‘Chasing’ our tails: the electrics
Whoever coined the phrase ‘the old ways are the best’ has never tried chasing out back boxes in solid brick using only hand tools… For an indecisive soul like me, one of the harder aspects of this project has been all the decision-making. It’s incredible how many choices need to be made: everything from picking a contractor to deciding on the quality of the finish. Some decisions have been simpler than others. The old back boiler and gas fire, for instance, were well beyond their service life and clearly needed replacing with a combi. But faced with dated but serviceable electrics, we needed to make a choice. The problem When we took possession, we knew at least some work would be needed on the electrics. The old Wylex fuse board - fitted with fuse wire - was a dead giveaway that they hadn’t been touched in a long time, but there were other tell tale signs. The different socket styles indicated work had been carried out piecemeal, while the buzzing coming from the living room light sug...