Cost of central heating and rewiring job

Hi all, I've skimmed through all the existing threads, but I don't really feel that much wiser. I've looked at an old 2 bed ex-corporation house that currently has no heating and god knows how old the wiring is. So I'm asking myself, do I really want to buy this... Anyways, I'd definitely go with gas fired heating and if possible a combi-boiler as they are dead handy, had one in rented accommodation and loved it. So if this water pressure stuff (would have to check) is sufficient, would defo go with that. I'd also try and do as much as I can myself to keep cost low, like taking up floorbords and opening the walls where the old cables are so the profs can come in and get straight onto the work. What else could I do to save? I would't want to attempt to do the wiring myself, way too scared of electricity.
So bearing in mind that I'm not afraid of hard labour (and there's two of us) how much would I have to fork out? Could it be done with 10K for both GFCH and rewiring?

Thanks for all the help, it's very much appreciated. Oh yeah, and if anyone would like to recommend reliable tradesmen and quotes they've received, please PM me.

Petal i replied to your PM with details.now you can prove to everyone that it can be done if you take my advice on certain areas.


its only rip off ireland because people are too lazy to look and check

thanks X-Man. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to wiring and stuff, so I'm wondering what exactly has to be done? Does it mean all the walls and ceilings and wherever else the cables might be have to be opened so the cables can be replaced by new ones and a new fuse board is fitted and electricity meters are fitted?
Excuse my ignorance please...

I got rewiring done a few months back for a 2 bed corpo house from Silverdome Electric in Finglas & would highly recommend them. My house has an extension with 2 extra rooms downstairs. Due to the solid concrete floor, to flush all wires would be very labour intensive & quote was 4,500. With no flushing, ie. where you have plastic covered trunking running down the outside of the wall, was €3,100. If you go for trunking, they'll do it as discreetly as possible, and you'll have no mess & little dust, unlike flushing, which is very messy, & needs plastering afterwards. So it depends on your budget & how fussy you are.
But you should get a couple of quotes and then decide.

if you're thinking of selling in a few years I'd defo say the hassle and cost of getting having the cables recessed into the walls will more than pay for itself. Surface mounted wiring is a major turn-off for a lot of people, myself incldued, so I'd say the extra expense will more than pay for itself in future selling price.

lukegriffen said:

I got rewiring done a few months back for a 2 bed corpo house from Silverdome Electric in Finglas & would highly recommend them. My house has an extension with 2 extra rooms downstairs. Due to the solid concrete floor, to flush all wires would be very labour intensive & quote was 4,500. With no flushing, ie. where you have plastic covered trunking running down the outside of the wall, was €3,100. If you go for trunking, they'll do it as discreetly as possible, and you'll have no mess & little dust, unlike flushing, which is very messy, & needs plastering afterwards. So it depends on your budget & how fussy you are.
But you should get a couple of quotes and then decide.

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luke...........the expense in electrical work is the tracing/tracking work.the electrician just run wires through conjugate which is very very easy that a monkey could do.my home had a mass concrete front which had to be tracked.......i cangooed it myself for 40mins but got it done.some of my walls were mass concrete and the rest was cavity walls.i got my spark in to give me advice on plug positions etc and he simply sprayed yellow spray on the wall where he wanted me to track.i hired a cangoo i did the monkey work myself and i saves $$$$$$.

OhPinchy said:

if you're thinking of selling in a few years I'd defo say the hassle and cost of getting having the cables recessed into the walls will more than pay for itself. Surface mounted wiring is a major turn-off for a lot of people, myself incldued, so I'd say the extra expense will more than pay for itself in future selling price.

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OhP...........thats exactly the prob i had my new house.old wiring, plugs lights etc.

refer to my above post on how i cut the cost and did it myself.


its rip off ireland because we accept to pay out for everything.

Hi X-Man,

I did the exact same and chased all the walls for the wiring in my house though was lucky to have the girlfriends brother as my sparks.

Its important to point out that chasing concrete is not a job for everyone - you need to have a good bit of know-how and indeed physical strength to go using an angle grinder or electric chasing tool. Kangoing a concrete block wall is not advisable as the vibrations seriously weaken the mortar joints. I just dont want to create the image that chasing the walls in your house is a simple and easy job - its defo worthwhile but its not an insignificant task.

If someone is reasonably clued in and up for hardwork it is clearly a great way to save money. That said, you have to get the electrician on side to come and mark your routes for you, and if its a guy from the yellow pages this is not guaranteed (though in that situation I'd just get another sparks).

And as for the option of leaving the wires surface mounted in trunking - I'd advise against it very strongly: if a jobs worth doing its worth doing right.

OhPinchy said:

Hi X-Man,

I did the exact same and chased all the walls for the wiring in my house though was lucky to have the girlfriends brother as my sparks.

Its important to point out that chasing concrete is not a job for everyone - you need to have a good bit of know-how and indeed physical strength to go using an angle grinder or electric chasing tool. Kangoing a concrete block wall is not advisable as the vibrations seriously weaken the mortar joints. I just dont want to create the image that chasing the walls in your house is a simple and easy job - its defo worthwhile but its not an insignificant task.

If someone is reasonably clued in and up for hardwork it is clearly a great way to save money. That said, you have to get the electrician on side to come and mark your routes for you, and if its a guy from the yellow pages this is not guaranteed (though in that situation I'd just get another sparks).

And as for the option of leaving the wires surface mounted in trunking - I'd advise against it very strongly: if a jobs worth doing its worth doing right.

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OhP i bet like me you saved thousands on the electric worl alone...great eh!!!! in reference to chasing the walls..you can either chase by cangoing(great on cavity but torture on solid concrete) or either a twin blade cutter.i hear the cutter is fantastic but i opted for the opposite.you do need to get your spark to mark out the routes with spray as you said but this work is basic and will save you alot and i mean alot.

Ok, I'm definitely not afraid of hard work and I've got a strong man, so hopefully that should help... Anyways, what on earth is cangoing? I never thought about different ways of chasing, I suppose it depends on the kind of walls you have, so any experiences are appreciated!

Kangoing is using a Kango hammer, or SDS max drill (basically a hardcore drill where the bit pumps in and out and doesnt just go round in circles) SERIOUSLY weakens the mortar bonding concrete blocks together so its not advisable to chase large runs using a kango. rent a chasing machine, which comes with a dust collection bag, itll be a better job.

X-man, yep I've pretty much done most of the work on the house and its pretty much been a rebuild bar the external walls, its been very hard work but the amount I've saved is unreal so its defo the way to go if you have the experience to give you a good start, but I've seen cases of someone watching a property show and thinking they can give it all a go - theres much more to it than that.

OhPinchy said:

Kangoing is using a Kango hammer, or SDS max drill (basically a hardcore drill where the bit pumps in and out and doesnt just go round in circles) SERIOUSLY weakens the mortar bonding concrete blocks together so its not advisable to chase large runs using a kango. rent a chasing machine, which comes with a dust collection bag, itll be a better job.

X-man, yep I've pretty much done most of the work on the house and its pretty much been a rebuild bar the external walls, its been very hard work but the amount I've saved is unreal so its defo the way to go if you have the experience to give you a good start, but I've seen cases of someone watching a property show and thinking they can give it all a go - theres much more to it than that.

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i agree totally.you can saved thousands by doing simple things as we have suggested above.those reality shows are different in real life and the timescale must also be reality also!!!

Well, I have a B&Q DIY book, so I should be able to do it all (joking!). No seriously, thanks guys, that gives me a good start. We've got a few builder/labourer friends that we can call on for advice if needed, too, the house I'm hoping to buy - I'd like to tear down some walls, too, so if I land this house, I'll be back asking lots more questions!!!