Insurance for a renovation project - where can I get it?

[D.M.Chapman]

Yes, I thought so. That's what we found when following an earthquake our premiums rocketted. They admitted they didn't want to insure us, and that they were declining all new business but they had to offer us a renewal.

Price made your eyes water though

Of course, if as the OP suggests the previous owners had been economical with the facts then all bets are off

Friend has a house that was hard to insure for various reasons. He found a mainland european insurer that was more than happy to take it on. Had to go via a specialist broker but it was very reasonable pricing IIRC. Was a few years back mind...

Darren

[Adrian]

Certainly sounds like the vendor forgot that small detail when they took out the policy, probably for this exact reason...

Can't say I'm particularly surprised at insurers wanting some reassurance that the electrics aren't a rat's nest in a thatched house, though.

[Vir Campestris]

"Life termination is assumed to be on the appearance of cracks on samples of cables wound on their own diameter"

Why would I do that to a bit of cable installed in a loft? It actually suggests that installed cable would last a good bit longer, just you wouldn't be able to move it about.

Andy

[Nightjar]

Have you actually tried unclipping it and bending it?

What colour is it? Black will be the most resistant to UV degradation, white the least.

Colin Bignell

[John Rumm]

Once its got wet it can be impossible to restore the full insulation resistance again though. It not only a case of the moisture itself being conductive, but also the chemical change of some of the magnesium oxide into magnesium hydroxide.

;-)

[dennis]

No, I have given it a poke and it seems Ok. I might soon as I was going to fit a new pir lamp rather than the dusk to dawn one.

grey.

[tim......]

Earthquakes in the UK are 50 year events and the likelihood is that the next one will be anywhere but Folkestone

tim

[Andrew Gabriel]

Yes, for normal use, life expectancy of the cable is over 1000 years! The wiring accessories have significantly shorter life expectancy and will likely require replacing long before the cable. The suitability of an installation also has a life expectancy - a 1950's house with just one or two sockets per room would not meet the demands of a current household.

[charles]

when we bought our first house in 1964 there were just 4 15A sockets in the entire building. One in each bedroom and one in the kitchen.

[Nightjar]

According to the British Geological Survey, there have been 18 in the last 50 days. Most are, however, fairly small and generally won't be noticed by most people.

That is true; the majority happen in western Britain. However, the North Sea and English Channel are reasonably active and have been the locations of some of the largest earthquakes in British history.

You can use the slider on this map to see earthquakes recorded in around Britain since 1970.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Even the PVC covered stuff - as it pretty well always is these days?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've just done some major works on my living room which involved the removal and replacement of all sockets - wired by myself in 1975, so pretty well 40 years ago. The PVC wiring was in what I'd describe as perfect condition - with no hardening of the insulation. Of course it is all inside walls or under floors etc, so not exposed to sunlight. So it sounds like they're trying to drum up business by spreading scare stories.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite. On my 40 year old expensive brass plate sockets, the lacquer had failed. ;-)

[John Rumm]

Indeed - when I rewired my neighbours 1956 semi it still had its rubber wiring, and a total of five single sockets. ;-)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Andrew Gabriel used his keyboard to write :

A 1950's house would only have one or two sockets to the ENTIRE house :D

[Piers]

I disconnected the last of the rubber wiring here yesterday. And the last of the stuff with a funny braided sheath. And the last of the ?PVC covered steel?. Hurray!

[meow2222]

Clear closeups of those oddities would be nice on the wiki :)

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

My parents' 1955 house seems to be quite advanced for its time, being PVC, 30A ring circuit, and earthed lighting circuit. (Some houses were still rubber and 15A round pin at the time.)

The house was still being built when they bought it. There was one socket per room included, except 2 in kitchen and 2 in living room. Additional sockets were £1 each (a lot then). They bought 2 extras, one in the kitchen and one in the living room, making 3 in each (all singles)!

In 1999, I replaced the wylex rewirable CU - a poor connection on the 30A fuse carrier pins had melted a bit of PVC insulation, and being in a coat cupboard, I wanted a metal clad CU. This was part of rewiring a new kitchen, which I broke away from the single ring circuit the house had up to then, and gave it two dedicated ring circuits. The rest of the wiring still tested out OK, and is substantially unchanged, with some extra sockets and some changed to doubles.

[Vir Campestris]

On further questioning the NFU have come back and said they'll give us

60 days to bring it up to spec.

Meantime the penny has suddenly dropped with the vendor that she risks losing a sale - she took today off work so her electrician could do a certificate. He didn't turn up. Tomorrow we'll find out what she does when he won't issue one. Or else I'll be checking his credentials _very_ thoroughly, as there's ordinary T&E in the loft.

Andy

[chris French]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Yeah, from what I know of the recentish history of the house (Victorian house, when it was sold in 1966 it was pretty much as it had been in the

1930's, which wasn't exactly modernised then) and lots of the fittings I would imagine much of the wiring in the house dates from late 1960's. The PVC cable seems fine. Though there have been a couple of faults internally with the wiring in the sockets, and some failures of the accessories like light switches.