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

You're right! I will have to involve BC. I'm not worried about this.
The thing is, I have to rewire anyway within 5 years.
There is no insulation on the walls (it's an old period property - they did a gypsum replaster back in the 1980s), so I'll have to add insulation at some point on the walls.

it is a major faff though. I'm hoping they'll relax the insulation rules because it's a bit OTT and hard to balance ventilation with insulation, which period properties are more sensitive to.

By "holes", I meant the chasing from the rewiring.

Does anyone know if this will be a real problem in a period property (solid wall, no cavity) 😅

Mice can get through holes the size of a pencil so yeah they probably will be an issue.

I don't know anyone in a period property who hasn't had issues with mice

hmm, most people I know own period properties, but they haven't had mice issues tbf.

Thanks for this, I'll look into this!

Thank you. I really needed to hear from people with the experience of it. Is your home a period property? :)

Not dusty, or no more than the rest of the house! I don't notice it anymore and it's just on the list of things that need doing one day.

You mention insulation, are you aware that getting your walls properly breathable again so they dry out will increase their insulating properties by 30-40% (SPAB figures)?

You mention you want to get to know your house. If so don’t do your rewire straight away as you use your house you will get a feel for where you need sockets etc. we rushed our bedroom because of getting someone in before Covid lockdown and sockets are not where we need them and it annoys me so much. Took the time with our spare room and office and the socket situation is so much better as we lived in the house for a bit. If you can wait I would live in it a few months and then do it and in that time save for plastering

@Scampuss

You mention insulation, are you aware that getting your walls properly breathable again so they dry out will increase their insulating properties by 30-40% (SPAB figures)?

sorry, I don't know what that means. Do you mind explaining to a newbie FTB like me? 😅

We had a problem with mice in our current house but mainly because we’ve started clearing out old barns.
Now that’s done we no longer have a problem
Ive lived in period properties all my life and never had mice. Just constantly clear away crumbs, keep it clean including the garden and hopefully you’ll be OK.

Another 👍for following SPAB guidance from me!

what does that mean?

You mention insulation, are you aware that getting your walls properly breathable again so they dry out will increase their insulating properties by 30-40% (SPAB figures)

I plan to get wood fibre boards and lime plastering done to help with breathability @Scampuss :)

We’re about to start with that this summer.
Our external walls have been infilled with modern render and obviously it’s falling off and causes damp. (14th part 15th century timber property, some fell off just this week and nearly hit the car 🤯)
You might enjoy trying it yourself ( if you have the time) I did a SPAB course years ago and I’m doing it all myself. Hoping to teach dh too 😁. It’s very expensive otherwise.

It's worth getting hold of a copy of SPAB's eco old house book as it explains all this.

With a solid walled house the best thing you can do is remove modern materials and return the walls to their intended breathable state. Just doing this will massively increase the insulation properties of your house, and is way cheaper and less damaging than adding (often unecessary) insulation.

Absolutely agree. I can tell you’re a SPAB enthusiast too @Scampuss .

Dont forget also OP ivy and bushes too close to or on a property should be cut back as often this can be the cause of damp. ie they prevent the circulation of air. The previous owners of ours RIWd an entire wall because of damp when the problem was the ivy on the outside.

Absolutely agree. I can tell you’re a SPAB enthusiast too

Well, yes!

It's also worth pointing out that taking a more conservative and conservation-led approach of restoring and renovating rather than replacing and 'updating' is not only better for the house but considerably cheaper and also easier to DIY.

Same DH replastered holes off all sorts when we moved it. Took a few days but got it tidy for us to do a top to bottom renovation whilst living in it. How do you feel about debt OP? I would be tempted to stick it in a 0% card if you can do it yourself and pay it off at the rate you would be saving

SPAB

https://www.spab.org.uk/

AKA The Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings

£5000 sounds reasonable for a full rewire in terms of cost. However the electrics aren't going to magically get worse over the next 5 years so I would ignore that bit of advice. It's up to you. If you are going to want to add loads more sockets or are taking the house back to brick then I would do it. If not then I would not bother.

Vacuum up all the dust, then wipe over with a damp cloth to get the bits that don't vacuum. There will be dust in the air which will slowly settle and will need vacuuming up and damp dusting probably several times over days/weeks depending how much dust was created.

The holes in this case will all be interior for cable runs, it's holes to the outside that allow mice to get in, ie, gaps around pipes exiting the property.

What are the C2 items?

I'd be dubious about needing a rewire in 5 years time and doing one just in case
It only needs to pass the ECIR if you are going to rent it out

Thank you. I really needed to hear from people with the experience of it. Is your home a period property? :) Yes, Georgian, but unlisted and it had a major renovation in the 80s so there's not many original features left in the house. The wiring was dodgy when we moved in, though, so we just bit the bullet and sorted it right away, including adding sockets and light fittings as the entire house was lit by lamps on 5 amp circuits (ie there were no fixed ceiling or wall lights). At the same time we added data cables and repeaters for the wifi in the ceilings (don't know the exact terms, but the electricians knew what they were doing!) and proper wired smoke alarms across the house.

On the subject of rodents, the electricians had floorboards up through the house and I have never seen so many rodent skeletons. We are rural so there are rodents everywhere outside but the previous owners didn't have cats and we do which seems to make a difference in the house!

@Itsallsoboring

i think if you're taking this project on you're going to need to be ok with mess & dust for quite sometime.

itll definitely be more dusty, but not like it's being bellowed in!

enjoy the process of proper restoration!