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Lynn
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Location: March, Cambridgeshire.
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23-02-2013, 03:21 PM
We sold mums house in November last year it is nearly 60 years old and has never been re-wired. We had to put on the form for the Solicitor for the purchaser it had never been re-wired it didn't cause any problems.
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lindaisy
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24-02-2013, 02:23 AM
As far as I understand...

As long as there isn't anything wrong with the wiring (breakers or fuses tripping/blowing....or worse) then there is no need to re-wire....if the house was wired in accordance with the regulations at that time, then it will be fine....

If you do have any worries get an independent inspection and test of the wiring, it will tell you whether there are any issues or not (and best action to be taken, if any).
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Helena54
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24-02-2013, 07:39 AM
Having recently moved and gone through all the requirements of selling, it states on there, that a house has to be checked and certified every 5 years for electrics, and if I remember rightly, it's called a PIR? I have a certificate from our house purchase which is a Domestic Electrical Periodical Certificate, which shows that everything was tested and to be ok (which it isn't actually, cos Dave has checked it all and it all needs re-doing!). So it's pretty worthless!
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Tang
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24-02-2013, 08:32 AM
Yes Helena like most of the stuff 'covered by a pre purchase survey' (Homebuyer Survey these days?) disclaimers on the bottom of every page as I recall!

I refused to have a survey done for my last house in Devon. Hell it had been standing for almost 200 yrs. Withstood 2 wars - had the original roof on it and the original windows too! I could do this because I didn't need a mortgage.

When the time came to sell - my first time buyer needed a 100% mortgage therefore required to have a full survey. A little bit of breath holding on my part but it passed with flying colours!

And the surveyor was a plonker - I kept having to put him right about the details. He was trying to insist they were cavity walls (on account of the thickness) they were blerdy SOLID mate. They used to build them like that - and with the thick browny red plaster mixed with horsehair slapped straight on them! (The one I had before that was lathe & plaster - nightmare)
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Losos
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24-02-2013, 09:54 AM
If the last re-wiring was done only 17 years ago then you do NOT need a re-wire that's assuming you've had no problems, do your circuit breakers keep flipping do you hear crackling sounds comming from any socketsany sockets or lights that don't work now that used to work if none of that then you don't need to worry.

You could get an independant check done in which case you can find a suitable firm on this web site:-

http://www.niceic.com/

Some other helpful stuff on there.

Jenny is right the 'standard' for colour coding on 13 amp plugs had a minor change but the little electrons in the wires don't care what colour the wire is

As far as safety is concerned what matters is the type of cable used and that the electrician who did the job put the Live, Neutral, and Earth to the correct terminals in the sockets etc. (Even with the nanny state intervention that is still the biggest danger, just 'cos it says (s)he is a 'certified electrician' doesn't mean a thing really, all it enables is for the lawyers to shift the blame around )

If you get an independant electrician in (s)he will just unscrew a couple of sockets and check that the green/yellow goes to earth, the blue to neutral, and the brown to live. As I say your cable may have green/black/red but I doubt it as the current colours were in use 17 years ago I'm certain.

Cable and materials used before WWII and in some cases up to about 1955 were subject to degredation over time but anything manufactured after let's say 1970 will last for a 100 years, the only qualifier to that is if at some point in the past the cable has burnt out through overloading and it should have been replaced if that happened and I assume you've been in the house since the re-wire was done 17 years ago so you would know about that.

To the builder it makes sense to do a re-wire 'cos he can then get on and do the building work quicker (and it bumps up his invoice) but technically it isn't essential, if you don't go for a re-wire he'll have to work around the existing wiring and even put tempory extensions in which takes time and builders don't like doing all that sort of stuff
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Gemini54
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24-02-2013, 10:00 AM
Hi My OH is an electrician,it should last a life time,so just say to the builder no I would rather concentrate on all the other work and leave it at that crystalgirl
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Losos
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24-02-2013, 10:05 AM
Originally Posted by Tangutica View Post
And the surveyor was a plonker -
Yes, been there done that, makes you mad doesn't it 'cos if you hadn't said anything the house would have sold with cavity walls, the new owners would have sued the estate agent who in turn would sue the surveyer who in turn would claim on his insurance who in turn would put their rates up and who in the end would pay YOU of course (And me)

So Pat, you could say I owe you money (Since you didn't allow the plonker to put the wrong description on his little bit of paper)

There's a cyber bottle of your favorite plonk on it's way to you
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Meg
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24-02-2013, 10:16 AM
Originally Posted by Nippy View Post
Also all electrical work has to be certificated now and without it, it will be very difficult to sell the house in the future.
When an electrician came recently to discuss replacing my heating he told me every piece of electrical work carried out on a house now needs a certificate and he was shocked I didn't have one for the new shower I had fitted last year by a well respected electrician

He said this requirement had been well publicized to inform the public but it was news to me
He also said there should be an earth wire running from my meter box outside the front door to the stop cock in the kitchen and that existing earthing didn't meet the new standards .

Fitting a few new plugs in addition to the other work was also a no-no because
it would involve altering the ring main . My house was built in the 1970s so not that old and I was quite shocked by all this . I had a new fuse box fitted a few years ago, I didn't have a certificate for that either.

I am still waiting for a quote for proposed work after two weeks.
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Losos
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24-02-2013, 10:42 AM
Originally Posted by Minihaha View Post
He also said there should be an earth wire running from my meter box outside the front door to the stop cock in the kitchen and that existing earthing didn't meet the new standards .
And what are these 'new' standards for earthing cable nothing more than a requirement for green / yellow tape to be applied and some other stuff that the nanny state thinks might stop some fool house owner from playing around with (Tamper proof screws etc)

Did you ask him if the existing earthing would do it's job Well I wouldn't expect you to do that of course but fact is it's probably 'technically' perfectly OK and since I assume you've never felt an uncontrolable urge to go out and start unscrewing the cable and leave it lying around then most likely you are SAFE and always have been

He was right in that there was some publicity a few years ago when they made it compulsory to get electrical work done by a certified electrician, but this was aimed at all the stupid, ignorant, peasants, who dived into their wiring without knowing what they were doing and some of them even managed to KILLL themselves (You read the stories and it's totally mind blowing how utterly stupid some people are )

As we've seen by the examples quoted from Helena and Tangutica above having a 'certified' anything come into your house doesn't mean a thing, they can still make horrendous mistakes, the only thing it means is that they can be sued and that, in the end, the insurance company will pay out, and that ultimately means all the sensible careful intelligent people will pay more on their insurance premiums.

My guess is that if your shower was done by a reputable and established firm they need to have good safe installations to stay in business, he's probably got a bit of paper in his office with all the boxes ticked, what does it matter whether that bit of paper sits in his office or your home, it ain't going to change anything, if he had made a mess of the job you would likely be dead by now
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Losos
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24-02-2013, 10:53 AM
Originally Posted by Minihaha View Post
My house was built in the 1970s so not that old and I was quite shocked by all this . I had a new fuse box fitted a few years ago, I didn't have a certificate for that either.
Please don't be shocked or worried - You are SAFE - A house built in the 1970's should have all that's necessary for safe electrics.

A few minor changes might help but it's just minor stuff, and lot's of the current legislation is written around preventing morons from trying to kill themselves, the nanny state is obsessed with trying to make brainless people somehow grow some brains, it won't happen, just look at all the errors and misconceptions in the DDA legislation.

I think I had better go and have a cup of tea 'cos I can feel my blood pressure rising
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