Adding new sockets

[KarbyBugger]

We had an electric check in our house and it said some things need fixing - one point isn't earthed probably and two areas have weak power - so we want to get these fixed. We also want to add sockets, probably two double sockets per room (it's a 3 bed).

I was thinking maybe just go for a rewire as it's an older house but now that feels really disruptive and probably overkill. The last owners did the kitchen and bathroom and we don't want to replace those and only need one additional socket in the kitchen.

We can afford the rewire and haven't moved in yet but are we just going for pointless disruption? Could we just get the small fixes from the report and sockets added, with caveat that if they find old wiring, it will then cost more?

A full rewire is a big and expensive job. Probably your electrics are built on spurs. I would get an electrician out to have a look but definitely get more than one quote. With my electrics quotes one told me I needed a new fuse board. I didn't and that saved me £600.

What did the electrician actually advise doing? I would have a few different electricians in and ask them all what they think needs doing. If the wiring is fairly modern, then a full rewire is probably not necessary from a safety point of view. Depending on what needs to be done to fix the problems that have been found and upgrade the number of sockets that need doing, then it might be that a partial rewire is the most effective way to fix things. If there are rooms like the kitchen that you don't want to touch at the moment, then they could potentially leave new wiring in the ceilings ready for when the kitchen is next replaced (this is what we did).

But I'd try and find an electrician who will explain the rationale for different options so I could make the best choice for my circumstances.

A rewire will leave long bits cut out of your walls so you will have to get the rooms skimmed and redecorated. I wouldn't recommend it unless you are doing a whole house refurb.

You could rewire a room at a time as you redecorate them?

We will want to decorate the whole house at some point, everything except the kitchens and bathroom needs redoing. I was expecting to live with plastered strips for a while until we are ready to redecorate next year - or is this a bit naive on how bad it will be?

I thought it made sense to get all the sockets we need done now so that the house works for us and then we can make it look nice.

I just think maybe full rewire is now over the top as actually their report didn't say we needed to do this.

Will adding sockets also create lots of mess? I can live with plastered over strips for a while as it does all need redoing. I think it was last decorated in the 90s judging by the wallpaper.

I got charged £50 for having a single socket made into a double one and a further £70 for adding another double socket from spur. Get 2 electricians in to quote for work you want doing. Be spe ific where you want new sockets and how many in each room. It should be done in a day. You will need to decide first if you want walls channelled out and wires in wall and plaster over or those dreadful conduits on the wall. This will affect the price so tell electrician what you want. Sounds like you don't need full rewire. Don't be talked I to having work you don't need.

To be fair to the electrician, they didn't suggest the full rewire, we asked for the cost of that and then seem to have snowballed ourselves their for some kind of future proofing but based on their report, it's not warranted.

We would definitely want the new sockets channeled into the wall.

Am going to go through the quote again tonight and then go back to to them and specify what we want a bit more clearly and go from there.

When you move in, get a couple of electricians to quote and advise.

If the electrical wiring can be run underneath floorboards that will cut out some disruption, you won't see any of that, then they run the wiring a shortish distance up/along the wall. But if you have solid floors, there will be a lot more channelling out as they don't have the option to lift a floorboard.

We had additional sockets and other electric work done when we moved in, not a full rewire, and the repair work needed wasn't too bad.

This is the oldest socket in the house

This is the circuit board

At least it has square holes.

@Elbowpatch and it isn't in the skirting board!

None of ours are in the skirting board and house is about 30 years old. Circuit board is similar too.

We had similar snowballed-thinking last year: "if we're going to carpet we might as well paint, we can't paint the wall like that we'll need it skimmed, if we're getting it skimmed we need that defunct socket removed and another installed...". Similarly our electrician said we didn't necessarily need a full rewire but we decided to go for it (everything except the kitchen).

I'm so glad we did, it's nice having plenty of sockets where we want them and knowing that it shouldn't really need anything else doing while we're here. We even stayed living here at the time and it was fine, we just cleared out a room or two at a time.

If you can afford it and the house is empty anyway I'd definitely vote rewire. We did have sockets in the skirtings though so maybe our wiring was a bit older than yours!

None of ours are in the skirting board and the house is 300+ years old. I don’t think any of them are original though.

Our fuse box is brown Bakelite with fuse wire fuses so really does need to be changed.

"one point isn't earthed probably and two areas have weak power"

This wording is extremely strange. What did the report actually say?

The photo of your "oldest socket" is fuzzy, but I think I can see flex or cable on top of the skirting. Is that true?

Off topic -but I do like your floor -what is it? 😀

@PigletJohn exact wording is no earth continuity on circuit 6 and no earth sleeving on porch light. (Circuit 6 is a cupboard light and porch light)

Low IR reading on two.circuits - downstairs lights and sockets.

The EICR said all acceptable but suggested action on earthing.

There is a dimmer for one set of ceiling lights in the dining room that I want them to look at and I imagine replace as it's a bit wobbly.

@LupaMoonhowl thanks but no idea, was done by previous owners!

@PigletJohn no cable running along the skirting from that socket.

Earthing definitely needs sorting out. I have no idea what weak power means, are they saying too much resistance in the cables, or earth leakage, or too many spurs already?

You can fairly easily add spurs to a ring main, but shouldn't add too many. A full rewire would give you peace of mind and once it's done you know everything is good. I wouldn't have thought they wouldn't need to redo the kitchen or bathroom if those have been rewired or are you just saying they have been modernised but not new electrics? How old is the current wiring and fuse box?

If you rewire put in plenty of sockets, I thought we put ample in the kitchen a few years ago, but have just added a load more!

Nostalgia OP, my lovely decorator dad, now sadly passed, repapered my living room in our first house in that Anaglypta wallpaper around 1989.

it was then painted a lovely peach colour 🙈

My guess is it passed the EICR on the earthing on lighting because back somewhere in ancient times that was not required on lighting circuits. It's probably not that bad unless you are using metal hardware in the lighting.

A quick google suggests low IR is low insulation resistance. I would probably want that fixed, not least because a lot of insulation resistance checks stress the insulation anyway.

Weak power, I would be surprised if this meant anything in the context of EICR. it makes no sense.

Weak power is me misremembering it - the actual wording is the low IR and the earthing. They are coming to look again tomorrow and requote - might be that we do partial rewire downstairs or might just add sockets. According to report no evidence of updating so maybe just modernised kitchen and bathroom - will check again.