Can a house need rewiring if all the sockets still work?

Yes. A circuit can carry power perfectly well while the insulation around the cable is quietly breaking down behind the plaster, so working sockets tell you very little on their own. An insulation resistance test on each circuit is the only reliable check, and houses that seem fine day to day often have one or two circuits well below the acceptable reading.

How long does a rewire take and do I have to move out?

Most houses are a matter of days rather than weeks, and the exact time depends on the number of circuits and how easily the floors and walls can be opened up. You do not normally have to move out. We phase the work so you keep power and heating overnight, which adds a little time but keeps the house liveable throughout.

How old does a house have to be to need rewiring?

There's no age at which a rewire becomes automatic. As a rough guide, an installation untouched for 30 years or more is worth testing, and pre-1970s wiring that has never been upgraded frequently does need work. But age is an indicator to investigate, not a diagnosis — plenty of older houses have been partially rewired at some point and test perfectly well.

Is rubber-sheathed cable dangerous?

It can be. Rubber insulation degrades over decades, becoming brittle and eventually crumbling away from the conductor — which is a genuine fire and shock risk rather than a theoretical one. If you can see black rubber or fabric-covered cable at your board or light fittings, have it tested. Insulation resistance readings will show immediately whether it has failed.

Can I rewire a house room by room?

Yes. A phased rewire is a legitimate approach: the consumer unit and the worst circuits first, the rest later. Each phase is tested and certified as it completes, so you're never left with uncertified work, and it lets you spread the cost across budgets or tax years.

How do I know if an electrician is being straight with me?

Ask what the test readings were. A rewire recommendation should be backed by insulation resistance and continuity figures, circuit by circuit — not by the age of the board or the look of the sockets. Also check they're registered with a competent person scheme such as NAPIT or NICEIC, because that's what lets them self-certify the work to Building Control.

Does My House Need Rewiring? The Signs That Matter

Written by Gary Williams · NAPIT registered · Updated 10 September 2026

The signs that genuinely matter

Look at the fuse board first: rewireable fuses, a wooden back, or the absence of any RCD puts the installation decades out of date. Then look at the cable where it enters the board or at a light fitting — black rubber or fabric sheathing is a strong indicator, and if it's gone hard or crumbles when flexed it's a real hazard rather than a cosmetic one. Round-pin sockets, sockets set into the skirting, and a total absence of earth at lighting points all point the same way. Repeated tripping with no identifiable appliance cause is worth investigating properly.

The signs that get misdiagnosed

A few things get quoted as a rewire that usually aren't one. Not having enough sockets is an additions job, not a rewire. One circuit that trips is nearly always a faulty appliance, which unplugging things one at a time will identify in ten minutes. Flickering downlights are usually a mismatched driver rather than the wiring. And an old-looking board on sound circuits is a board change, not a rewire. If someone quotes a full rewire without having tested the circuits, ask what the insulation resistance readings were — if there aren't any, they don't know either.

What testing actually proves

An EICR measures insulation resistance and continuity on every circuit. Insulation resistance shows whether the cable's insulation is still doing its job — degraded rubber sheathing shows up here clearly and unambiguously. Continuity confirms the earthing and bonding are intact and correctly sized. Between them, these readings answer the question definitively, circuit by circuit, which is why an EICR before committing to a rewire is worthwhile: it either confirms the work or saves you most of the cost.

Rewire vs consumer unit upgrade

This is the decision that matters financially, and the split is usually clean. If the circuits test sound and the only problem is a board with no RCD protection, a modern consumer unit with RCBOs brings the whole installation up to current standards in a day. If insulation resistance is failing across several circuits, a new board on failing cable is money wasted — the board can't fix the cable. We see the first case constantly on 1950s–70s estate housing around Chatham, Walderslade and Lordswood, and the second on Victorian and pre-war stock in Gillingham, Chatham town centre and older parts of Maidstone.

Partial rewires are a real option

It's not binary. It's common to find the upstairs lighting and downstairs ring test perfectly well while the kitchen circuit and an old immersion supply are failing — in which case replacing those circuits plus a new board is the proportionate answer. A partial rewire is properly tested and certified exactly like a full one. Anyone who tells you it's all or nothing is either not testing or not looking.

If you're buying a property

A homebuyer's survey will typically flag the electrics as 'recommend further investigation' regardless of condition, because the surveyor isn't testing anything. That isn't a rewire diagnosis. If the price of the property is turning on it, get an EICR before exchange — it costs a fraction of a rewire and gives you either a genuine negotiating position with coded evidence, or the reassurance that the installation is fine.

Does my house need rewiring? How to find out

The honest answer is that half an hour of testing will tell you and very little else will. Here is what that looks like in practice. We start at the consumer unit, note the age and the type of protection fitted, then take insulation resistance and continuity readings on every circuit, and open up a couple of accessories to see the cable and the terminations behind them. You get those readings written down, circuit by circuit, with a plain explanation of which ones still have life in them and which do not. From there the outcome is usually one of three things: leave the installation alone and retest in a few years, change the board and keep the existing circuits, or rewire part or all of the house. It suits anyone living with an old fuse board, anyone buying a period property in Kent, and landlords whose EICR has come back unsatisfactory. If a rewire does turn out to be the answer, expect the work to be phased around you so you keep power and heating, and expect every circuit to be tested and certified as it is finished.

What it will cost at your property

We don’t publish blanket prices, because the factors above move the figure too much for a headline number to be honest. What we will do is come and look, then give you a written, itemised quote with nothing hidden in it — free, and with no obligation.

Call 07825 333341

Does My House Need Rewiring? The Signs That Actually Matter

The short answer