The existing power and light circuits in this Summer Hill home were still run in old cotton-sheathed wiring. That wiring was removed and replaced with new TPS cable, and the old taped connections were replaced as part of the rewire.
The power and light circuits were still wired in old cotton-sheathed cable. In the roof space, the old conductors ran through rusted steel conduit and junction boxes, sitting among the insulation between the joists.
At several junctions the old wiring had been joined with taped connectors, and in places newer flat cable had been connected onto the old circuit. That left a mix of old and new wiring, relying on temporary-looking connections inside corroded boxes.
Cotton and rubber insulation dries out and breaks down with age. Once it is brittle, it can crack or crumble when it is moved, leaving conductors poorly insulated. Taped joins in a corroded box are not a lasting connection either. Joining new cable onto old wiring does not make the old section any safer, so patching it was not the answer.
These photos show the old wiring before the rewire. We don't have finished photos of this job.
AS/NZS 3000, the Australian wiring rules, applies to new wiring work. When old circuits are rewired, the new cable, its support and its connections have to meet the current rules. New wiring work is tested and certified with a CCEW, as NSW requires.
If you can see old cloth-covered cable in your roof, try not to disturb it, and get it checked. Our house rewiring page explains how rewiring works, and partial rewiring covers jobs where only some circuits need replacing. We work right across Summer Hill and the Inner West.
Need help with something similar? Call 0421 772 661. For urgent faults, we also take 24/7 emergency call-outs.
It is an older type of cable where the conductors are insulated with rubber and covered in a cotton or cloth braid. It was common in older homes and is well past its expected service life today.
Old cotton and rubber insulation becomes brittle with age and can crack when disturbed. If it is still feeding power or lights, have a licensed electrician inspect it rather than adding to it or moving it yourself.
Joining new cable onto an old circuit leaves the old section in service. On this job, the old wiring in the existing power and light circuits was removed and replaced with new TPS cable instead.
Not always. It depends on what is found. Sometimes only some circuits need replacing, which is what partial rewiring covers.
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