There's no getting around it, rewiring a typical 3-bed semi in Bristol is a 5-7 day job that creates a lot of dust. We chase out plaster across every room, lift floorboards where we can, and run new cable to every socket, switch and light fitting. But the thing is, we do this all the time so we are geared up to working in lived in rewires. With proper dust sheeting and a tidy team, the mess is contained and the property is fully reinstated before we leave.
How messy is a rewire? Advice from your local electrician in Bristol
How long does a rewire in Bristol take?
A rewire at a typical 3-bedroom home in Bristol takes around 5-7 days. We recently carried out a full rewire in the Chessel Street area of Bedminster. As with much of the Bristol, the main style of housing is Victorian terraces. The property was typical of the period, having been extended to the rear during the mid-20th century and having had additions to the electrical system that also spanned the decades. This rewire project took us 6 days to complete and the family stayed in the house every night bar one.
What happens during a rewire?
Let’s take a look at what we did during this rewire in Bedminster that actually created all that mess and dust.
As with many older homes, much of the mess came from lifting floorboards. In this home we found all sorts under the floorboards, scraps of old newspapers, the odd coin, signs of mice and an awful lot of dust from old, perished carpets! This decades old dust inevitably found it’s way into the air in every room. Luckily our team always dust sheet every surface and captured most of the dust this way.
To install new wiring, we had to chase out the plaster in every room, creating new spaces for the wiring and accessories. We use a dustless chaser during this process that captures the majority of the dust as we go, minimising the mess. As the home was lived in during the rewire process, we made sure to tidy up as much as possible each evening and ensure the rooms that were inhabited were safe.
Do I need to move furniture? Pack things up? Cover things?
Yes, you will need to pack up belongings and move your furniture during a rewire. We’ve already established that rewiring your Bristol home can be a messy, disruptive business so let’s look at how you can help that process run more smoothly. In an ideal world a rewire would occur before a property has been moved into, a blank canvas for us to work on with no furniture in the way. However, we understand that that’s just not possible in most cases. Our experienced rewire electricians can work around you, and your furniture, but there are a few things you need to do to help the process run smoothly.
We’ll ask that you move furniture to a predetermined spot in each room, away from where we’ll need to work. We’ll also cover the furniture with dust sheets. To avoid damaging any of your belongings, we’ll also advise that you pack up any loose items, ornaments and toys and stow the safely for the duration of the rewire. During the rewire we carried out in Bedminster, the homeowners sensibly packed up all their kids’ favourite toys and popped them out in their summerhouse where they could be easily accessed by the children – and not tripped over by our electricians!
What rooms get worst hit during a rewire?
Every room in your Bristol home will be affected during a rewire and the worst hit will ultimately depend on you. For some families, the kitchen is the area they feel is worst hit as it is the heart of the home and when it is out of action you’ll feel more impacted. This was certainly the case for our Bedminster family. The kids missed their home baked treats and mum most definitely missed her coffee machine!
Our advice would be to think about what room you will miss the most on the day that we have to shut it down to work in. You can then put a contingency plan into place to mitigate the effects. Our top tip would be to make sure you have a box or basket with your daily essentials – snacks, the kettle, phone charger etc that you can move easily each day.
Rewire electrician in Bristol
EMC Electrical Group are your local, experienced rewire electricians in Bristol. Our team are fully qualified, NICEIC registered professionals who treat your home with care and respect. Whilst we can’t guarantee your rewire will be mess free, we can guarantee that we will take every step to minimise that mess, and when we leave, your home will be safe and tidy.
If you are looking to have a rewire in Bristol and have questions about that process, get in touch with our friendly team.
