Rubber wiring not spotted during Survey

[Steve Robinson]

you may find that the housing association have a company they regularly use for this type of work

[Steve Robinson]

anywhere between £900 and £3000 for a complete rewire dependant on what your requirements are size of property (unless its a large mansion) testing around £100 / £250 again depending on what needs to be done access etc

A complete inspection and testing (done correctly on a 3 bed house with garage ) will take approximately 1 day , that includes fittings down , back on , sockets off , back on , boards up , bonding checks each circuit pulled , tested and reconnected

if you do have rubber cable then testing it will be a waste of time as it will need replacing , better sling your money at a new installation

[Peter Taylor]

You may well be right Steve, but if you'd read the whole of my message properly you'd have seen I was talking about what the agents call a Full Survey, not a Mortgage Valuation. I don't do those, and if a purchaser relies just on a MV for sensible advice about repairs then they need their head testing.

Thank you for your advice, but I am quite capable of deciding what service I give my clients. And I've never had even a sniff of a claim in over 30 years in private practice.

Peter

[R. Mark Clayton]

Not sure they might cut off pending repairs.

British Gas go in for this sort of thing - tiny administrative problem - no gas - but we can fix it for £££

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Excellent advice. The chances of any rubber cable installation being even worth being re-used or patched up are so remote as to being not worth considering.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not really.

If its rubber in metal conduit, its safe anyway, but will need to be upgrdaed at some stage.

If its rubber in lead sheth, the surveyor needs shooting.

You should always exepct at leats a partial rewire on any old property.

Even if its sound its likley to not be adequate - we use a lot more electricty than we used to...one socket per room for a hoover (1950 standard) is not acceptable these days...

[meow2222]

exactly. All you need is a visual inspcetion saying the wiring is ancient, missing basic safety features, and has no real likelihood of being brought upto standard. And recommending a full rewire. Testing is pointless.

Disturbing sockets and switches on an old rubber install is also dangerous. Any disturbance of perished rubber at all is liable to lead to fire or shock.

NT

[meow2222]

I quite agree. Though with one exception: I would not go for a full periodic inspection. If its a rubber install, theres really no point imho.

Its curious, but when people talk about the problems with rubber installs they typically cmoplain about wire fuses rather than mcbs, lack of lighting earth and crossbonding etc. Really these are minorish issues compared to the biggie, the fact that the wiring is likely to be perished,disintegrating, and corroded. That is the far bigger problem.

If I had to choose between a 50s install in perfect condition and a thoroughly shot one with MCBs and crossbonding added, I'd definitely go for the basic one in good condition.

And I concur that RCDing a shot installation is unworkable.

NT

[Bob Watkinson]

yes you're quite right.

[meow2222]

I've seen rubber in steel where the insulation has mostly fallen off, so youve got 2 mostly bare wires snaking round each other all the way up the tube. Steel conduit often had paint put on the joins to stick it all solidly together, and this sometimes insulates the metal sections. So its anything but safe imho.

And any rubber in metal install will have all the other risks as usual, eg bare live wires going into pendant light sockets, light switches with covers that come undone the moment a child looks at them etc.

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

Actually, the paint in the screwed joins is to prevent moisture ingress and corrosion, specifically to ensure good electrical continuity remains over a long period.

[Steve Robinson]

yes but the point still stands the paint acts as an insulator so your either burnt or scalded

[Hugo Nebula]

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 22:34:37 +0100, a particular chimpanzee named "Dave Plowman (News)" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

And "I do", the longest.

[Chris Bacon]

What's "I do." got to do with, then?

[Peter Crosland]

You need a humour implant!

Peter Crosland

[Andy Champ]

ISTR he means "I Will". It was a long time ago, though.

Andy