How to Check if Your Home Needs Rewiring

It might seem that rewiring your home can be a costly and daunting process. But to avoid electrical faults, rewiring must occur immediately if your home electrical wiring is faulty or severely damaged. If you take negligence at all times, this may trigger electric fires or electrocution.

In Australia, some form of electrical failure or fault attributes to up to 40 per cent of all residential fires. Although some of these you can avoid by taking more cautious methods, such as not leaving a cell phone close to flammable materials to charge, others can be directly due to overloaded electrical circuits, defective electrical equipment, and damaged wiring.

Becoming attentive to indications of cable deterioration is important as your home ages and the demands of upgrades in electrical systems increases. That is why if you have not thought of rewiring your home yet, here are several signs to watch out for that will encourage you to rewire your electrical system to keep your home safe for your family.

• Too high of a load on a single circuit – This can cause fuses to burn out and breakers to trip. Typically, you’ll notice this happening when switching on appliances such as heater or hairdryer. In such instances, an electrician can add a circuit to split the load throughout the house, adding needed electrical capacity.

• Main switchboard and earthing system are not up to current regulations– It is absolutely crucial to keep this up to current regulations. This system is the first line of defence should something catastrophic happen to your power main, protecting both your home and your family from the powerful lines entering your home.
• DIY wiring – Perhaps most dangerous of all is when you get a house with DIY electrical work that has been done. You may even be unaware that DIY repairs/installations were made. If you have such wiring, it could pose a danger to you and your home. It could also be not up to Australian Standards, faulty, outdated, or incorrectly installed.
• Older electrical line materials and construction– Some older houses use outdated cabling consisting of a wire wrapped in a fabric sheath encased within a black steel conduit. If moved or worked on, it can pose a fire and electrical hazard, and can cause your fuse to blow.