HOW TO CHECK YOUR ELECTRICAL WIRING TO SEE IF MY HOUSE NEEDS REWIRING.
How do you check your wiring? This is a question we get asked often, to most people it only becomes obvious that a property needs rewiring when things stop working or fuses start to blow.
The best and most detailed option is to have what is called an EICR carried out or an Electrical Installation condition report. An EICR involves an electrician carrying out an inspection and test of an electrical installation and compiling a detailed report of the installations condition and safety for on going use. It is recommended that a domestic property owner should carry out an EICR at least every ten years. If the property is commercial or a rental property, then there are different timescales for these inspections.
An EICR is particularly valuable if you are purchasing a property and the property is 20 years or older. If you are buying older properties then it is safe to say there will have been modifications to the original installation, the trouble with this is if the person doing the work was not a qualified electrician. This can throw up all sorts of problems to a potential buyer and can cost £000’s if the property requires rewiring.
Sometimes a property needs a rewire simply because the installation is very dated and could be original, take a 1960’s bungalow on the Fylde Coast for instance. If this property still has the old rewireable fuse style fuse box, sockets mounted in the skirting boards and no earths on the lighting circuits then it will just make sense if you are buying the property to have an EICR carried out before purchasing.
Some other tell tale signs your property may need rewiring are, sockets in skirting boards, sockets and switches with the screws on the top and bottom of the switches instead of the sides, lighting pendants in front of a window and not in the centre of the room, cables going into the fuse box which are black rubber and the old style rewireable fuse boxes. These are some of the visual issues that you can spot whilst walking around the property, for more tell tale signs a property may need rewiring download our rewiring guide.
There are a number of ways to check if your property may need rewiring but always recommend having a qualified and competent electrician carry out a detailed EICRR electrical inspection, this has the potential to save you £000’s or even your life in some instances.