Advice · General electrical work · 5 min read
An older house:does it all need redoing?
Buying or renovating an older house often raises the question: do all the electrics need redoing? Not necessarily. It all starts with an honest inspection.
Maxime LyonsElectrician in La Croix-Valmer
Signs an installation needs work
- A fuse box, or a panel with no RCD
- Unearthed sockets, or wiring in old colour codes
- Circuit breakers that trip often
- Multi-socket adaptors everywhere, for lack of sockets
- A socket that gets hot or turns black
The inspection comes first
We look at the electrical panel, the earthing, and the condition of the circuits and connections. Around the Gulf, many houses have been extended in stages: you need to understand what was done, and when, before proposing anything.
What is sound is kept, what needs redoing is redone: you only pay for what is necessary, and the quote sets it out line by line.
Bringing it up to standard
The benchmark is the NF C 15-100 standard: 30 mA RCD protection, earthing, equipotential bonding in bathrooms, and the number of sockets and circuits per room. A new panel, with every circuit labelled, is often at its heart.
Renovating without tearing everything out
Cables can often run through existing conduits, behind skirting boards, in a suspended ceiling or discreet mouldings. We choose the least invasive route, room by room if you are living in the house during the work.
