Rewiring - cost estimate

[tabbypurr]

0 - surely not).

DIY it, it's not hard to meet current regs. We're here to help. Total cost a few hundred.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Bit of a pain if a fault takes all the lighting out. Best to have the hall lighting on a different circuit. By opening room doors, you should get enough light to circulate safely.

[John Rumm]

Discrimination - you don't want one fault taking out all the lights. Especially with budget 17th edition style CUs with only 2 RCDs, so each lighting circuit will normally share a RCD with at least one socket circuit.

[John Rumm]

Being realistic, even for a DIY install, that's likely to be a few hundred short of a 1000 at best.

[tabbypurr]

5000 - surely not).

ost a few hundred.

If you fit all new lighting & fancy sockets, dimmers etc.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If DIYing, it really does make sense to fit an adequate number of sockets etc initially. While the house is a mess.

In other words, don't skimp on the initial spec as it will be a lot more hassle to add to it later.

[tabbypurr]

+1, and over the 40 years or so an install lasts, we can expect more electrical & electronic goods to be used than today.

I'd also put in some extra cable for future uses. It doesn't cost much.

NT

[ARW]

Don't we normally get a load of gloom and doom posters saying that if all the lights fail at once then you are going to fall down the stairs and die (even in a bungalow)?

[RobertL]

You can't always judge the state of eth wiring by a limited inspection. Th e house I bought 10 year ago (and still live in) seemed to have been thorou ghly rewired in the 1980s with PVC covered red/black cable which was in goo d condition. But the old lead-covered wiring had simply been left in place . When I started tidying up and removing the lead stuff I found that the p revious owner has reconnected some of it to the new wiring (presumably to g et more sockets and bits of it were therefore live.

At that point I stopped fiddling with it and decided to have it all redone.

To answer the original question, it cost several thousand (3 bed end terrac e, reputable firm).

Robert

[Andrew Gabriel]

My parents' house was built in the 1950's but fortunately using PVC T&E and 13A sockets (not all were at that time). The original cable is still fine. The switches and sockets have been gradually replaced as rooms have been decorated (and more fitted), but very few actually needed this - the original MK ones were mostly still in good condition, but not suitable for modern styles. The fusebox was replaced, and the one original ring circuit split into three, main earthing updated, etc.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Very true. If only I'd had a crystal ball when I wired my house and put in CAT 5 everywhere. I did with telephone wiring and aerial cable. But sadly, it hadn't been invented then. ;-)

[John Rumm]

That will take you well over a grand...

Even if you go for a basic install... it soon adds up if you are doing a complete rewire with new accessories.

I have a spreadsheet here I did for a 3 bed semi complete rewire - to modern standards but over eleven years ago. It was not particularly extravagant - ordinary double sockets and normal switches. 50 quids worth of link lights in the kitchen and an entry level cooker hood. Shaver point and extractor in the bathroom. A light in the loft, a PIR light on the porch. New main bonding and equipotential bonding. It was a TT install so included a pricey type S RCD and an earth rod - so you can save £150 if you don't need those. Total cost for materials *then* was just under £650, and that did not include any costs of making good etc and we were able to reuse existing conduit runs in places, so had no additional costs of trunking or capping.

Adjust that for inflation, and a larger house and what do you get?

Most folks would probably want some co-ax and data wiring into the mix as well.

[ARW]

Did it "bite you":-)?

I remember grabbing hold of some lead covered stuff a few years ago. I was the earth.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The lead sheathing was all earthed here. Achieved by bonding with wire wrapping. And to the lead incoming water pipe.

Never did check how well that worked. Had two weeks to do a basic re-wire for the mortgage conditions. So a very quick rip out of it all.

[Harry Bloomfield]

RobertL explained on 17/02/2017 :

What was ripped completely out in around 1983, was PVC of maybe the

1960's. Obviously it didn't have any earth wires on the lighting circuits and few 13a sockets, indoor meter and . Correct those cables were in good order, but not worth keeping with such a lot needing to be changed/ upgraded.

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] used his keyboard to write :

+another. Nothing worse than spending 20 times as much, plus the mess as it would have cost to have put in just one extra spare cable. Our pinch point, is where cables pass from the CU in the stair cupboard, through to the ground floor's ceiling. Oh for just one spare cable in that large bunch. As it is a concrete raft on which the house is built, all the cables take that route up to the ceiling.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) wrote on 18/02/2017 :

I did it and twice. First the ten base T coax, then later replaced with CAT5 everywhere they might be needed. Router / incoming line in the loft, then down through airing cupboard, under floor, to drop down with heating pipework to ground, where I could get easy runs to front and rear.

When we were rewired in 1983, I fitted phone sockets in all rooms and even out to the garage. I ran a conduit from loft to behind the living room TV, but unfortunately just the one outlet. I later added outlets to all rooms, by means of the airing cupboard/ pipework run. with a distribution amp behind the living room TV.

The coax downlead from the loft, terminates in a socket, so TV antenna installers just need to route the cable into the loft. I don't allow any cables to be draped along or down the outside walls.

[tabbypurr]

?5000 - surely not).

cost a few hundred.

OK but you're talking about rather more than a rewire there.

Nearly all current toolsatan prices: CU £70 populated cable 1mm £27/100m cable 2.5mm £44/100m x2 main bond cable maybe a tenner on ebay, haven't checked double sockets £1.10 ea x 8 kitchen, 6 lounge, 4ea x 3 bedrooms, total 28 @ about £30 light switches 58p x 4 = 2.32 " 2 way 59p x2 = 1.18 " 3 gang x 2 1.65 = £3.15 "pullcord 1.79 pendant light sets 1.24 x 8 = 9.92 under cabinet lights £30 maybe PIR light £10 sleeving 4.36 Jboxes 3x5A 67p each, 3x20A 94p ea = 4.83 And you might need some new backboxes, dual gang 46p, dry lining 65p. Say a n extra 8x46p 2x65p = 4.98 Total £183.53

Of course you can go up from that in any way you wish.

NT

[Chris B]

Thanks, some interesting info and things to think about in a lot of posts on this thread some of which (eg Eithernet cables and TV) I had not considered.

[John Rumm]

A few minor points...

If the current deal has the right mix of MCBs etc...

Probably going to need two of them for a 4 bed house

Probably a £1.20 /m and don't forget the pipe clamps.

4 bedrooms

Some 3&E cable to link the two way lights?

Each for LED ones...

At that price it will last 5 minutes

Some FCUs / SFCUs for fixed appliances.

Cooker point?

Shower feed?

You can't add. You have already listed £230+ with your partial list above.

Now what about extractors for bathroom and kitchen, shaver point / light. Outside socket, electrics for garage, shed etc?

If you are going to the hassle of rewiring, you may as well do it properly and not go for least effort you can get away with or the cheapest crap accessories.