The first time you venture inside an old Andalusian village house you may be shocked by how old fashioned it looks. More like the 1950’s than the 21st century. And the wiring (wow!), often no more than bell wire tacked to the walls. Certainly, here is Almeria, mains electricity is still a relatively modern phenomenon and when these houses were wired lights were pretty much the only thing powered by electricity. Thanks largely to Fransisco Franco, Almeria was surviving in a parallel universe until the 1980’s. The land that time forgot!
So, if you are buying an old village house or Cortijo to renovate, the chances are you will have to start by rewiring. Even if switches and sockets have been replaced it doesn’t necessarily mean the wiring is up to date. It would not be uncommon for a builder to replace the cosmetics without getting beneath the surface. All too often wiring circuits have been extended to cope with modern living and circuit breakers upgraded to overcome tripping. If this is the case, the chances are, you will be better off with a complete rewire.
Firstly, have a look at the sockets, cable and the consumer unit. The consumer unit above, is rudimentary but not that old. If the wires are thin and braided (bell-wire as we know it), they are probably 40 years old plus and will need replacing. Any consumer unit still using fuse wire will also need replacing. If the cable looks more like this (above) rather than the wire to this light (right) it may be OK but still get it checked out by a qualified electrician. Like in the UK, any electrical works must be undertaken by a qualified person.
A rewire means a new control panel, new wiring, new switches, and sockets. Labour costs are quite a bit less here in Almeria than in the UK so rewiring a three-bedroom house may be nearer €6,000 euros compared with £10,000, or more in Britain. Materials will be around the third of this cost and the balance, labour. The electrics will generally be your first internal job, assuming the roof is sound, so best to do as much of the preparatory work as you can before calling in the electrician. This will help keep the cost down. First, design the rooms and where you want your sockets and light switches. Remember to think about 2- or 3-way switches so that when you climb the stairs you can turn on and off lights from other floors.
The worst part of the job is probably ‘chasing out’, as the walls in these old houses are either solid rock or mud, either way not pleasant to cut through. The dust created can be horrendous! Do this yourself and you will save quite a bit of cash (and give yourself a happy electrician).
Castle homes have qualified electricians on their books so please contact us for a recommendation and quotations. info@castlehomes.es or 00 34 950 78 49 26. If you call out of hours please leave a message with your contact details.