Electric socket on skirting board

[Softkitty2]

Hi, looking to redecorate and probably replace skirting board and electric sockets but realised our sockets are on the skirting board. Is this going to be a problem?

Any tips?

How? Are they working??

That can't be right

Must be an old house as that wouldn’t pass building control now.

Unless you have very tall skirting boards, the sockets are likely to not comply to modern regulations in respect of how high from the floor they are. It's a sign the wiring is old and it may need to be replaced. We live an old house and there are a few places where there have been sockets in the skirting boards in the past. We had some work done last year and the electrician found rubber insulated cables where the rubber had perished so a lot of rewiring was done.

Yes I just read that they will not pass regulations now. Obviously I would like to make sure everything is safe and compliant but I can't spend too much on it either.

I have a builder coming in tomorrow and I will ask for advice.

All of our sockets were in the skirting boards (house was built in 1860s). We replaced all the skirting boards as we had a new wooden floor put down so took the opportunity to move the sockets up. It was a rats nest of wiring so glad we did.

No not very tall skirting board. Was not expecting this cost at all.

We refurbished a house that had these. After the rewiring we had to get the decorator to fill in the skirting board holes. Not cheap.

I wouldn't worry about trying to meet the current regs unless the cabling is old and your having to completely rewire anyway. It's not a requirement for old building to meet current regs unless you are doing major alterations that need a building warrant, even at that certain things will receive exceptions based on it being an old house.

The height for sockets and light switches have been changed for disabled access reasons (able to use them from a wheelchair), theres nothing unsafe about them being on the skirting.

I thought it was too stop them being bashed by a hoover too?

The regs on height are only for new dwellings. However on the skirting is not ideal regardless

I would get your wiring checked thoroughly by a competent electrician. They will be able run tests and to advise you whether what you have is actually unsafe, or simply not up to modern regs.

If you are staying in the house for a while, it's worth sorting out the electrics.

I have had the electrics checked and it was certificated.. They didn't raise any issues.

Thanks for all the comments. This is our first home so will like to move in a few years time.