Full rewire, 1920s villa
A room-by-room rewire of a 1920s villa while the family continued living there.
What we found and did
The owners knew the villa needed rewiring when they bought it. Most of the cable was original, with brittle rubber insulation and no earth through the bedrooms or hallway. New kitchen circuits had been added in the eighties, but the old ones were still live behind the lining. The switchboard had six ceramic fuses and no RCD protection. The family also needed to stay in the house with their nine-month-old while we worked.
We worked from the back of the house to the front, one room at a time. This kept power and hot water available in the rooms the family was using. We ran cable through the ceiling and under the floor where possible, lifting floorboards instead of cutting the villa linings. Each old circuit was removed as its replacement went in. The new switchboard was installed on day two, so every completed circuit had RCD protection from the moment it went live.
The result
The work took eleven days spread across three weeks to fit around the family. Every circuit is now new, earthed and RCD-protected, and all of the old wiring was removed. There were two short planned outages, both arranged the day before. The Certificate of Compliance and board schedule were sent with the invoice.
What the job included
- Full rewire, twelve circuits
- New switchboard with RCD protection throughout
- Removal of all original rubber-insulated wiring
- Earthing brought to current standard
- Twenty-two outlets and eighteen light points
- Smoke alarms to the bedrooms and hallway
- Certificate of Compliance and board schedule
Before and after
Before
After
On site
