How much does it cost to rewire a 4 bed house?

[hester]

I've recently moved into a 30s semi - typical suburban 3 bed that has been extended upwards. I have no idea when it was last rewired, but one of the sockets looks pretty antique, and the lights seem to fuse a fair bit. Also, I've noticed blue sparks coming out of the sockets when I remove plugs.

How urgent is this? And how much should I expect to repay for rewiring? I'm pretty broke, but don't want to burn in our beds. Also, what damage is left by rewiring: will I need to replaster and repaint?

Many thanks!

No idea how desperate your rewire could be, but we just had ours done for approx £3500 + VAT. We had to move out for 2 weeks as floorboards were up, plaster dust everywhere, etc, it would have been impossible to stay there with two toddlers. Hope that helps.

Oh blimey, that's worse than I feared!
Did you then have to replaster and repaint?

I think including replastering our 3 bed £6k.

We have a concrete ground floor which meant it all had to be done from the bedroom floors! It took 1 man 10 long days and we weren't living there and had virtualy emptied the house, disposed of carpets etc.

All my fantasies of 'six hundred quid and don't worry they can do keyhole surgery through your drainpipe' are dissolving into Scotch mist...

But thanks very much for bringing me back to reality! I'd better start saving up.

We live in the south east so if you live elsewhere it may be cheaper. If the extension is fairly new it should have been done properly

It would be worth getting someone around to test all the various sockets etc and get an estimate - it could be that it's been part done.

Our house wasn't earthed properly and it had some dodgy cable to run the electric shower! Our neighbours had an electrical fire in the 80's so the council had to rewire their house but didn't do all the other ones in the block of terraces

My large 3 bed Victorian house was rewired over the summer. There was no way we could live here. The rewire cost £3000+ but then had to have much of it replastered and the kitchen needs to be tiled. Lots of original floorboards taken up and an awful awful mess. But needed to be done as the wires were ancient. If you do go ahead, make sure you have LOTS more sockets than you think you need. I did put extra in but somehow still do not have enough

Am in Southwest btw.

You can always get an electrician round to have a look and see what they suggest. Mine was fab.

I live in London, so not expecting a bargain!

Thanks everyone. I will get it done, but clearly I need to do some more thinking about when and how I'll pay for it.