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It's all gone wrong

TheCatWoman

After all the hassle of getting my friends stuff out of what was his room over the weekend, the electrician came today and had a look at where he thought the fault was and it turns out all the sockets need a total rewire, which means him turing up with builders who will help him chop all the cabling out of the walls and under the floor and replaster ready for decorating. I had a suspicion this would happen and we knew this was the worse case scenario, but it's still a bummer, everything will have to be rescheduled for the new year now which means it seriously dragging on into next year, when I'd really hoped to have the house OK. I really wanted to be able to turn what was my friends old room into a spare bedroon and sewing room and the garage into a lady lair where I could maybe do some upholstery which has always interested me.

So it seems like another winter of stuckness and I'm worried about my Mum and how well she will cope with having builders in and the house ripped up for a couple of weeks? She's a sprightly 92, but she dosen't like change, is afraid of building work and making desicions ad I could see her sort of curl up when the electrician was telling us what needed to happen and why. It will be e that has the responsibility to sort it all out, but with little or no power over things that need to be decided straight away, or anythung unforseen and not the financial power either. This is the sort of scenario may Dad dreaded and warned me about before he died. I think I will try and get her to allocate me a budget and pack her off to stay with my son and DiL for the duration of the work.

Parents

  • With all the ripping out of the old wires you will end up having to get the walls patched with plaster, sanded and painted so it would be worth checking what products the builders need to use so that it aligns with your smell sensitivity.

    Most houses need this every 20-30 years anyway as the old insulation degrades over time and the wiring regs change too. 

    It may be worth asking them to put the cables in conduits so any future require does not  need you to rip all this out again - you just pull new cables through the conduits - that is certainly how it do it in all the renovations now. Just a thought - a little expense now saves a lot of expense when you are your mothers age.

    I hope it all works out well.

Reply

  • With all the ripping out of the old wires you will end up having to get the walls patched with plaster, sanded and painted so it would be worth checking what products the builders need to use so that it aligns with your smell sensitivity.

    Most houses need this every 20-30 years anyway as the old insulation degrades over time and the wiring regs change too. 

    It may be worth asking them to put the cables in conduits so any future require does not  need you to rip all this out again - you just pull new cables through the conduits - that is certainly how it do it in all the renovations now. Just a thought - a little expense now saves a lot of expense when you are your mothers age.

    I hope it all works out well.

Children
  • in reply to Iain

    We've got conduits for some of the wires and they're a pain in the bum, they get in the way of others things and they look ugly, specially as they age and get off coloured. I'm OK with plaster, dust I can deal with using a mask and the quote I've had 4-5k dosen't include redecorating, I still want to teach my son decorating and use non VOC paints, paint does bother me.

    Because this house has been extended and stairs moved and stuff like that over the last 50 years, I think a lot of the stuffs been done badly, or "farmer built" as its called round here, I'd rather have it done right than have to do it all again when Mum's gone and I come to sell the place. I might see how much extra it would cost to have all the ceiling light fitting done too, as whilst they're legal, we can't use any metal fittings and I think some of the lights in the kitchen aren't so good either and it would be good to have them on seperate rigs so as we can have one set on, but not both.

    I think theres som gas pipe's that could be removed too as the old ones were left when the central heating was put in, instead of the old back boiler that we didn't know was there until we had a leak.

    Theres a couple of hearths that I'd like to be rid of too, they protrude into the kitchen and living room and whilst it might only be a foot or so, it's a big lump out of the middle of the floor.

    I'm OK with a bit of a project and I'd rather have everything done in one swell foop than bits and pieces.

    My electrician used to train electricians and although there are a few on the island there's very few that are qualified to sign off on all the work. A lot of people won't come to the island as its to far away and fuel is so costly.