Rewire…mixed opinion

[Needtorelax1]

Hi everyone
after a bit of advice! I’m buying a gorgeous 3 bed 1950’s bungalow. Electrics haven’t been touched since it was built.
Now I’ve had one electrician round who without even testing just said…yep total rewire…£5-6k and then you’ll have to replaster and redecorate everywhere!
then had another electrician round who has said the following:

it doesn't need a rewire, it just needs bringing into spec, new consumer unit. New light fittings, some new sockets, the garage needs a new main feed. And the house needs two new earths. He said all in would be £1000. And that would get it EIC Approved.

Now im confused..price difference is huge!
what would others do in this circumstance? Obviously with the age of it I wondered if it might need a rewire but do I go along with the ‘if it doesn’t need it yet…why are you rewiring?’ Thought process? What are others opinions? Xxx

Does it have enough sockets? Our house was a bit like yours and we did a full rewire partially because we just didn’t trust the old stuff and partially because we knew it needed a billion sockets adding (from the days when you needed two double sockets in a whole bedroom!) and we didn’t want to do them all on spurs or otherwise tie new into old. We are quite risk averse, but I like knowing every wire is brand new and done by a sparky I trust.

I’m in Australia. We have a 1970’s house. When we upgraded the kitchen, our sparkie upgraded the oven circuit became he says new appliances draw so much power compared to the original ones, it’s safer to have a wire that can cope with it.

We have a 2+kw oven now. I’ve just looked at the small Miele and they are running 3-3.4kw. That’s a lot of energy for an older circuit and older insulation to manage.

This is definitely something to consider. My house is only about 35 years old but when I wanted a new hob and decided to go for an induction one I discovered that the power supply to the kitchen would need to be increased, which would be a big job as it would involve redecoration etc.

But other than that I’d probably trust the electrician who said a complete rewire is not necessary right now (but of course it depends how keen you are to future-proof the property).

1950's and the electrics have never been touched??????

My OH was a Sparks (many moons ago) and he says that the original cables will not even be PVC covered but instead rubber which is going to be brittle. The fuse board is going to be rewireable (which does not give anything like as much protection as a modern one) and missing earth's will be common (sounds like these have been identified) and the number of lights & sockets has got to be minimal compared to a modern setup (my late parents house was a 50's build and each room was given a single 1-gang socket).
He says that if some/none of the above apply then it is not the original wiring so your electrician (who has inspected it) may be correct.

Personally I would go for a complete rewire (and all it entails) remembering that ultimately you will want twice as many sockets as you think you need!

We’re just about to get our 1960s bungalow rewired, it’s a big job but I want the peace of mind knowing it’s all up to date and safe, the previous owner did a lot of DIY electrical work. We also want more sockets, wired in doorbell, wall lights taking out, new ceiling lights putting in etc. We’re doing everywhere except the kitchen which will have a new feed but the sockets and things will be done when we have a new kitchen next spring. £5 - £6 k is about right, we’ve had quotes and are paying £4.6k excluding the kitchen for a large three bedroom detached bungalow. We’re in the midlands.

We had our kitchen rewired and consumer unit updated as we where putting in a new kitchen but the truth is most things don't NEED a rewire.

The first one is just looking to get paid, the 2nd one is probably more trustworthy and £1000 is a good price.

Personally I would do a full rewire. Take the opportunity to add power sockets, you will have a new safe consumer board with surge protection and appropriate load circuits for modern life.

Also consider the size of the main fuse in the house and have UK PN uprate to min 80 or if possible 100 amp.

I’d go for the full rewire. Sorry. I would be wary of doing the bare minimum with something like this. If you follow electrician number 2’s advice, you could find yourself having to do more work in a few years time. Whereas if you get it rewired now and have a proper think about everything electrical you might ever want in this house (plug sockets? Bathroom mirror? Dual fuel towel rails? EV charging point?), you will know it has all been done properly. It’s such a messy and invasive job, you really don’t want to be doing it piecemeal.

£1K for all that work seems a pretty low price considering that from what I can tell on here CU replacement normally gets quoted about £1K on its own.

I just had my CU done £645 which is about average.

I assume for the latter is charging day rates.

I had all that done a couple years ago in my rental to bring it up to legal code, don't know what it cost the landlord but it was all done in less than a day, zero mess, quick and easy brought up to modern legal standards (no full rewire needed).

By comparison the work I had done in my own house (kitchen rewire and consumer unit) took several days and a huge amount of mess (we are currently on hoovering the CEILINGS to get rid of dust, its everywhere even in rooms at the opposite side of the house) and it cost £2,490 all in and that was ONLY the kitchen rewired.

The mess, distress and damage from a full house rewire will be massive. If OP isn't planning back to brick then she needs to know if she has wallpaper etc... it will need stripping to chase and fill so that then adds whole house redecorating so thats another £4k on top of the £5k rewire costs. Professional cleaning will be £300+, not to mention is she going to live in the dust? or is she paying to live elsewhere.

Its thrown around on here like 'oh don't be cheap go for the 'future proofed' full rewire' as if 'being cheap' is the issue, its really not (and the full rewire is not future proof, its to the exact same current standards as the lesser updates and will be equally as out of date in 10 years).

DH (retired electrician) says 70yr old wiring will need a re wire, and possibly the supply too.

make sure your electrician is NICEIC certified

If it is genuinely 1950s wiring then it will need a complete rewire.
If in fact “1950s wiring” actually means it’s just rather old then it might not. You need to establish if the current wiring is 3 core twin and earth cabling ie what is in use today. If it is then you probably have a viable backbone and can indeed add multiple sockets and a new consumer unit. This is what we did in our Victorian house which had two sockets per room when we moved in. However, I would still be wary of the £1000 cost as being too low. Equally I wouldnt trust an electrician who didn’t take a proper look and instantly quoted 5-6k. The cost, mess and disruption from a complete rewire is such that it’s worth getting a 3rd opinion.