Need a re-wire? Will electrician allow me to do labour?

[SkipFeeney]

Hi All,

This is the lovely fusebox we have in my 1950s house, also the lighting circuit has no earth. I am guessing it needs a re-wire?

Fusebox1

• SkipFeeney
• 13 Mar 2014
• 1

Fusebox2

• SkipFeeney
• 13 Mar 2014
• 1

Also, money is a bit tight. How would most electricians take it, if I offered to do all the chasing out, lifting floorboards etc - maybe even running the cable? So all they had to do is come along and do the connections.

Thanks[/img]

 

[Taylortwocities]

Only your chosen electrician can answer that.
He will most certainly need to do the design (ie determine what size cables need to go, and where).
He may be OK with you doing the grunt work.

There will need to be some work done on bonding and earthing. Cant see enough from your pics.

 

[sparkwright]

Are you intending having the sockets rewired too?

Do you have plenty of sockets at the moment? I'm guessing not.

 

[Adam_151]

As a side point to note, that when the time comes to remove that board, it should be isolated and the cables cut, then the board double bagged in the correct red and clear sacks labeled up for asbestos waste.

There will be a woven arc shield behind each fuse carrier as shown in the pictures here http://www.flameport.com/electric_museum/old_equipment/bill_crown_4way_brown_bakelite_fuse_box.cs4 which contains asbestos fibres.

 

[SkipFeeney]

I was going to get the sockets re-wired as well - I thought i would have to do that?

Thanks for the heads up on the abestos!

 

[ericmark]

My son in early days of working for himself allowed people to help. However so often they failed to do the work within the agreed time so he would end up having to do it himself and this completely messed up his timing and costing for the job. Clearly when this happens one can only work on a day rate and most people want the cost declared before they start. So very quickly he realised getting the customer to do work is limited. He would agree not to re-plaster and the customer would replace items he needed to remove to rewire but not to do work ahead of him with the exception of may be dig a trench. With his power tools it did not take long to chase up a wall or sink a socket likely a 1/10 of the time it would take the customer. I would think most electricians have been caught out at some time allowing the customer to do some of the work and as a result most will have vowed to them selves never again.

So I think you will find it hard to get an electrician to let you help. Unless you agree to pay day rate.

 

[sparkwright]

Whenever I've had the customer insist on 1st fixing, they've always done exactly what I don't want done, or it's been done so embarrassingly bad that I've had to redo it.

If you can accept critism, and are capable of laying cables without twists in them, and can chase in boxes without causing devastation, and can drill holes in joists in the correct places - then it may work. However, 9 times out of 10 you need to be an electrician to do this it seems.

 

[sparkwright]

He will certainly be thankful if you can move furniture and lift any floorboards - but it would pay to negotiate this with him, as he may not knock anything off the price for your trouble.