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Rewires

Time to Rewire Your Home?

While their charm is undeniable, older homes can present maintenance challenges. Several factors can indicate that your home needs rewiring. Ignoring these signs can lead to serious safety hazards and costly repairs down the line.
Knowing when to rewire your home is crucial for safety, efficiency, and peace of mind. And when the time comes, finding a reliable and experienced Merthyr Tydfil electrician is paramount.  

Advantage of Rewiring
Rewiring allows a ‘fresh start’ installed to your own bespoke personal specification with the knowledge that the installation will continue to be safe for decades to come. The quantity, placement and specification of the lighting, sockets and switches is entirely your choice. Your wiring will be installed to comply with the latest British Standard and protected with the most up to date safety devices including the latest sensitive RCD protection and SPD devices to protect you from harm and prevent electrical surges form destroying sensitive electronic equipment. The consumer unit (fuse box) will be encased (metal clad) in order to prevent any spread of fire to the building fabric.
  

Reasons For Rewiring

Older Wiring; All wiring insulation degrades over time. The life of the cable can be adversely affected by factors including; poor installation, overloading, crushing, damp walls, movement / vibration, adjacent hot pipes (under floors) and decomposition of the plasticizer in PVC or the rubber in vulcanised cables. 
Lack of Sockets & Lighting;  Many older properties are found with insufficient amount of socket outlets and lighting fixtures for the modern world. At one time a single socket per room was considered acceptable. These days with so many electrical and electronic appliances this amount is considered too few. Unfortunately insufficient sockets can force the householder to use extension leads with possible dangerous overloading and trip hazards. Poor lighting can contribute to accidents and a difficulty in carrying out daily tasks.
Refurbishing; new kitchen or room layouts and whole house refurbishments may be a most suitable time to carry out rewiring. This can include additional lighting, switches and sockets to properly accommodate your own requirements for now and in the future. This can be carried out prior to plastering or decoration. 
Power Problems; lighting or sockets not working, circuit breakers popping and power loss can all be signs that it is time to have rewiring carried out. Depending on the age and condition of the wiring, a full electrical check may be first recommended in order to establish the extent of these problems.  

Full or Part Rewire?

Full Rewire; a great solution when an older house is being refurbished, or where the wiring is in an unsafe condition for continued use. 
Part Rewire; often undertaken where one or more rooms are being refurbished, or where one circuit e.g. the socket circuit has become degraded and causing tripping or power loss. A new kitchen can often require a rewiring of that room to accommodate the different positions of appliances and improve lighting.  

Rewiring Methods 

Option 1; Wall Cables Chased Below SurfaceThis is the most popular option for rewiring, and involves cutting slots in the wall for cables so they can be set behind the wall surface, and recesses for sockets so they can be fitted flush to the wall. The advantage is that this is a neater option since there will not be visible cable routes on walls and the sockets will be closer to the wall surface. Cables are protected with undercoat plaster or cement. This method may require a final professional re-plastering or redecoration of walls. 
Option 2; Wall Cables In Trunking Here the wall cables are protected in 2.5cm wide white PVC mini-trunking.  The trunking is surface mounted on the wall and can be run above skirting and up the corners of the room to improve aesthetic appearance. Trunking can be decorated to the same finish as wall décor to blend.  The advantage of this method is that there is less disruption to wall decor and a minimum of dust created during the work. Walls do not  require re-plastering or redecoration.

Rewiring; The Schedule ·

  • Visit property and survey along with customer
  • Detailed estimate provided
  • Construct work plan of cable routes
  • Fit consumer unit, & temporary socket
  • Wall chasing & box recesses
  • Fitting wall boxes
  • Routing cables in floor & walls
  • Refit carpeting
  • Making good (chased cables only)Install sockets, lights & switches
  • Connect circuits to consumer unit & test
  • Electrical certificate & notify LABC

Way Forward

 If you have any concerns about your electrics in the Merthyr Tydfil area, it can sometimes be a sensible choice to understand the condition of your existing wiring installation and this check could save you money. It may be found that only part of your installation is degraded or outdated, thus a full rewire may not be actually necessary. If required, an EICR inspection (Electrical Installation Condition Report) will reveal the existing whole house wiring condition. Alan Davies Electrical can advise you on the most cost effective way forward to provide a safe wiring installation.