Rewiring an old house

clv101

clv101

clv101

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If you want to completely rewire an old house yourself, what qualifications do you require so that the job is legit?

I'm seeing City and Guilds 2383-10 and 2391. Are they required, are they all that's required?
 
It's not just qualifications it's equipment. To test everything properly you need kit that ain't cheap.
 
You don't need any qualifications to do the work, but if you intend to sell (and you should even if you don't) you'll need to get it checked over by a registered electrician, can be arranged through the council, costs not much at all.
 
You can do it yourself and then get a part p sparky to check it and sign it off. However they will prob want to charge almost as much as doing it themselves.

Get some quotes then tell them your budget see if one bites.
 
Abraham said:
You don't need any qualifications to do the work, but if you intend to sell (and you should even if you don't) you'll need to get it checked over by a registered electrician, can be arranged through the council, costs not much at all.
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Depends how much you do.

Most will happily sign it off, if all you did was pull the cables. Forget it, if you've wired it all and put the faceplates on. If something goes wrong in the future, someone dies, and his name is on the certificate he'll face jail time.

You won't find many electricians who'll sign it off, if they haven't worked on the job themselves.
 
EVH said:
Depends how much you do.

Most will happily sign it off, if all you did was pull the cables. Forget it, if you've wired it all and put the faceplates on. If something goes wrong in the future, someone dies, and his name is on the certificate he'll face jail time.

You won't find many electricians who'll sign it off, if they haven't worked on the job themselves.
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A colleague had completely rewired his house and someone from the council thoroughly inspected it all and signed it off. Haven't done it myself but am on the brink of doing so.
 
Abraham said:
A colleague had completely rewired his house and someone from the council thoroughly inspected it all and signed it off. Haven't done it myself but am on the brink of doing so.
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Don't get me wrong. There are electricians who'll sign it off, but not many.
 
clv101 said:
So what qualifications does one need to be a registered Part P electrician, able to sign off (one's own) installations?
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I think you are fine to do the re-wire but you cant touch the main spur coming in to the consumer unit afaik

I had to put in a powerful electric shower a while back, which needed its own RCD etc and I had to get an electrician to do the CU work. However the main run and shower installation was done by myself
 
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Okay, this page and its links seems pretty clear:
http://www.domlec.co.uk/part_p.html

The two C&G qualifications are the 'academic' basis but it seems £2m public liability insurance is also needed, a full set of test instruments with calibration certification and several hundred quid a year in fees.

This system effectively prevents people doing low volume electrical work - just a few dwellings a year - as the overheads of self certification aren't worth it. :(
 
Luckily the advatages of having a Brother-in-law who is certificated -free house rewire \o/ :o

Having just had a word with him though and he says he wouldn't and can't think of single other sparky he knows of who would sign off a job they had not had a hand in themselves. Your best bet is as someone stated above is to get some quotes to see if anyone in your area would and to see what strings they attached.
 
You can legally do the work yourself if you do the work to 17th edition wiring regs (cost about £30).You will need to use a calibrated multimeter (hire is possible)to perform all the tests as you install each circuit.You will also have to inform your local building control dept before starting and they will come round to inspect afterwards ask questions do random tests to confirm your figures etc.The cost of this varies by council but ours charge £80 or close to.If you do not inform anyone and a fire breaks out that is traced to wiring then your insurance will not pay.If your consumer unit (or 'fusebox') has been replaced within last few years (ie has rcd protection)as a cheap option,then you could legally just replace the wiring using EXACTLY same cross sectional area cable following EXACTLY same routing and keeping all fixtures fittings in EXACTLY the same place(but as old cooker and shower cabling won't carry modern cooker/shower loads this is normally no use).An electrician will not sign off your work-but if you call one up and say 'I have bought a house and although the wiring looks new there is no paperwork,could you give it a COMPLETE inspection checking all fixtures and fittings (rather than just the 10-20% random sample of a normal inspection) and a certificate to prove, then for approx £300 this should be possible.Do ask to see the insurance cert of this sparky and make sure he is registered with one of the schemes-Napit,Elecsa,Niceic or A N Other(by checking on the website of the scheme for his/her name).However I understand that this will not be of help to you as the work has yet to be done?.
ABOVE ALL BE CAREFUL....If you have a problem with gas you smell it(and most won't try it themselves) and get out,If you have a flood you see it and get out,with electrics you don't always know there is a problem until you touch something and die!!(and the number of people who think that wiring they do themselves is safe when they don't even have a BASIC understanding of Ohm's law and how an electric heating element works(If you do, you get the picture!) is scaary!.
Disclaimer- No guarantee is given as to the accuracy and/or relevance of the above post.Be safe.Ask a professional before undertaking work that you are not sure you are competent to carry out.
Oh and If you get several quotes a 3-bed semi should be around £2000 all done for you(probably not in London though) is it worth The risk?:eek:
 
Oh and in case I misunderstand,this is for yourself rather than someone else? as I don't think you can do it for others unless PROVEN competent via qualification or experience.
 
Sidney James said:
and the number of people who think that wiring they do themselves is safe when they don't even have a BASIC understanding of Ohm's law
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That's pretty crazy, Ohm's law is so simple... I guess that may explain why there needs to be all this red tape due to people who think "how hard can it be?" and attempt electrical work themselves without any experience or a basic understanding of electronics... And then wonder why there wires are melting! :eek:
 
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I could be wrong about this but if the house is rewired and then the is subsequent electrical related damage I believe the insurance company will be wanting to see a certificate signed off by a NICEIA registered engineer.

Also if your not Part-P registered you will have to inform your local authority building control regulations department before doing work on your electrical system. If you do not do this they are allowed to come round and rip it all out.

Oh and if you want to sell it you may have trouble without the certificate signed off by a registered electrician.
 
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