Rewire or sort out conservatory first?

[pippalowthorpe]

hi everyone!!

me and my partner are renovating an Edwardian house (his grandparent's!) and we need to rewire the whole house (woe) but also sort out the conservatory.
The conservatory has:
- Damp penetration
- Salt deposits
- Cracking (Cracking was noted at the junction with the main property. This could indicate differential movement to the conservatory and this now requires general overhaul.)
Should we sort out the conservatory first or re-wire? Is this something we should reach out to electricians about?


Thank you all in advance!!

 

[Zebra]

Difficult question to answer, and I doubt the electrician will be able to answer it. If the wiring goes into the conservatory and there is a risk that the conservatory structure is going to be taken down and rebuilt, then you should do the conservatory first. The electrician can't run wires into something that's going to be demolished. But if neither task really interferes with the other, then perhaps it's a question of what suits you. Wiring is very messy and disruptive and often best done before other things, but also it pays to be familiar with the way in which you are going to have the house laid out, in order that you can ask for sockets and light fittings where you want them.

 

[pippalowthorpe]

Difficult question to answer, and I doubt the electrician will be able to answer it. If the wiring goes into the conservatory and there is a risk that the conservatory structure is going to be taken down and rebuilt, then you should do the conservatory first. The electrician can't run wires into something that's going to be demolished. But if neither task really interferes with the other, then perhaps it's a question of what suits you. Wiring is very messy and disruptive and often best done before other things, but also it pays to be familiar with the way in which you are going to have the house laid out, in order that you can ask for sockets and light fittings where you want them.

Ah interesting!! Thank you so much. Is it worth speaking to a builder about it?

 

[a twig]

Do you know how old your existing wiring is? A photo of the consumer unit / fuse board would be helpful.

If the wiring is old then I would re-wire first, as in my opinion later editions of the electrical standards offer significantly better protection and safety, reducing chance of house fires, accidental injury etc. (The exact edition of the regs escapes me, I’m sure @Zebra can help me out here, basically the point where CUs went from the pull out fuses to breakers and RCDs)

Personally one of the first things I do when taking on a property is get a new CU put in with an RCBO on every circuit but then as a former electrical engineer I’m a bit obsessed

 

[Zebra]

I qualified in 2005, so I don't know all the history. I think MCBs came in in the 80s, RCDs on split load boards for circuits that feed outdoor sockets came in around 2005 (16th Edition) and RCDs on almost everything (cables buried in walls) in 17th Edition around 2008 but don't quote me!
I think though that if the existing wiring is usable and there are more pressing structural issues it could be OK to keep using it for now. Changing the consumer unit without changing the wiring might be a waste of money and cause nuisance tripping. You could get an electrician in for a quote and they might give you an idea. Problems would be metal light fittings with no earth, things like that. Also post a picture of the consumer unit as Twig said and we'll have a guess....

 

[LadyArowana]

Iirc the electrician used 17th Ed when we did our re-wire in 2008/ 2009 the things done in 2020 it had moved on again.

 

[Zebra]

Yes, we're on 70 zillionth Edition now, I can't keep up.

 

[LadyArowana]

And just to amuse you all a picture I took in our AirBnB in Tokyo this year. This was a very new property, their voltage is 110, but even so At least the Aussies only allow sockets in the bathroom a metre away from the sink.