use this as my assessment, going for Napit.

Have been working for a firm, doing commercial work, but have become annoyed as to how we are being treated like dogs, get a decent rate compared to most out there, but all our work is away now, and we get no extra for working away and don't get paid till we get to site and stop getting paid when we leave site. When your travelling 4 hours there and 4 hours back dependent on traffic, you loose a days pay a week which is crap. They expect us to leave home at 4am on a monday and het home late on fridays.

So thought i would give self employment ago, in the middle of setting things up.

Thanks

Craig

 
Good luck Hoppy, I start my first one tomorrow as well. I'll PM you in the week to let you know how I get on.
No, no, no. You let us all know on here, how you got off. :)

Thank You.

 
These lived in rewires, regarding the socket wiring, are you fellas chasing it in to the walls or just enclosing it in surface trunking?

My Mum had one done on the council and they have put everything in trunking, and TBH it looks shockingly awful. Of course being on the council she hasnt paid directly for it, but if a company had done that in my house they would not be getting a penny of my money

 
These lived in rewires, regarding the socket wiring, are you fellas chasing it in to the walls or just enclosing it in surface trunking?My Mum had one done on the council and they have put everything in trunking, and TBH it looks shockingly awful. Of course being on the council she hasnt paid directly for it, but if a company had done that in my house they would not be getting a penny of my money
That's a typical council rewire.... I was offered a job doing that recently, but couldn't handle doing rubbish looking jobs all day long:_|

 
These lived in rewires, regarding the socket wiring, are you fellas chasing it in to the walls or just enclosing it in surface trunking?My Mum had one done on the council and they have put everything in trunking, and TBH it looks shockingly awful. Of course being on the council she hasnt paid directly for it, but if a company had done that in my house they would not be getting a penny of my money
depends on whats paid for

sometimes has to be done in trunking, or partly in trunking, but usually chased

 
These lived in rewires, regarding the socket wiring, are you fellas chasing it in to the walls or just enclosing it in surface trunking?My Mum had one done on the council and they have put everything in trunking, and TBH it looks shockingly awful. Of course being on the council she hasnt paid directly for it, but if a company had done that in my house they would not be getting a penny of my money
Always chase in and conceal cables in all living rooms areas...

The thing that none of the above posts mentions is the ADDITIONAL accessory points..

I cannot think of any rewire I have done where the existing rooms had anywhere near a sufficient number of sockets outlets

and or the property had sufficient number of circuits..

Modern electrical appliances and all that...

Plus most rewires I do I am normally also adding Phone and/or TV and/or Data and/or Alarm system..

Also

Customer normally wants extra lighting that wasn't there before..

ceiling spot lamps / outdoor lights etc..etc..

So it is very, very, very, very, very rarely just a like for like rewire!?

In which case it normally involves a bit more thinking and planning sussing out cable routes to existing and new accessory positions

which you often can't decide until you get the boards up, sussing out joist directions access between floor etc..

With a typical lived in property with "real" floorboards, (and carpet), you can often move furniture to the middle of the room and lift a pair of boards up either side of the room, from where you can then fish and feed all your cables accessible between the joists. ;)

:coffee

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 18:53 ---------- Previous post was made at 18:50 ----------

Footnote:-

There is IMHO a BIG difference between a private homeowner rewire and a Council rewire,

Standards, planing & attention to detail & neatness are worlds apart!

:Salute

 
Always chase in and conceal cables in all living rooms areas...The thing that none of the above posts mentions is the ADDITIONAL accessory points..

I cannot think of any rewire I have done where the existing rooms had anywhere near a sufficient number of sockets outlets

and or the property had sufficient number of circuits..

Modern electrical appliances and all that...

Plus most rewires I do I am normally also adding Phone and/or TV and/or Data and/or Alarm system..

Also

Customer normally wants extra lighting that wasn't there before..

ceiling spot lamps / outdoor lights etc..etc..

So it is very, very, very, very, very rarely just a like for like rewire!?

In which case it normally involves a bit more thinking and planning sussing out cable routes to existing and new accessory positions

which you often can't decide until you get the boards up, sussing out joist directions access between floor etc..

With a typical lived in property with "real" floorboards, (and carpet), you can often move furniture to the middle of the room and lift a pair of boards up either side of the room, from where you can then fish and feed all your cables accessible between the joists. ;)

:coffee

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 18:53 ---------- Previous post was made at 18:50 ----------

Footnote:-

There is IMHO a BIG difference between a private homeowner rewire and a Council rewire,

Standards, planing & attention to detail & neatness are worlds apart!

:Salute
definitely,

100% agree with that,

 
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