As an electrician North Shore homes and businesses call on for a range of services, from LED light upgrades to renovations to new builds, we have seen it all. Our experience in working in both residential and business settings has given us a wealth of knowledge to draw on, and we’re keen to share that knowledge with you in the form of advice. In this post, that advice has to do with one very important thing: wiring in older homes.

There are approximately 4,000 house fires in New Zealand every year. It’s thought that about 80% of them are preventable, with faulty house wiring causing many of them. Regular inspections, maintenance and rewiring could have stopped this from happening. Sadly, these measures are rarely thought about by homeowners. As long as the light goes on when they flick the switch, or the element heats up when they turn the knob on the stove, then they think everything is AOK with their electrical system. This is not always the case.

Wires, switches, transformers and other electrical parts won’t last forever. They eventually reach the stage where they’re no longer functional or suffer damage through everyday wear and tear or accidents. These issues usually start small and as such, they’re not noticed at first. However, if they’re not identified in time, they can result in expensive repair work or even worse.

This is particularly true in homes that were built before the 1980s and haven’t been rewired.  If you live in a home of this age, then we won’t alarm you by saying you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb. But you really should contact us to test your wiring and identify any possible issues that could cause you a lot of headaches down the track. The same applies if you’re looking at buying a property of that vintage, either to live in, or renovate, or to rent out to tenants. Get everything checked before you buy – and before it’s too late.

Thanks to the technology we use, checking your electrical wiring won’t be an invasive or disruptive process. It’s relatively simple to carry out a thorough inspection and alert you to any potential problems. If rewiring is required, or if any other electrical component needs our attention, we can handle that too. But the first thing to do is contact us and ask for an inspection. Even if you live in a relatively modern home, it’s still a good idea to get us to check things out.