Electrical problems can often be simple fixes. It could be a case of replacing a couple parts or even just resoldering something that has come loose. However, there are other cases where electrical problems are more severe. In these cases, your home’s electrics may require more than a simple repair - rewiring your entire home may even be necessary.
Just when can you expect a simple repair? And when should you consider rewiring your home? This post explains.
When to repair…
If your home’s electrics are fairly new (less than 15 years old), there should generally be no reason to rewire your home, unless your home was wired by an amateur. Any problems you encounter with your electrics in this case are likely problems with individual outlets or components - not your entire home’s electrics.
Components like inductors may need to be replaced due to bad internal solder joints, but other components around them could be fine. In this case, you simply need to look into new inductors. In other cases, an entire outlet’s components may need to be replaced, but the rest of your home may be unaffected. There are of course exceptions such as daisy-chained outlets (this is where outlets are linked by a single circuit, so that if one fails, others further down the chain can fail).
When to rewire…
Rewiring your entire home could be worthwhile if your home’s electrics are over 30 years old. Beyond this point, you’re likely to encounter more electrical problems as a result of wear and tear. Individual outlets may start failing or you may have problems with your fuseboard. That said, this is not always the case, and some home electrics can last up to 50 years without major issues.
There are a few signs that your home’s electrics are likely getting very worn. This includes frequent circuit breaker trips, flickering lights or frequent small repairs as a result of frayed wires. Rewiring your home is recommended at this stage.
A full home rewire is of course very expensive - costing between $2000 and $9000 for most homes depending on the size and amount of outlets. Some homeowners prefer to spend money on frequent small repairs, however there are dangers to this. Once wear and tear starts to occur, the risk of an electrical fire increases. Scorched sockets and buzzing sounds from outlets can be a warning sign of this and are usually a sign that you should get your home urgently rewired for your household’s safety.
Following a disaster such as a flood or house fire, it is also likely that your entire home’s electrics will need to be replaced. Such disasters can cause a lot of hidden damage, some of which could be dangerous - it is much safer to rewire the entire house to ensure that there are no hidden faults.
Repair or rewire?
To sum things up, it’s generally a good idea to repair a fault if:
Your home’s electrics are less than 15 years old.
You haven’t needed any other recent electrical repairs.
You can pinpoint an isolated cause such as a lighting outlet being knocked and damaged
It’s generally a good idea to rewire your home if:
Your electrics are over 30 years old and you’ve started to encounter problems as a result of wear and tear
You’ve started to notice issues like flickering lights or frequent circuit breaker trips
Your home has recently been damaged by a fire or a flood
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