Indicators
What actually points to a rewire
What matters is the condition of the cable, the earthing arrangement and the protection at the board — not the year the house was built.
- Rubber, fabric or lead-sheathed cable anywhere in the installation
- A fuse board with rewireable fuses rather than circuit breakers
- No RCD protection at the consumer unit
- No earth at lighting points — common in installations from before the 1960s
- Sockets extended repeatedly with spurs run off other spurs
- Round-pin sockets, or a very small number of sockets per room
- Scorch marks, warm faceplates, or a persistent burning smell near the board
- Breakers that trip repeatedly with no identifiable cause
Diagnosis
Get an EICR before you get a quote
An Electrical Installation Condition Report is an inspection and test of the existing installation, producing a written report with coded observations: C1 (danger present, immediate action), C2 (potentially dangerous, urgent remedial action), C3 (improvement recommended), and FI (further investigation required).
It is the honest way to answer the question, because it's a technical assessment rather than a sales conversation. It also tells you something more useful than yes-or-no: it tells you whether you need a full rewire, a partial one, or just a consumer unit replacement and some remedial work.
Partial rewires are genuinely common and considerably cheaper. A house with sound cable but a dangerous board and no RCD protection doesn't need every floor lifted.
Reality
What a full rewire actually involves
It is one of the most disruptive things you can do to an occupied house. Floorboards come up on every level, walls are chased for cables and back boxes, ceilings are opened where necessary, and power is intermittent throughout.
The work splits into first fix — cables run, back boxes set — then plastering and making good, then second fix, where the accessories and the consumer unit go in and the installation is tested and certified. For a typical three or four bedroom house allow two to four weeks, considerably faster in an empty property.
This is why a rewire belongs at the start of a refurbishment rather than as a standalone job. If you're planning to renovate within a few years, doing it twice is the expensive option.
Paperwork
What you must receive at the end
- Electrical Installation Certificate
- Confirms the installation has been designed, constructed, inspected and tested to BS 7671. This is the primary document.
- Schedule of test results
- The measured values for every circuit. Without it the certificate is an assertion rather than evidence.
- Circuit schedule
- What each way on the consumer unit serves, labelled at the board. Trivial to produce at the time, tedious to reconstruct later.
- Part P notification
- Confirmation the work has been notified to Building Control, either self-certified by a registered competent person or inspected directly.
Later
Why the certificates matter more than you'd think
Keep all of it. When you sell, the buyer's solicitor will ask for evidence of any electrical work, and the absence of it is a routine cause of price reductions and retentions at exchange.
If you let the property, an EICR is a legal requirement at least every five years, with C1, C2 and FI items remedied within 28 days and written confirmation supplied to the tenant.
And if a contractor can't produce the certificate and test schedule at handover, the work isn't finished, whatever it looks like on the wall.
Common questions
For a typical three or four bedroom house, two to four weeks — roughly split between first fix and second fix with plastering in between. Substantially faster and cheaper in an empty property than an occupied one.
It's much easier if you can. Floors come up, walls are chased and power is intermittent. Where staying is unavoidable we phase it floor by floor and maintain working circuits, but it extends the programme and it's genuinely uncomfortable.
Sometimes. If the cable is sound and correctly earthed, replacing an old board with a modern one providing RCD or RCBO protection can be a significant safety improvement at a fraction of the cost. An EICR will tell you whether that's your situation — a quote won't.
At least every five years for privately rented property in England, and at the start of a new tenancy where the existing report has expired. C1, C2 and FI coded items must be remedied within 28 days with written confirmation supplied.
