When to Rewire a House

When to Rewire a House.

A house rewire is quite a big project job that will need to happen at some point but how do you know when it’s time to consider a rewire of your home? For new homeowners in Bath, I always ask if the home they're purchasing is going to be there 'forever home'. If it is, and the wiring is 20+ years old then I would seriously consider a home rewire. Having a home rewire before you've settled in means you've got a guarantee that nothing will go wrong with the electrics and if it did, it would usually be a much easier fix. Older wiring often has buried joint boxes which can go faulty and I'm sure you'd rather not have to pull up your new oak flooring to fix it!

If you notice black rubber looking cables then it's also another time to consider a rewire. This old cable from the 60's is well beyond it's life span and as it perishes it cracks and the insulation falls off causing potential electrical fires. If you have this cable, any electrician in the Bath and West Wiltshire area will tell you it needs to be rewired.

Another time you need to consider a rewire (or at least a partial rewire) is if there is no earth within the lighting circuit. No earth means the wiring is very outdated. If you do have lighting circuits with no earth you're also limited to Class 2 light fittings (which are often installed incorrectly anyway) and no decorative metal switches.