Rewire Pain

[sparky05084]

Hey all. Well, to be honest I'm just having a bit of a whinge really but we all do from time to time. So, started a rewire yesterday on a 4 bed house and it's actually the first I've done on my jack.

It's good experience like and all the decisions I make are obviously my own. Nobody to blame except me if anything goes wrong

I think I'm making good progress as the upstairs lights are wired and this includes downlights cut out in the bathroom. Also, I have downstairs lights partially wired and starting to pull legs in for upstairs ring main. Now, the issue I have is one of the bedrooms is being used as storage and the other 3 has furniture etc in them so I'm trying my best to jiggle the rooms around to suit and lift the appropiate boards up at the same time.

The idea is that I can wire downstairs lights with downstairs ringmain and gradually put each room back together. Think of it in a clockwise direction going from room to room then finally, the fourth bedroom (used for storage) will be the last room I enter.

Hope this makes sense.

I feel though that progress is slow and I'm consious of time. The customer told me that he wished he had of moved all of the furniture out prior to me starting and I feel this would have been a big advantage but it's too late for that now. I will still be able to do it but the whole idea of moving from room to room and of course trying to find somewhere to store all the materials and tools etc without hindering floor space is a bit tedious.

Perhaps I'm looking into this too much. What's your experience people with lived in rewires?

Remember this is my first so any advice would be really appreciated. Many thanks.

 

[sparky1502]

it sounds like your making good progress but its a lot harder work in a tenanted property i think you have the right idea tackling a room at a time

 

[sparky05084]

Thanks mate for the vote of confidence. Yeah it is hard isn't it. Oh, forgot to mention the interior walls are eggcrate and the existing single sockets are being turned into twins and the backboxes have been cemented in.

It's a right mess. Switch boxes all cemented in too. As I said it's experience for me.

 

[Top Cat]

10 years ago i said i would never do a rewire with tenants in situ but still do it occasionally.

God it is hard work and a pain in the but.

Why is it that the smallest room in the house has the most cables to go through it and the most stuff stored in it?

Good luck i hope it goes well.

 

[sparky05084]

Yeah I see what you mean. Although the smallest room has now been cleared to make way for routes. It's actually the biggest bderoom thats being used as storage but I'm not looking forward to trying to get cables into there as theres a king size bed with built in wardrobes to contend with.
Still, I will try my best. Thanks.

 

[sedgy34]

it sounds like your doing ok but get a joey for a cple of days to help you & move furniture too etc if you move something on your own and you have an accident it breaks etc they will want to deduct it from the price
been there got the t shirt

 

[Snapester]

Yeah lived in are a pain in the ---, avoid them if possible! You are making good progress by the sounds though!

 

[Top Cat]

I find that you have just got to put everything on top of the bed and just push the bed around.

Good luck again

 

[sparky05084]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Appreciate it. Yes Sedgy34 you have a point but the customer is moving the furniture for me and asks if I need any help. I am very careful around his stuff and most things have been covered anyway.

I even got a lift pulling in the 3 core for the landing 2 way so he's more than happy to help.

 

[sedgy34]

im sure he will want a deduction for helping you when it comes to paying lol " be ready for it"

 

[DaveyLe_Spark]

Re-wires always take longer, even more so when the clients are in house. are they the type who look over your shoulder every step too? Nightmare!! Lol

Again, you've got it bang on though, a good methodical approach going from room to room, with good forethought you can even tackle a few circuits at a time to save having to go back all the time.

Try and convince your clients to change to a more minimalistic lifestyle, tell them it's good for their feing shui or something, see if they bite. Laughs!

Got a rewire coming up in a fortnight which is an old old rural farmhouse full of stuff and no loft access (yet! Ha Ha) so i'm going to be feeling your pain mate. Keep up the good work.

 

[kenny james]

i must admit i shy away from house rewires if clients are still living in them as the last one put me off them for life, the woman wanted to know if she could still use the washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher and if the tv could still be left on for her husband who was constantly looking over his shoulder at what i was doing, nightmare. but then i take my hat off to a local company who had the contract of rewiring a local housing association houses with tenants still in them, they have a gang of 10 lads straight in takes them 1 day to rewire and certify the work onto the next house. i saw a mates house who was ready for a rewire from the company and his house was full from floor to ceiling of junk and things stuffed in corners but they managed to do his too in 1 day didnt seem to bother them.

 

[onions1066]

unfortunately to say i am a member of the 1 day rewire teams at the minute, we generally have to do 1 day if it is anything upto 3 bedroom this includes plastering, hard work but money is good, we generally have to have flats done by about 2 oclock and move to the next, we also do our own testing. its not a job that you can keep up for long periods of time though. before anyone mentions standard i can guarentee standard is high and i will post pictures to prove that if your intersted

 

[Strima]

the woman wanted to know if she could still use the washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher and if the tv could still be left on for her husband who was constantly looking over his shoulder at what i was doing, nightmare.

Did an EICR last week, just as she decided to put the washing machine on... That'll be an extra hours labour and a liquid lunch then.

 

[kenny james]

unfortunately to say i am a member of the 1 day rewire teams at the minute, we generally have to do 1 day if it is anything upto 3 bedroom this includes plastering, hard work but money is good, we generally have to have flats done by about 2 oclock and move to the next, we also do our own testing. its not a job that you can keep up for long periods of time though. before anyone mentions standard i can guarentee standard is high and i will post pictures to prove that if your intersted

i could imagine the pay is good, every electrician should try it out just for 1 day in there life!!!, i take my hat off to you for what you do its not a job i would like to do every day, it must be a nightmare when the tenants rooms are all full of stuff and expect you to work around it and all rooms are fitted with laminate flooring (do you find that a problem?)

 

[onions1066]

i could imagine the pay is good, every electrician should try it out just for 1 day in there life!!!, i take my hat off to you for what you do its not a job i would like to do every day, it must be a nightmare when the tenants rooms are all full of stuff and expect you to work around it and all rooms are fitted with laminate flooring (do you find that a problem?)

to be fair to the inspectors they get laminate floors either removed from upstairs we get there or the tennants agree for us to lift it with a circular saw and a big hammer, and i'm sure if you've ever had the pleasure of working in some of these propertys you will be aware that the floors are never fitted very well anyway so us ripping them up isn't a great loss. we normally do 3 months and then move onto the commercial side to have a break for a few weeks, we find commercial/industrial alot more leisurely pace. i do think it's something that most electricians should do at some point, we get apprentices come through and i do believe this is good training for them it not only improves standard it also improves there speed.