Rewiring Costs

[Trommel]

I own a late 18th/early 19th C terraced one-bed brick cottage in the East Midlands which was last partially rewired in the early 1960s, with some older fabric-wrapped wiring in evidence. The property isn't listed.

I intend to have the house fully rewired, including a new consumer unit, kitchen circuit, smoke alarms, electric shower prep, couple of sockets per room etc. but not to include fancy sockets, switches or anything of that nature.

I've had a quote which sounds expensive to my untrained ears- before I have any more done, can anyone give a very rough estimate of what such work should cost?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gervase]

It's impossible to be anything but vague, but to rewire a house like that completely would cost in the region of £3,000 at the hands of some of the sparks I know. It could be as much as £4,500 or as little as £2,500...
There are a lot of caveats, however. If access to the voids under the floors is easy, it may cost less; if it will involve a lot of chasing and covering for new sockets and switches, more. Best to get a couple of sparks in (based on recommendations) and ask them for an estimate before committing yourself to one of them for a full re-wire.

 

[Trommel]

Thanks for the prompt repsonse. My first quote was £2.7k, which I initially thought was a bit steep after hearing of people having two bed terraces done for £1.5k ...

I'll have a couple more quotes done for piece of mind.

Onto my next question ... :roll:

 

[Penners]

£2.7k doesn't sound out-of-the-park, but - as Gervase says - it all depends on how straightforward a job it will be (and how busy the quoting electrician is).

Competitive quotes is definitely the way to go, then you'll know for sure.

 

[NT]

Now is the time to think about the choices you have. A split CU is a good idea. 1 or 2 RCBOs for the ring(s) are too. A separate non-rcd radial feed for the fridge freezer is also a good plan if your kitchen has to be RCDed. This can be run in the same channel as the ring, and the socket put next to a ring one, so no extra wall work required.

And I'd go for more than 2 sockets per room! Far more.

2.7k for a 2 bed is on the high side, but we dont know what it does or doesnt include, nor what wall work is involved.

Whatever you choose, RCD 'protection' is the primary gotcha area.

One last thing, bunging lots of cat5e into the channels before theyre plastered over will make life much easier and maybe cheaper in future.This cable is very very cheap.


NT

 

[Penners]

This cable is very very cheap.

But presumably getting more expensive all the time, as the price of copper skyrockets. So buy sooner rather than later.

NT - I know what an RCD is; what's an RCBO? And why would you recommend a non-RCD feed for a fridge-freezer? Ours just runs off the dedicated kitchen ring, fed from the house's single CU that has a master RCD and mini-breakers. Is that wrong?

 

[Mark]

An RCBO is a combined RCD and and MCB. Clear ?

It provides overcurrent (MCB) and earth fault (RCD) protection is a single unit.

They recommendation for a freezer on a single spur is to prevent defrosting if something causes a trip. Like the recommendation for split unit CUs you dont want the lights tripping everything when a bulb blows, and if something else pops you dont want the lights going off.

Like everything the recommendations change all the time. Our fridge/freezer both hang off the rings. Although Im waiting for the leccy board to come and sort out providing an earth (our TT earth is an old bit of copper pipe stuck in the ground and has been condemed by the lectrician), and when the ancient fuse box is replaced I will sort out better routing.

I would be reluctant to run cat 5 in the same channel as mains personally although lots of people do.

 

[Penners]

you dont want the lights tripping everything when a bulb blows

Thanks for the explanations, Mark. However, when a bulb blows in our house, it usually knocks out the MCB on that circuit, but doesn't trip the master RCD.

 

[Trommel]

Thanks for the responses, I will bear all this in mind.

I would be reluctant to run cat 5 in the same channel as mains personally although lots of people do.

Interference issues?

 

[danb]

you can always use STP rather than UTP cat5e (sheilded twisted pair) - bit more pricey but you should be able to run it near mains cables without too many issues.

not that i have ever had any issues with running utp next to mains.....

 

[Mark]

Yes you can get interference problems - depends on what you are using the cat 5 for of course as to what difference it makes. STP is better than utp.

You can also get low smoke and coloured cat 5. All my cat5e is low smoke and green (which I now know the electricians dont like - cant remember what colour they prefer - but I took the view that I wanted it to be clear that it wasnt ordinary wiring).

 

[David Q]

Had a two bedroom stone cottage rewired five years ago for 1500, no chasing - he used square PVC conduit, bit unsightly but saved the lime plaster. 2700 doesnt sound too steep, depending upon where you live.

 

[Penners]

You can also get low smoke.

On balance, I think I'd prefer it if my cables didn't smoke at all. :shock:

 

[Peter]

Our 3 bed was £1500 but the electrician was so slow we were glad to see the back of him. Thought he'd moved into the loft at one point.

 

[NT]

quote="Penners"

NT - I know what an RCD is; what's an RCBO? And why would you recommend a non-RCD feed for a fridge-freezer? Ours just runs off the dedicated kitchen ring, fed from the house's single CU that has a master RCD and mini-breakers. Is that wrong?[/quote]

------

The thing with RCDs is they need low trip current to give reasonable shock protection, but this then leaves them vulnerable to nuisance trips due to minor leakage that is no danger in any way. A single rcd feeding the whole house is a recipe for trouble, there are many circumstances it which it can nuisance trip, and this may be a pain, a safety risk, and may cost you your freezer contents. It also is often a considerable problem to the householder to get the system working consistently again.

By splitting your rcd cover, ie replacing whole house rcd with a split unit, or much better individual rcbos, the odds of a nuisance trip decrease, and when one does happen it only takes out one circuit.

Some items simply do not need RCD protection for any safety reason. These include immersion heaters, ovens, and other fixed appliances. With lighting circuits, an rcd adds more risk than benefit, and deaths resulting from these are already known.


TT systems (ie with a local earth rod) have an extra issue in that the local earthing is inadequate on its own, and the whole system relies on an RCD or ELCB to make it safe. Hasty legislation has ruled in favour of RCDs, when IRL whole house ELCB cover plus RCD or RCBOs for the circuits that need it would be rather better. The next best bet that is currently compliant is a split unit with RCBOs on one side, delayed RCD on the other.


NT

 

[biffvernon]

what's an RCBO?

RCD...RCBO...CU...TT...rod...ELCB...IRL...split unit...delayed RCB

Don't we just love electricians. :idea:

 

[Penners]

Many thanks for that explanation, NT. Are RCBOs the same size, etc. as MCBs? In other words, can you simply swap the one for the other in the CU?

 

[biffvernon]

Oooh, acronymitis is catching.

 

[Penners]

Yes - I initially thought I was immune...

 

[Mark]

some are single width, some double.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Consumer_Units_Index/Mk_Sentry_Contactors_and_RCBO/index.html