Can you live in a house while it’s having a full rewire

[Nik2015]

Thinking of a doing a rewire. Can we live in it?
They do the first fix and then come back when the plaster is dry!
I have no clue if we can live in it in between?

Regarding rental - think outside the normal.
have you tried an air bnb? Or a basic bed and breakfast for a month? Hire a narrowboat/caravan and stay in the marina/hire base for a month etc.

I'd want to stay, as when our last house was required, the electrician had questions and suggestions fairly often, not least because the house was old. It helped bring on site. But hell, not fun with kids. It took 11 days.

We lived through it but we camped in 1 room and had no furniture in the other rooms (2 adults, 2 young dc and 2 dogs). How much rewiring do you need? Is it pretty much like for like or loads of different sockets in new places? Is it part of a bigger renovation? I think it's totally doable to camp through rewiring/replumbing, and replastering afterwards, but you'll need to get most of your stuff into a storage unit - it will slow down process and get filthy otherwise. Chasing plaster, taking up floorboards, replastering is extremely dusty and messy, so you want an empty house for that. We all stayed in 1 room (downstairs kitchen, gutted), put in 2 beds, 1 fridge, 1 kettle, microwave, 1 table, 1 drawer with clothes, everything else went into storage, and once all the other rooms were done we moved out, and that room got rewired and replumbed. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, we actually all quite enjoyed the experience (in a war time story/run the marathon kind of way), even though it took about 1 year (very large old spooke crumbling mansion type of place - it was cheap to buy because everyone looked at it and thought 'crazy' 🤪 , but it wasn't a quick fixer upper). I thought it was good to be on site everyday, and the costs of moving out are prohibitive. It's not only rent, but it's 2x council tax, 2x heating and water bills, and building insurance for an unoccupied building with ongoing building work would have bankrupted us, if we even would have got it, or the actual cover would have been minimal despite a hefty premium.

We did. The dust was insane. We expected dust but didn’t expect it to permeate everything the way it did. I wouldn’t choose to do it again.

The actual rewiring gor first fix didn't take long, about 3 weeks (v large house). But the making good took much much longer, so try and get a time frame for that. No point moving back in/putting furniture back in if you still need plastering, new flooring, skirting, carpeting etc.. You usually get 3 months cover on your building insurance if you move out, so if you move out try and get it all done in less than 3 months and use air b&b, cheap Guesthouse, premier Inn rather than long term lease. All those places might sound expensive, but they could actually work out cheaper as no council tax/utility/heating bills.

There must be other options that aren’t £3k a month. Static caravan? Hotel?

I'm planning on renting a mobile home on a holiday park while we have ours done, fortunately we have a couple of holiday parks close enough for school and work etc
That might be cheaper than a rental if you have one close by?

Hi @Nik2015 We've done up a number of houses and only rewired one. Unless the wiring is the old fashioned single strand or continually blowing a fuse I'd question whether it really needs doing. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

It may be much more cost effective to replace just the switches, sockets, lighting roses and consumer unit.

How old is the property?

I know this is going to sound dumb, but I hasn’t realised an electric shower didn’t need gas!!!

We've done it 3 times, twice with kids. As someone posted above its longer and be prepared for the mess. I would do it again but we do up houses so I expect it and it is always harder and longer than I think it will be. We camp out in smaller areas then focus on expanding, plastering and decorating one room at a time and moving to those once all the wiring and plumbing is done. I wouldn't personally rent during that time as it would make our renos uneconomical but I think you need to be prepared for how hard it is to live in a doer upper before you commit.

@Daftasabroom that’s a good point. It’s 1960’s and hasn’t been touched since then. Maybe I need to check if a full rewire is needed, it just made sense to get it done now while it’s in a state.

The 2.5k-3k is an air bnb. No holiday parks round here, not doing a b&b as need a washing machine, kitchen etc. No short term rentals either, all long term. I live in a big city.

@TheHauntedPencilCase we’ve lived in a doer upper twice before, but were younger and childless then.

@Nik2015 if it helps ours weren't bothered about it at all although the challenges were different doing it with babies v toddlers. Mine are older now (veeeeeerrrry long project this one lol) and I think might find it more of a challenge doing it again.

We went on holiday for a week whilst we had a rewire.

I'm reading with interest. I'm in a 1903 Victorian house. When I moved in I was convinced I needed a rewire. Got a fully qualified Part P Electrician in, who laughed at my fuse box and we had it upgraded at around £500. All the electrics were tested, and passed, and are a mix of 60s, 90s and 2000s. Nothing trips or flickers and despite my protests I was told I do not need a rewire. I'm leaving it until I do other major work and then I'll tackle it a room at a time as and when.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but if the house is already a state, now maybe the optimum time.

@SilentHedges that’s really handy to know, thank you.
I’m thinking that we need a proper inspection now.
Would me much easier if we didn’t have it done!

Lived through a rewire where they were able to pull the wires though trunking, they did a 3 bed semi in a week with time to spare, no problem, always left us with 'juice' at night, the only chasing in was where we wanted extra points.
OTOH, this house, larger house, more complex job, lots more extra points, moving the consumer unit, every wire had to be chiselled in to the plaster, we let them have the house empty. Made it cheaper and faster than if we'd been here- about 2 weeks all told IIRC, but at times there were three electricians and three plasterers going at it. The mess was considerable but we'd rolled up the carpets and there was nothing else in the house, so relatively easy to clean up. It would have been insane to try to live here while they worked.
It depends on what needs doing.
Kitchens, windows etc. we have done after moving in. The kitchen was the Big Pig job as it took a very long time, over 2 years, due to covid and lots of other things, but we could live with it as it was never completely out of action because we did a lot of it ourselves.

Hmn. We had the same (1920s house, 1970s wiring -maybe some earlier) but I'm glad we decided to bottom it out and have a full rewire before moving in. We were able to put in a lot more points everywhere, a more powerful supply to the kitchen, etc. etc. We also had fused supplies put in for things we might need later, like if we wanted an immersion heater or underfloor heating when we redo the bathroom, and I know I won't have to face redecorating for a full or partial rewire once I have done the whole house. We have also been able to remove a complete ratsnest of old cables under the floor, some of it long disconnected in previous rewires, some of that disconnected stuff was even cotton-covered stuff in metal piping, as we knew anything that wasn't new could be ripped out.

We needed a rewire and new boiling plus central heating installed in our house. Electricians we wanted to use wouldn’t consider doing the work while we were in to be honest, they just want to get on with it and they had plenty of work going on empty houses which is just so much easier for them.

We rewired and had the plumbing work done before moving in - put your stuff in storage and get an Airbnb for 2 weeks? Book in your work as soon as you exchange and they start as soon as you complete. We had plumber and electrician both working for parts of the work and they were all okay with that.

We’ve done loads of other work while living here, new kitchen and bathroom, new floors put down, new windows…chaotic but totally manageable but I really don’t think rewiring will work and it will be so, so much easier to do in an empty house.

@BlueMongoose I know that the joy of a (part) rewire awaits me within the next 5-10 years, even though everything is OK for now. Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to do it before I moved in. I wish I had of been like you. I'm going to wait until I've stopped work in 3-4 years time, when I'm in a better position to move my stuff out (thankfully I'm reasonably minimalist and my house is a standard 2 up to down) and stay elsewhere. For that reason I haven't changed my carpets or done any extravagent decorating, as it seems pointless.

If I were you OP, I'd just grit my teeth and do it now; as soon as you get your keys.

We bought a 1920s doer upper which needed so much work it became more cost effective to have a full rewire and replacement heating system/boiler. We lived elsewhere for a month and it made it all go much much faster.

Thinking outside the box, do you need to be in the city the whole time? Could your DH stay with friends during the week and you and the baby be elsewhere if you're still on mat leave and he can't work remotely? I bet there are seaside etc holiday lets which are cheap because it's out of season.

@LBOCS2 if you’re asking me about staying in the city the answer is yes. I work and DC is at school.

It is hugely inconvenient, we only had a two bed property, we went on holiday for a week, all done for when we got back.

Sorry, I misread - I thought you had a 7mo not a 7yo, which makes a big difference!