Should my house be rewired?

[Scarletpimpofnel]

The wiring in my house is about 35-40 years old. I'd say it's largely to modern standards as all the cabling is T&E, all lights have an earth and so on. The CU is plastic (should be metal nowadays).

I've seen many articles that imply wiring should be replaced when 30-40 years old. I think mine is all good, the only thing I've noticed is if I pull a switch or socket off the wall when decorating the cable feels stiffer than perhaps newer cable would but otherwise the insulation all looks good etc.

IMO I see no reason to replace it all with all the cost and mess that would bring. Any thoughts either way?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

If your CU has, at a minimum, RCDs then that’s pretty reasonable. Or even better if it has RCBOs on each individual circuit. That’s just my opinion though.

[98elise]

If you are at all concerned get an EICR done, they are not expensive.

I have rentals with 60 year old wiring. One failed its EICR this year and had to be rewired, but the others passed ok.

[Mr Pointy]

It's unlikley the cable itself is end-of-life but consumer units have certainly moved on & there's potential for past bodges to be present. If you have an RCD & MCBs in the CU you won't really gain much but if you stil have fuses then a CU swap might be wise.

[Megaflow]

As I understood it, if you had PVC cabling, rather than the old rubber stuff, it shouldn’t need replacing.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

The cable is PVC. The CU has an RCD (on outlet type circuits but not lighting circuits) and each circuit has an MCB.

[Rough101]

Unlike the old VIR rubber cable, PVC doesn’t break down.

Rewiring PVC is usually done during renovations, to get a modern layout and quantity and where there are so many alterations that there is title left, or indeed where it’s riddled with poor alterations and needs ripped out.

Fitting an RCBO consumer unit with an SPD modernises an older PVC installation, but get an EICR done to establish its condition.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

Rough101 said:

Unlike the old VIR rubber cable, PVC doesn t break down.

Rewiring PVC is usually done during renovations, to get a modern layout and quantity and where there are so many alterations that there is title left, or indeed where it s riddled with poor alterations and needs ripped out.

Fitting an RCBO consumer unit with an SPD modernises an older PVC installation, but get an EICR done to establish its condition.

Ok thanks, good advice. Thanks all.