House Rewire in Bristol and the Southwest

What is a House Rewire?

Your home’s wiring installation is a complex system of cabling running underneath your floor, in your walls and through your ceiling. These supply power to your sockets, switches and lights, along with any other fixed electrical items and appliances.

During a house rewire these cables are replaced with new cables run from your consumer unit. A consumer unit replacement is often done in conjunction with a rewire. If all of the old or redundant cables are replaced throughout your home this is called a ‘full rewire’. If they’re replaced in a localised area this is called a “partial rewire”.

Bristol’s housing stock is quite old and often neglected; we regularly encounter electrical wiring over fifty years old! We are well-versed in the intricacies of rewiring older homes and properties, ensuring that your electrical system is brought up to modern standards with modern amenities.

Do I need a House Rewire?

We would advise that a rewire is required every 25 years. Rewiring is necessary for a few reasons: cable tends to degrade over time and needs to be replaced; technological improvements in electrical safety need to be incorporated into the electrical installation and new features and technologies in your home require additional power.

There are situations (usually a combination of the issues outlined below) where a rewire will be needed sooner:

  • If an Electrical Installation Condition Report concludes your installation is in need of a rewire.

  • Insulation is damaged or missing, exposing live parts.
  • Earthing arrangement and earth cables are missing or inadequate.

  • If the wiring is insufficient for the required electrical output.

  • If significant changes to the existing wiring are needed (new kitchen etc)

  • Junction boxes or connections are a possible point of failure.

  • If thermal damage is present.

  • Cabling showing signs of water damage and/or water ingress.

  • If cabling had been left in direct sunlight and lost its insulation.

  • Cables are incorrectly buried under the ground and are a risk to digging and other works.
  • Cables less than 50mm into the wall are not run in the prescribed wiring zones. This may be a hazard to those working on the walls in the future.
  • Final ring circuits require a continuous electrical connection from the consumer unit all the way round the circuit and back to the consumer unit. This connection isn’t present, the circuit may need to be rewired.
  • All cabling should be double insulated. This offers two layers of protection between a person or object and a live conductor. If double insulation isn’t present, these cables will need to be replaced.

How much does it cost to rewire a house?

As a rule of thumb, the cost of a rewire for a 3-bedroom house in Bristol ranges between £5000 and £8000 excluding VAT. However, the final cost is conditional on the specification, the installation method, the size of the property and the length of time the rewire takes, especially if the electrical work is in conjunction with other building works or trades.

We believe in providing transparent and competitive pricing for our house rewiring services. Our detailed quotes outline the scope of work and associated costs, so you know exactly what to expect.

How long does it take to rewire a house?

The installation method is particularly important in determining the length of time a house rewire may take:

  • Chased in: This is where all the boxes and cables are channeled or chased into the walls and plastered over. This leaves a seamless, neat finish. Either the work is completed all in one go with plastering completed at the end or it’s done in two sections with a break for plastering in between. Chased and plastered all at once a chased rewire usually takes between 2 and 3 weeks. If there is a break for plastering this can take longer depending on when the plasterers can attend.

  • Surface plastic: This is where the cables are run in PVC trunking or conduit on the surface of the walls. This is the cheapest way to rewire a house but you will have to be okay with the cable routes being visible. Surface plastic methods are the quickest and you may be able to have an entire rewire completed within days.

  • Surface metal: This where a metal trunking, conduit, tray or basket is used to achieve an industrial look. This is generally significantly more expensive and time consuming than other installation methods.

How disruptive is a rewire and some things to consider

  • Rewires are messy. We will use dust sheets and tidy up as much as possible, although a layer of fine dust left at the end of each day is unavoidable.
  • Rewires are loud. Chasing cables into walls is a loud, prolonged and occasionally irritating process for occupants and neighbors. It is advisable to warn all relevant parties of your upcoming rewire.
  • There may be no power, including lighting, in the house except for a single location, usually in the hallway. It may be possible to leave a section of the house energised while we conduct the work in another section, however this depends on the job schedule and the layout of existing wiring.
  • If your kitchen is being rewired we may need your kitchen ripped out before we start work.
  • If you have carpets they will most likely need to be lifted in areas and floor boards raised to run the new cables.
  • You may need a plasterer to fill our chases in the wall

Managing the work of a rewire?

The quickest and most cost effective way to rewire is to do the whole house all at the same time. The power will be off to the lighting and existing sockets for the duration of the rewire, with only a few double sockets in the hallway.

You could do the rewire in sections. This is commonly done if the rewire is being conducted in conjunction with other building works such as a renovation, extension or loft conversion.

If your electrics can be split between the different floors it may be possible to rewire the first floor electrics while leaving the ground floor energised. This may be an option if you wish to live in the house during the rewire.

What are the benefits of a House Rewire?

  • Increased Safety
  • It adds value to your property – the value of your home can be significantly increased, especially if the newer wiring is factored into the valuation prior to a sale.
  • Prevention of power outages – A lot of power outages are due to old and faulty wiring.
  • Increases the number of devices you can run – Older houses often have only one socket per room. Sometimes there is only a single circuit feeding all the sockets in a house. This can lead to a potentially dangerous over-use of extension leads or a power outage due to overloading the circuit.

Call us today