Can I live with a house after a full rewire and not made good

[Itsallsoboring]

Hi all, I'm going to get my new purchase (period property) rewired as recommended by the electrician and EICR report. This is fine and I'm happy to do it. I will not replaster yet.

Only thing is, I need to save up a bit for about 6 months to do the rest of the house up. I have some savings now and after the rewire but I didn't want to touch it incase of unexpected surprises and things to fix in the house. I'd rather live in the house for a bit too, to get to know it.

Anyways, my question is: after the rewiring, there's going to be holes in the walls. I'm happy to clean up all the dust as soon as the rewiring is complete etc. But, will it be dusty and horrible to live in for the next 6 months? I just don't know what to expect as I've never rewired a house before.

thanks

did they say re wired to meet current minimum standards?

or dangerous in current state?

There's a lot of C2s (i.e. potentially dangerous). No C1s. Few C3s.
The EICR came out unsatisfactory.

personally…. i would prioritise as a priority

just you alone?

I'm getting the house rewired - this is happening without a doubt.

What I'm asking is: after the rewire is done, I won't make good the plastering and holes in the walls because i need to save up.

I'm asking: can I live in the house in this state for 6 months. Will it be dusty after the initial dust and mess the electricians made is cleared?

I'm nearly 14 years post re-wire and still haven't made good all the chasing...

It will be fine.

ah i see

i couldn’t deal with that for 6 months because i love a very tidy home but no safety issues so if you can… go for it

Thank you @Scampuss !

Is it dusty though? How do you "cover it up", or does it not bother you?

I'm not bothered about the look of it, I was worried about dust and things getting into my food when I cook etc

You could actually do it yourself with plaster repair kit and plaster skim….we did. I mean, I’m sure a plasterer would have done a better job but it was good enough!

Once you have cleaned it will be ok. Was the electrician recommended by someone?

However, before you rewire, I would find a good electrician by asking friends and colleagues for recommendations and double check that you actually need a rewire.

I say this because very few houses actually need rewiring unless they haven't been touched since the 1930s or are completely derelict. Wires don't really get damaged or degrade (unless they have been there for ages), so the only thing that can change is that the standards for new wiring. So rewiring will bring you up to modern standards but won't really do much else.

You might find that you just need a new consumer unit and fuse board, which will be a lot less messy and loads cheaper. If you do that and want to add extra sockets in the future then you can always do a room at a time then at least the mess is contained.

Edir : apologies my thread hadnt updated before I posted. Feel free to ignore.

have you looked i. to how much it would cost to get it replastered?

Also not fixed everything post rewire here, and it's been fine. It gives you time to think about the priority areas to fix.

I forgot to say that it's not dusty...or no more than a Victorian house normally is (or was pre rewire).

It sounds like you're expecting dust to spontaneously emerge from the holes. It won't. Once you've hoovered it'll be fine.

It's a long time ago now, 1980's but we got the rewriting done with wires in channels, then used polyfilla type stuff of fill in the holes.

Not pretty, but was fine. Lasted a good few years before we had budget for proper redecoration.

Some people spend budget on pretty fyi g between big jobs but there is really no need to do so.

How about finding out a bit more (you-tube) about what's involved so that you understand a bit better. All the best.

We are mid rewire..first fix in and about to start 2nd fix. Yes it's dusty but that's more from the new plaster work we've had done. You'd be fine. We've taken the whole house back to brick and are living in it without huge issues. There is dust but our vax has been invaluable.

@CrepuscularCritter - yes exactly this. It's my first home and I wanted to get to know it first. I'm glad to hear it won't be a problem. I've been anxious about it.

@keeptryinggirl Good question. The replastering I want done will be with lime plastering - it's quite costly so need to save up for it (gypsum plastering would be way cheaper but it's not what i want for my period property). Plus, i'm slow at making design decisions so wanted time to be in the house first.

@Geneticsbunny so, the EICR report noted quite a few C2s. They've recommended remedial works for those. The cost is £1500 just for those. I asked how long they think the electrics will "last" before a full rewire is really needed, and they said about 5 years. Since i know i will want to do up the house within that time, I thought I'd just do the rewire now (costing about £5000, SW London). What do you think?

@Snooglequack haha yeh, I've been expecting dust to be falling like snow!

@BeeandG ooooh, that's what I plan to do - Go back to brick! as I want wood fibre boards insulation and lime plastering in (after 6 months though).

Thanks! It's super helpful to know the first 6 months whilst saving i won't be living with dust.

Also, to those posting about polyfilla - thanks for this. I could look into this as a temporary fix, but not sure how deep the electricians go with the wiring.

The electricians can make good. It'll be a bit scruffy as most of them aren't plasterers. The decoration needed will be much more work but discuss with electrical company the way they'll leave it.

Going back to brick (taking off large areas of plaster) will impact your insulation requirements legally.

@mumda thanks, I will ask them! I didn't think they could make good. Tbh, I'm not sure i want them to haha

Decorators’ caulk will be your friend. It’s cheap, very easy to do, much less messy than plaster or poly filler ( comes in a trigger gun) . It is easy to remove when you have the plaster done properly.

I Hope you enjoy your new home.

We did it. The dust takes a lot of cleaning up initially, after that there's not really any way of 'covering up' where the channels went - they will be very visible but won't really affect your ability to use your home - it's just not pretty!

We had a full rewire after which the electricians did fill the holes but roughly, so they needed finishing/skimming afterwards.
Two years on I am still living with that in my bedroom which is one of the last rooms we will be doing up (as have needed to save to do the master bath, and all the mess will have to come through my bedroom). It hasn't been a problem.

And there were a few holes they forgot which I filled with expanding foam.

If it's a period house with lots of holes in it, I would expect it to become infested with mice