Does a whole house rewire mean that we'll have to strip the wallpaper and get it replastered?

[Boonlark]

Hoping to complete on a house this week. It needs a complete rewire. There's wallpaper on every wall. Does this mean we'll need to strip it all off, get it all replastered and then have to decorate? Or is there a way to avoid that?

The house is pre 1945, and I'm fairly sure that the wallpaper is keeping the plaster on the walls, so stripping it could get very expensive, and I've only got a small budget that also needs to buy a double glazing (it's only single glazed) new kitchen and carpets.

Although all the floors came up and there were a few points where channels were made, for the majority of the sockets I think that they just pulled the wires through. They certainly didn't put channels in all the rooms, although they all needed some touching up for a neat finish.

If you are planning to stay there a long time it is worth it for your peace of mind, especially if you can do it while it is empty. If the wiring is currently 40 years old and you plan on being there for 40 years, the wiring would then be 80 years old. We figured it was better to have the disruption before we moved all the furniture in than when we were retired. It is a really dusty process.

The second bedroom will need stripping, plastering and painting, as it's for the dc and they can't help picking at wallpaper

Then leave this room for the DC to strip!

Shamelessly place marking: thank you.

Our house had a rewire with trunking and not many sockets in about 1990 (old lady lived here so probably didn’t need many), we moved in and as we decorated we chased in the wiring ourselves and had a couple of sockets added. We recently had a new consumer unit and more sockets added, the electrician said that our wiring from 1990 was absolutely fine.

I would love to get the dc stripping their bedroom wall I'm just worried that the plaster underneath might not bear up to their enthusiasm 😂

I'll ask the electrician about whether it does need a complete rewire, but yes, I plan to stay here so I figure it makes sense to get this done now while I have the money and an empty house.

I get the keys today, and I'm so excited

Any wiring from 70s in will be modern plastic coated wiring and should last pretty much indefinitely.

Why do you think a full rewire is needed?
Socket facings can be replaced and additional spurs added in for new sockets if wanted, but a rewire seems overkill

Do you just need rewires or are you having new sockets?

Depending on the house the wires may be plastered into the walls but some older houses have gaps behind the plasterboard, in this case you can (well the electrician can) make a hole, tie the new wiring to the old and then pull the new wires through.

Obviously you can't do this if you are having new wiring.

You can also use plastic trunking and have wires on the surface, it doesn't look as good but you could use it as an option in some rooms.

We are having new sockets too. I know the electrician said that wiring in the kitchen needed redoing

@FangsForTheMemory we're getting our consumer unit replaced on Monday and it's going to cost £700. They need to run a cable all the way around the house due to the location of the boiler in relation to the consumer unit which may have added to the expense. Plus it doesn't include any problems they uncover in the process and need to rectify.

I had most of my downstairs rewired (1930s semi). It was done at the same time as a lot of other work (knock through / before painting decorating etc ) but it was a messy job. Carpets had to be taken up. “Chasing” up the walls meant that walls had to be plastered where the plugs had been put in.

I just had some plug sockets put into another room this week and on one socket a huge hole was left in the wall that needed to be plastered afterwards. We now need to decorate the whole room. To be fair that was always the plan.

So in my experience yes you will need to decorate.

Get loads of plug sockets and pay extra for the ones with USB ports in. That my top tip.😁

It depends how lucky you are. I did a rewire recently and none of the chased and capped in cables came out they were stuck in and original. Fortunately i used Quinetic wireless switches and for the sockets either went down the back of the larder in surface trunking or i was able to use old wiring to pull down the cavity. I had low insulation resistance readings as 1960 cabling was failing. Get you keys and book yourself an EICR with an electrician (you should really get this done when buying) if low IR values then get a rewire otherwise 1980's cabling should be good for another 20 years at least.

@Reedwarbler

If I see wiring in trunking I assume there is a problem with the walls which means the wiring couldn't be fitted flush. Trunking, like exposed piping, isn't a good look.

Why would you care? OP isn't moving/selling, she's buying.

She was concerned about mess and re-decoration.

I never claimed trunking is a good look. it was an option.

And I say that as an Electrician who used this 'option' for 20+ years. I don't do 'house-bashing' anymore but keep myself up to date.

OP, the house may be pre-45 but not necessarily the cabling. If the cabling is later, as in post-rubber, then an update may be all you need. Your Electrician has probably advised you that replacing sockets and switches is fine but any additions and replacement of your consumer unit are reportable. Hopefully he's Part P.

What a strange comment @billyt 'why would you care?' You could apply that question to just about any response to any post on mumsnet. Jeez, some people.

Why would you care?

Eh, what now? The poster is allowed to give their opinion. And I’d agree with them, trunking is not a good look.

Yes the electrician is part p certified.

Got the keys today and went to have a look. At least some of the plaster is blown in one room, so that'll need to be done anyway, and thankfully it was the dc room, so that works nicely! I forgot to check the other rooms.

More importantly there's a missing lintel in the kitchen window which I'm having put back in. It looks like there's been a bit of movement because of it, which is what blew the plaster in the dc room, doesn't look too bad though.

It depends how easy access these wires are.