Lots of queries on rewiring a house

G

gnubbit

Registered User
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Hi,

I'm looking for some information on rewiring a 3 bedroom semi-detached house in South Dublin built c 1965. There are 2 sockets in the main living rooms, the kitchen has enough for now but there is only 1 in each bedroom. The fusebox is in the garage and afaik is the old type with fuses not trips.

1) Would you think it's necessary?

2) Would it improve the value of the property if it were to be sold? If so, what kind of increase in value would be typical? (The house is worth somewhere between 650K - 800K, can't be more specific as it hasn't been valued and these are the prices of houses nearby)

3) What kind of price range is usual for this type of work?

4) What kind of work is involved (I'm clueless about home improvements, DIY etc). Is it messy? Would it ruin existing decor? How disruptive would it be? Would you need to move out? Move furniture? Take up carpets?

5) How long would you expect it to take?

6) Can anyone recommend someone for this type of work?

7) Would it be better to get this done before refurbishing the bathroom?

8) Is it possible to get other cabling added at the same time? I've heard a bit about structured cabling and am intrigued by the idea of coaxial cables and CAT6 etc. What are the possibilities and would it cost a lot extra? The idea is eventually to have the whole house ready for satellite tv, PVR, music, computers, video intercom/CCTV etc. Does anyone knows any useful links where I can inform myself a bit about all this.

9) Are there any pitfalls I should watch out for?

Wow, that's quite a litany of questions. As you can see I really am clueless so any info at all will be gratefully received.

Thanks,
G
 
1) Would you think it's necessary?

Yes, the cabling is over 40 years old and will be quite brittle, the fuse board will not prevent against electrocution, unlike modern mcb boards fitted with an rcd.

2) Would it improve the value of the property if it were to be sold? If so, what kind of increase in value would be typical? (The house is worth somewhere between 650K - 800K, can't be more specific as it hasn't been valued and these are the prices of houses nearby)

In my opinion, if a survey were to be carried out on behalf of a prospective buyer, a rewire would be reccommended by the surveyer. If this is already done, it will "aid" in the sale, and perhaps slightly increase the value.

3) What kind of price range is usual for this type of work?

€5000 to €7000, depending on size of house, type of walls and amount of extras wanted.

4) What kind of work is involved (I'm clueless about home improvements, DIY etc). Is it messy? Would it ruin existing decor? How disruptive would it be? Would you need to move out? Move furniture? Take up carpets?

If your walls are dry lined, it would be a lot less messy, basically involving putting smallish holes in the plasterboard where sockets etc. are required.
If they are solid concrete, they will have to be "chased", ie. a channel cut in the wall to accomodate the cable coming from either the ceiling or the floor, and also to accomodate the back boxes of sockets and switches.
Carpets would have to be lifted in order to run cables under the floor.
The best way for it to be done by the elctrician is one room at a time, with all furniture and carpeting removed from that one room.
It is disruptive, it is messy, it is dusty, so be warned!

5) How long would you expect it to take?
2 weeks approx.


7) Would it be better to get this done before refurbishing the bathroom?
Yes

8) Is it possible to get other cabling added at the same time? I've heard a bit about structured cabling and am intrigued by the idea of coaxial cables and CAT6 etc. What are the possibilities and would it cost a lot extra? The idea is eventually to have the whole house ready for satellite tv, PVR, music, computers, video intercom/CCTV etc. Does anyone knows any useful links where I can inform myself a bit about all this.

Everything is possible. Pricing is very much dependant on what you want doing, but I would advise getting all this done while the house is already in turmoil being rewired. It would also make things cheaper if the same person were to do it.

9) Are there any pitfalls I should watch out for?

ECSSA or RECI certified electrician is a must. Make sure you're Given a complete price for everything including extras before work commences.

Hope this Helps,

Adam.
 
Thanks a million Adam, that's a great help.

Does anyone have any thoughts or know where I can find out about how many sockets I should get, where to position them and that sort of thing.

I'm also trying to find out more about adding those extra cables for networking/tv etc. Based on what you've said Adam, I think I'll go ahead and get everything done at once. What should I get and where should I position them?

Thanks,
G
 
gnubbit said:
Does anyone have any thoughts or know where I can find out about how many sockets I should get, where to position them and that sort of thing.
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Only you can really decide how many you need and where. Work out where you're going to put things in the rooms (furniture, electrical devices etc.) and take it from there.
 
Ideally you'd have a socket in every corner. But for reasons of cost, or if its a kids room etc, you might not do it in every room.
 
I think 3 doubles per bedroom is a good starting point, with one TV and one telephone socket also. For a kitchen you could easily have up to 6 doubles (above worktop) with 4 singles below worktop for built in appliances. It's a truism but you can never have enough sockets. I think all sockets should be switched.
 
E Fudd has given you a comprehensive reply but I've a few bits to add, based on my own experience less than 6 months ago.

gnubbit said:
2) Would it improve the value of the property if it were to be sold? If so, what kind of increase in value would be typical? (The house is worth somewhere between 650K - 800K, can't be more specific as it hasn't been valued and these are the prices of houses nearby)
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Yes, if you get a RECI certificate to go with it.


gnubbit said:
3) What kind of price range is usual for this type of work?
Click to expand...

Mine was €4,600 + VAT for a rewire with extra sockets and external lights.
3 bedroom terraced house in DLR.

I really would recommed getting a few quotes. Prior to getting the house rewired I had the fuseboard replaced. The quotes for this varied from €450, to €800, to €1200 + VAT from RECI members.

gnubbit said:
4) What kind of work is involved (I'm clueless about home improvements, DIY etc). Is it messy? Would it ruin existing decor? How disruptive would it be? Would you need to move out? Move furniture? Take up carpets?
Click to expand...

My walls are made of pre-cast concrete and had to be chased. In term of dust, yes, incredibly messy. It was not so much the amount of dust, but how it invades everything. For example, think of that thin slit between two drawers... the dust entered the drawers thru' this. Another example, I've a wardrobe with angled slats... the dust entered thru' these and landed on top of items on the top shelf.
Very messy.
 
gnubbit said:
Does anyone have any thoughts or know where I can find out about how many sockets I should get, where to position them and that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

My sitting room had one single and one twin, now two pairs of twins on opposite walls.
Each bedroom had one single, now two twins on opposite walls.
Kitchen had four "un-reserved" (ie non dishwasher/fridge) now has eight.
 
Thanks a million for all the replies. I'm going to try to plan where I'll be sitting, where the TV will be etc and figure out where I'll need the sockets, then add some more. Does anyone have any thoughts on what height they should be? All existing ones are at skirting board level.

I'm also looking into the structured wiring thing and trying to figure out where to put these sockets to meet present and future needs.

Guatama, would you recommend the electrician how did your work? I think I'll try to clear out as much as I can before it happens. If I could get them to do it one room at a time I could shift stuff around the house to try to keep the dust at bay. Upstairs internal walls are plasterboard partitiion but downstairs they seem to be concrete so I imagine this will get messy!

Thanks again,
G
 
gnubbit said:
Guatama, would you recommend the electrician how did your work?
Click to expand...

Yep, I've PM'ed you his details.

gnubbit said:
If I could get them to do it one room at a time ...
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I don't think this really is an option, though you can ask the contractor about it.
My man worked top-down, ie attic first, then upstairs lights, then upstairs sockets, then downstairs lights, then downstairs sockets.

In my house it appears that the wiring comes from the fuseboard into the attic. From here is is distributed around the house, ie downwards. I don't think that room-by-room is advisable, though possible it may be more time-consuming.

Again, ask the contractor on this.
 
Thanks Gautama, that's good to know. I'll have to move out what I can and use plastic sheets for the rest! Thanks for PMing the details.
 
I would love if somebody could give me some information or advise on a dilemma I have in my on-going renovation project in Dublin. My neighbour is an electrical contractor and gave me a price to totally rewire my house plus re-wire new extension and attic conversion etc for the sum of €10,000 which he explained would be €5,000 for cables and €5,000 for labour. He supplied the new in-wall fuse board and all the cables for electrical, phone and co-ax etc. Also speaker cabling in main living area. This was just a verbal agreement which I thought sufficient as considered him a good honest friend etc.He has now come back to me to say that he miscalculated the labour costs as it was more labour intensive that he originally reckoned and needs another €8,000 to cover his costs.
I supplied the electrical fittings (as follows) which he fitted and would like to know if this overall figure of €18,000 is a reasonable figure. He wired and fitted 100 downlighters with corresponding light switches in 10 rooms, 60 twin sockets, 10 x 5 amp sockets, 5 tv points and 5 telephone points. Also cable supplied to back garden. (I supplied all the fitting). Any assistance you could offer me as to a pricing guide would be appriciated. Many thanks in advance!
 
imeldaduff said:
I would love if somebody could give me some information or advise on a dilemma I have in my on-going renovation project in Dublin. My neighbour is an electrical contractor and gave me a price to totally rewire my house plus re-wire new extension and attic conversion etc for the sum of €10,000 which he explained would be €5,000 for cables and €5,000 for labour. He supplied the new in-wall fuse board and all the cables for electrical, phone and co-ax etc. Also speaker cabling in main living area. This was just a verbal agreement which I thought sufficient as considered him a good honest friend etc.He has now come back to me to say that he miscalculated the labour costs as it was more labour intensive that he originally reckoned and needs another €8,000 to cover his costs.
I supplied the electrical fittings (as follows) which he fitted and would like to know if this overall figure of €18,000 is a reasonable figure. He wired and fitted 100 downlighters with corresponding light switches in 10 rooms, 60 twin sockets, 10 x 5 amp sockets, 5 tv points and 5 telephone points. Also cable supplied to back garden. (I supplied all the fitting). Any assistance you could offer me as to a pricing guide would be appriciated. Many thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I don't know the legalities of something like this, but if he originally said €10k then he should get paid €10k, no more.
My own re-wirer described the chasing as "tougher that he'd expected" but didn't charge extra as a result.

Do you know if your fella is charging €8k extra for labour, cables or both?
I've heard that the price of cables is constantly on the increase due to the Chinese consumption of copper on the world markets.
 
I think his original figure was too low, that's an awful lot of downlighters to fit. You didn't mention cooker, immersion, boiler and maybe dimmer switches?
If I was asked to price that job I'd be coming up with about 12K plus VAT.
 
Have to agree with Hoagy here, fitting the downlighters alone would come in at over 7000 grand PLUS vat!
 
Don't forget connections for satelite and DVD player and possibly external speakers with any wall-mounted TVs
 
E. Fudd said:
Have to agree with Hoagy here, fitting the downlighters alone would come in at over 7000 grand PLUS vat!
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I'm getting downlighters fitted next week, €70 each. Dunno if "economies of scale" come into play if you get 100.
 
€70 per downlighter ! That seems very expensive. I paid less than €20 per downlighter for mains voltage low-energy CFL (Robus).
 
ennisjim said:
€70 per downlighter ! That seems very expensive. I paid less than €20 per downlighter for mains voltage low-energy CFL (Robus).
Click to expand...

Pardon me, that for full installation/wiring/labour/parts/etc.
 
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