Occupied rewire, what to expect?

[PowerTulle]

Has anyone had their older home completely rewired, without fully moving out? We’re in a very quirky house, 100+ yrs old, loads of original features like panelling, parquet floors everywhere, very crumbly walls etc. It’s looking inevitable the diy 1960’s wiring will have to be fully replaced. Local electrician has already told us it’s a Big Job.

How do you manage all the disruption while not being able to move everything out? Realistically, while the work is being done, we could juggle packing off the kids/dogs to family over school holidays but we can’t move out lock stock and barrel. Has anyone done this and got any advice?

Why can’t you go into an airbnb for a couple of weeks? It will be easier and quicker. If I was an electrician, I’d not want to work around people….
It hinders them given the scale of the work. I’d suck the costs up too and put belongings into storage..

We moved out. Our electrician advised it adds work to the job if you're there, as they have to make it safe each evening, etc.

Yes ideally we’d all move out. I suppose I was wondering if they could work round the furniture, our belongings etc. And maybe one of us could camp out in one room to keep an eye. I suppose that’s unrealistic. It just seems like a huge deal. Also complicated by ND DC’s who wouldn’t cope well with an unfamiliar rented house.

As PP said - it wouldn’t be practical for anyone to be staying at the property when this work is being done as they’d have to spend additional time making it safe. Chances are you may not have electricity /lighting at the property too as these would be ripped out..

If a wire fell and electrocuted you then the contractor’s liability insurance may not pay out..

Not safe. Contractor may not finish job and you’d struggle to get another one. Just rent for a couple weeks.

we did it. it was hell, loads of stuff got ruined and it took much longer because we were in the way. It was also dangerous. One day I literally fell through the floor due to a loose floorboard. You have to move stuff out anyway. Anything fabric will run the risk of getting ruined with all the plaster dust

We’re in a very quirky house, 100+ yrs old, loads of original features like panelling, parquet floors everywhere, very crumbly walls etc. It’s looking inevitable the diy 1960’s wiring will have to be fully replaced

none of that says rewire. Are the lights flickering, scorch marks on wall etc?

Smell of burning? What makes you think full rewire?

We did, and we both work from home. It's a dormabungalow and they did room by room, took about a week,no more and they worked around our phone calls etc. Actually I guess ours is more modern tho, 1950s property just being upgraded to the regs that changed a couple of years back. So not 100 year old wiring.

I stayed during a complete rewire. Electrician asked me why a few days in...

It's shit.

It's one job I would now defo go somewhere else for, tho I'm getting soft and went to a holiday home for a boiler change a couple of years ago.

We had a rewire recently and I can't stress enough how much you need to move out.

The disruption is unbelievable, it's nothing like getting an extension or whatnot. Half the time we had no lights, no running water, no heating, all the floorboards were up and I even fell through the ceiling into the dining room beneath. It is AWFUL to live through. You will inhale so much dust that you won't be able to stop sneezing and when you do sneeze it will come out black with soot (true story, not exaggerating).

Our electrician said to not leave furniture out. We put everything in the garage apart from one sofa which wouldn't fit so we covered it thoroughly in dust sheets. Even still the sofa was completely ruined and we had to buy new ones. Plus if you leave furniture the electrician has to keep moving it all back and forth which slows things down and then you have to pay him for more days so the price keeps going up and up.

Seriously - put your stuff in the garage or a storage unit and move out until at least two days after it's done and you've had a big, big clean!

We did.

Big old house; full re-wire as the old wires were dangerous. In a way, the house being listed made it a bit easier, because it had to be “minimal intervention” so no channelling cables into the walls and so on.

It was ok really being in there - and quite helpful being on hand to make decisions about what went where, in terms of switches and sockets, positions of lights etc. The worst disruption was upstairs where carpets had to come up to get cables along the joists; downstairs we had to leave the wooden floors untouched. I think the electrician is still speaking to us!

Wow. Reading this makes me feel like I really lucked out with my sparks. I had an extended 1950s semi completely rewired in July bar the kitchen as that was new. I put a post-it everywhere I wanted a socket and dragged all furniture into the middle if the rooms. They did the whole lot in a day and a half and were so tidy. I was joking about having fit young men on their knees in front of me, hoovering. Still haven't sorted the replastering though!

That’s awful! Hope you weren’t hurt.

We’ve asked a couple of electricians to quote for new sockets, lights etc and they have both said work can’t be signed off as safe. One has run tests on the system and flagged insulation issues. Yes there’s flickering lights, things constantly cutting out, weird bunches of wires that form separate’loops’ on the circuit etc.

@YellowSubmarine994

Bloody hell! Ok this is what I’m concerned about. I’m getting quotes and already know occupied will take longer and they’ll charge us more. But the level of work is making me think it’s completely unrealistic.

We did stay in the house during a big renovation once and basically barricaded ourselves into one room! But this sounds another level.

I'd definitely move out. Our house was rewired- 100 years old- and the mess was unbelievable. Also floorboards up and things switched off. It's also incredibly noisy with drilling into the wall. We moved into a hotel for a few days.

Imo you should factor in a week in an airbnb and a couple of weeks of storage for anything you can’t put into your garage. Plus a day of a carpet fitter to relay your carpets Ideally also a removals firm. Some of that cost you’ll save on the cheaper and faster electrical work and it will save your sanity. Obviously factor in that your entire house will need redecorating too

I’ve done it twice. Never again. You dream of clean carpets (literally). An old house is likely to have lathes and the mess from cutting through those is extreme. Every single Barbie had to have a hair wash afterwards and this was after everything was covered properly. Absolutely no tradesman ever thinks ‘I’ll just move that box before I drill into this wall’…no one wins if you stay…it takes way longer and then the plasterers need to come in afterwards and that is another level of mess.

They arrive before you’ve left for school (and you all need to be up, washed, dressed and covering everything with plastic before you even think about leaving) then still there after school and you then need to start cleaning up before the kids can do their homework etc. I understand about your ND, but they may be more distressed over the mess and ‘damage’ to their room.

I’d rent a container, lift any carpet you are keeping move everything into it and then get an AirBnB for 10 days. It’ll save you time and money in the long run.

Have you had an asbestos survey done before you start?

and dust.
lots of it.

you will probably also need a plasterer to make good afterwards.

stay close so that you can look at the work and talk to the electrician every day to discuss progress and bring snacks

If you are having a full rewire, you can live in and any decent electrician will make it safe for you to do so. It’s not dangerous, it’s bloody awful though. Your electricity will be off for most of the day (depending on how big your house is and what the issues are, the actual rewire itself could take a good few days) it’s noisy (especially if they are chasing out) and dusty and dirty beyond belief. Then it’s got to be plaster patched and redecorated. I’d be moving out for at least a fortnight, probably three weeks and putting my soft furnishings in storage. Cover your carpets with plastic sheeting, taped down at the edges or you can get floor coverings that literally stick down (good for stairs)

Also put any animals in kennels/Cattery for the week

We stayed at our house during a rewire no issues no furniture destroyed and it was fine. 1960s townhouse rewire there was minimal dust as the electrician used dust extraction on there equipment and worked with minimal damage.
We had network cables installed to at the same time. We were left with power most of the time and while you can see where it was done in places we only had to patch over a few areas.

You don’t wait until your house is on fire before you have a rewire, that’s madness!