House rewiring - what else to do at same time?

Out side plugs?

More sockets than you think.

Agree ref cat6 cables. I'd also suggest speaker cables if your that way inclined.

I'd also see what home automation stuff needs to run so switched lives not neutral etc.

Definitely ethernet, Cat5 is fine, probably to more locations than you think.

Plug sockets in at least every corner of every room, and if it's a wall over about 4m long, sockets in the middle of the wall too. And wherever you're thinking of installing plug sockets, consider installing double the amount of sockets you're thinking of. You can never have enough.

Make sure you don't forget little rooms that get forgotten, like porches/hallways/landings etc

Good access to main areas for any work/upgrade in the future.
We fitted a load of sockets with integrated USB charge points.

get the board mounted somewhere accessible and with room nearby for supplementary boxes - Car chargers , Solar input, Battery tie in etc - all need RCD/MCBOs - most end up in their own separate boxes - Im running out of room in my cupboard at the moment - with the main board - the solar board , the EPS circuits, , generation metre ETC

Also while the cost of the cables is high - the cost of disruption can be higher - running big cables - OR ducting to the garage or external for charger/garage power could be worth thinking about if your thinking to go down that route in the future....

I'd do all the lighting with 3 core and earth. That will give you a permanent live at the switch and the fitting. Makes adding smart tech or other devices much easier and add negligible cost at this stage. Also think about smoke alarms and maybe other security devices.

We fitted a load of sockets with integrated USB charge points.

use good ones - we had two ~LAP branded ones in the bedroom start buzzing badly and then smoke - thankfully we were home to deal with and i had a serious aversion to them after that - but ive got some MK in the utility now.

Aye good shout,there's a huge choice of sockets,we went for MK.

use good ones

Definitely. I had one that destroyed a couple of bluetooth speakers.

Unless you're going to switch them via Alexa, run some lighting points to where you'll have table lamps. They give better ambient light and it's easier to just switch them all off from one light switch by the door as you leave the room.
+1 for Ethernet
Alarm cables
CCTV cables, if you're that way inclined
TV points in the main rooms along with an RJ45 outlet
Smoke and heat (kitchen) alarms that can be linked together so they'll all sound if there's an issue
Cabling and switch to garden lighting, even if you don't use it straight away
Maybe allow for a 32A supply for a future garage/workshop.
Electric car charging point, even if you don't have one now we all will eventually.
It's difficult to futureproof as nobody has a crystal ball, and tech in 20 years' time may be unrecognisable to what we have today.

If you are going through the disruption also worth having a look at your central heating system, depending on the age of your house it might be a mess of various alterations and need sorting (speaking from experience!)

We just had a double socket put up high, near the front door in the hallway, directly above the phone socket. Little IKEA LACK shelf up there and now it's home to the wifi router and mesh point.
Gets them out of the way and out of the lounge. House is 1970's so there was no existing socket near the phone point. Cable to the router runs up a very small trunking up the side of the door frame.
We also had whatever size cable necessary run to the front end of the garage while work was being done and terminated in a box ready for future charger connection when we eventually move to electric cars.

countersink everything, the surface mounted boxes look naff

don't bother with usb plugs - the standard will update before you use them 3 times

don't bother with ethernet unless you've got issues with wireless (mesh)

more sockets than you think

As already said, double sockets with USB at least in each corner and in the centre of longer walls. Double double sockets if you know that's where TVs etc will go.

External lighting and sockets - we got double sockets front and back and power tools in the garden are so much better.

What sockets do you need for Christmas lights maybe? Sheds,ponds.....

Are all your ceiling lights in the right place?

Kitchen and bathroom circuits up to scratch?

countersink everything, the surface mounted boxes look naff

unless your walls are absolutely perfect plasterboarded walls - dont be tempted to fit flush mounted faceplates

they rarely sit flush - ask me how i know with my 70 year old walls 😀

I don't understand why you want Ehternet everywhere - surely everything is on WiFi now?

Wall lights and side lights are good to have. Side lights and table lamps are annoying when you have to go round switching them on and off so I have incorporated a 5 amp lighting circuit, connected to a light switch, using the small round pin sockets.
Remember to put a separate 5A socket where the Christmas tree goes. And don't forget a socket with a timer for your outside Christmas lights.

We're just about to buy an induction cooker. This morning I investigated and found our cooker cable is significantly undersized so I shall have to get some floorboards up to deal with that.

Plug sockets in at least every corner of every room, and if it’s a wall over about 4m long, sockets in the middle of the wall too. And wherever you’re thinking of installing plug sockets, consider installing double the amount of sockets you’re thinking of. You can never have enough.

Hmmm, don't do this if you have a large house or lots of rooms, I'd need 20+ sockets in the living room and 16 or 18 in the master bedroom...

Same on USB, everything is starting the move to USB-C now.
Much more practical to get a mains powered USB charge hub, I've got several, tend to stick them to the bottom of a shelf, or to the inside the top of a cabinet (or to the back, depending on what access you need.) and then run the requisite cables to somewhere sensible to lave a load of stuff on charge. Then you can swap to a USB-C version for 20-30 quid in 5 years. Or get a mixed one.

Find out where your heat pump will end up going, and the hot water cylinder and include that in the design if you're in there for the long haul.

I don’t understand why you want Ehternet everywhere – surely everything is on WiFi now?

To keep WiFi bandwidth available for devices that cannot be hard-wired - our TV and work docking station both hard-wired.

We ran CAT-5 to all the bedrooms, but somehow ended up putting a wardrobe in front of most of the sockets! - in hindsight i wish we'd put them in 2 different locations.

I'd put in a provision for a car charger - even if its just a spare RCD and a cable which isn't terminated t either end - this'll save hassle when you/someone else needs it in the future.

Check you house earthing is up to spec for a future car charger.

Put at least 3 double sockets where you TV is going to go.

Run cable in for CCTV and an alarm, even if you don't have them at the moment.

Couple of outside sockets

Not sure if you have a shed/garage but decent provision for those if you do - including a CAT5 cable if you're out of Wifi range.

Depending on the house layout, size, #floors, construction type etc, put 2-4 ethernet runs up to your loft.

With traditional wood floors/joists you can mount wireless access points in the loft & get great coverage throughout the home. These type of floors are much more wireless transparent than walls.

If you have solid floors then consider installing ethernet cable for ceiling mounted accesspoints.

Put two ethernet runs wherever your isp line enters the home.

Give thoughts to where all these ethernet runs go back to, ensure there is sufficient power for the switch, cctv nvr, alarm, nas etc, etc. Don’t forget easy access.

Do some investigation into cat 5e, 6, 6a for yourself, 5e is now supports 2.5-5Gbs connectivity & lots of reports of 10Gbs in good domestic installations, 6 (imho) is harder to install & has greater bend radius than 5e with minimal benefits in a retro fit. 6a would be the min (for me) if you want a 10Gbs speeds that are certified, however your contractor needs to install to specifications, for that which if irc means the ethernet needs to be in conduit & they need the relevant skills & tools to test 10Gbs speeds.

You have to weigh up cost, ease of install vs ultimate speeds but as always it’s planned use case dependant.

I don’t understand why you want Ehternet everywhere – surely everything is on WiFi now?

Why would you want WiFi on something fixed or that requires better performance than WiFi can provide?

I self built a house 8 years ago and did all the wiring myself.

What I'd do again
- ethernet to key locations. Most stuff is wireless, but if you know where you're going to have a desk or the TV/AV kit put in a couple of sockets to there
- ethernet to the best locations for wireless hubs. If you can mount your wireless point high up on a wall in a central location you'll get better coverage and need fewer wireless points. (you don't need a power socket with it, use a wireless point that will use power over ethernet)

3 core lighting circuits to the switch. (makes it much easier to change lights as well as you don't have to mess with a junction box in the ceiling).

Some sockets for table/floor lamps (but like the ethernet it's hard to know precisely where you'll want moves of them - if your'e doing any smart home stuff it's easy to just use wifi sockets to add extra lights)

What I missed/should have done more of
Ducts so you can run more cables later - fibre optic to the home is already in many places. think about a duct from where it will come into the home to where you'll want the hub/modem thing. which is also where you want to run all your ethernet cables to.

Duct for HDMI cables? if your cutting holes in walls you can hide this sort of stuff but dont bury a current spec cable - make sure you can pull it out and run a new one in future.

What I wouldn't bother with
Ethernet to every room. It's only any use if it's in the right place and you've not got to string a long cable so unless you're 100% certain about the exact location don't bother and use wireless.

USB sockets
I've got some. I'd not bother again - the old 'A' standard is being replaced by USB C, they're slow and low powered. Better to just buy some charging blocks.

Cat5e to the fixed stuff - home office desks, printer, TV/streamer/console, consider for things like Sonos speakers too. Ceiling mount wifi access points where you'd need them for good coverage (it's quite house layout/construction dependent). Consider a place for router, etc to live out of the way - if you don't have fibre to your house yet then think about where you'd want that to come in and have the ONT be, you'll want a power and an ethernet socket by it that goes back to your router and everything else. Most CCTV now is powered and does data over ethernet - so plan any runs and somewhere for them to come back to.

Mains linked smoke alarms - safer and no beeping for a new battery.

Conduits for TV cables if you're planning to wall mount.

Really plan out lighting - you can mitigate a bit with Hue and the like but I'd love to have exactly what I wanted wired in.

Any future plans - solar, heat pump, EV charging, induction hobs, etc - easy to run suitable cable or conduits at this point rather than revisit later.

My house is a mess of different era wiring and extensions and I'd love to get a rewire done from scratch. Maybe one day.

Why would you want WiFi on something fixed or that requires better performance than WiFi can provide?

I can't think of any device in a home that requires better performance than wifi can provide (other than possibly gaming latency for nerds?). You'd want wifi so you don't have to faff around with a load of wires. I wouldn't have enough space on a 24 port switch to wire everything in my house.

if you might want to put a tv on a wall, put a plug socket, a trunk to wherever your devices might be, and an aerial socket on the wall.

I can’t think of any device in a home that requires better performance than wifi can provide (other than possibly gaming latency for nerds?). You’d want wifi so you don’t have to faff around with a load of wires. I wouldn’t have enough space on a 24 port switch to wire everything in my house.

Unfortunately some people do lack imagination. Sad but true.

I used some double socket fronts with usb ports.  Very useful and easy to change later

I agr4ee with put in more sockets than you think you need.  In the 20 years since I did mine what appeared then to be an OTT supply of sockets is now not enough

Think very carefully about lighting and some lighting sockets around the room controlled from switches by the door arte handy

I also put in hard wiring for speakers when I did it.  Under the floor in the sitting room from speakers to where the amp goes and also to every room in the house all from a central point.  I use this all the time.  Less important now so long as you are happy with wifi speakers but I have proper hifi speakers in every room.  with wifi speakers you need a power socket by every speaker

Stuff that I wish I'd had the opportunity to do:

1. All lighting circuits brought back to central point for proper smart home control. Obviously increased cost of cabling and controls here so not essential.

2. Light switches should have neutrals run to them. Fortunately a competent electrician wired my house and they're all there.

3. Ethernet to every room, even if unused.

4. If you're wall-mounting a TV or think you might have need to, trunking in the wall for the cables to run in.

5. If you ever think that you might have solar + battery, you need two cables to the inverter location, not just one, in order to run off battery in the event of a power cut. 6mm^2 to the inverter, 4mm^2 back as a minimum.

6. Get the extra-deep wall-boxes to avoid crushing cables.

what else to do at same time?

Go on holiday! 🙂

Go on Holiday!
Beaten to it!

I can’t think of any device in a home that requires better performance than wifi can provide (other than possibly gaming latency for nerds?).

"Possibly", no, it's a real thing, the latency on my (very fast and expensive) WiFi is just about good enough for playing around at online console stuff, anyone doing serious online gaming, it'll be terrible. Anything that requires moving large files as well (i get large 3D models sometimes) trying to move them around on WiFi is a pain. Video conferencing, latency and lag makes it very annoying when you have 10+ people trying to talk. Also, devices that get used rarely sometimes drop connection on WiFi (NAS, Printers).

You’d want wifi so you don’t have to faff around with a load of wires. I wouldn’t have enough space on a 24 port switch to wire everything in my house.

why on earth would you want to hardwire everything? I've got about 60 WiFi devices, only about a dozen are wired.

Wall lights and side lights are good to have. Side lights and table lamps are annoying when you have to go round switching them on and off so I have incorporated a 5 amp lighting circuit, connected to a light switch, using the small round pin sockets.

We did this, based on our experience of having it in our house when we lived in Germany.

Consider a floor box if you want power into a standalone unit/table etc.

Also, look around at what you've currently got, and extensions/adaptors etc, put enough in so they're not needed.

I've been running a lot of CAT-5 recently, solar unit needed two cables - one for internal comms and I also hard wired it in as I was running cables anyway. Whilst I was doing that I also ran cable to the last Sonus that was still on Wifi. I ran another cable to add in an extra AP to cover the garden, as coverage was a bit poor in places. Old house with 9" solid walls really limits BT and Wifi range between rooms - although ceilings are pretty transparent.

As briefly mentioned elsewhere, consider other services or pipework that runs within the walls (central heating etc).

If you live in a flood risk area, consider mounting all electrical outlets at mid-level.

Also consider ventilation (current and future). In time, as households transition to net zero, properties will become more reliant on ventilation to manage moisture within properties. Additional extractors or active air bricks like Airex may be worth considering.

Whatever happens, make sure the contractor provides you with all paperwork, warrantees, guarantees etc and correctly labels the consumer unit and isolator switches.

While you are ripping up floorboards and faffing with mess, stuff more insulation into underfloor areas.
Get the electricians (and any other trade) to seal up draughts.
Consider MVHR or Positive Pressure ventilation.

Outside plug(s) for hoovering car or Christmas lights.

Keep a record of what was done so you have a clue in the future.

Things I wish we had - outdoor sockets for lights and power tools.

Permanent outdoor lights.

A separate RCD for the fridge freezer - or even not putting it on one. Ours is a bit trigger happy and gave us trouble. It also gave us trouble when everything went off over holidays. - someone might be able to explain this better but you can set it up so it is less likely.

I wouldn't bother with internet cables and that sort of stuff. I would consider where you might want other cables like TV.

Sorting out the lights is a good shout. MiL has lamps on one switch. Works well.

Thanks all, this is a great help and giving me much to think about and discuss with Mrs a11y. This is our 'forever' house so keen to get it right. Too many points to reply directly to all, but the main things I’m taking so far:

* Outside plugs: check, already got some planned. Will add some more!

* Sockets in general: we've got a floor plan with our desired locations already marked, I'll add what feels like too many extra sockets now.

* USB-As in sockets: we replaced all double sockets in our kitchen with these a couple of years ago. Very useful, but no plans to do entire house like this because of moves to USB-C etc. Charging hub using whatever the latest standard is makes sense.

* Board location: that's not one I'd considered @trail_rat, thanks. Currently in small cupboard in front porch but given future plans for solar, battery, heap pump etc it might be better being towards back of house. Our current crappy (but south facing) conservatory will be replaced with a proper extension sometime, so that's where we'll put solar.

* Mains interlinked smoke alarms are a definite.

* 5A lighting circuit with switches: I like this idea a lot. We never use the main ceiling lights - always table or standing lamps - so this would be great.

* Garage: yes, already planning for that. Current garage is fed by a cable running overhead from house, ot even proper outdoor cable... so yes, that'll be done properly.

* Car charging point prep is planned, but where to locate it less so: ideally where it could service two vehicles without driveway juggling.

* Socket boxes: yep, definitely going, hate them! Normal surface-mount but not flush-mount ones planned.

* Kitchen/hob: we're not including kitchen in rewiring scope as ripping that out is next on the list - we'll get the wiring in place and terminated where they enter the kitchen (kitchen is a 60s extension to main house).

* Heat pump and tank: good point @Onzadog. Anything like that will be built into whatever extension we replace the conservatory with in future, but has implications for wiring and for board location.

* Cat 5e/6 and wireless: I admit I'm still not fully clued up to 5e vs 6 but certainly plan to have fixed stuff (like @simon_g mentions) wired, plus have a wifi access point ceiling-mounted both on ground floor and upstairs (solid floor - I moved my home office into upstairs cupboard a few weeks ago and had to run a cable up as wifi signal poor).

* CCTV: I've not fully worked this out yet. Currently have multiple PoE cameras around the outside, with cables routed around edge of rooms to the HD hub in the lounge. Keen on a tidier solution to be wired from where they enter the house to the HD/hub.

* Conduit for TV cables: good reminder, I'd forgotten about that! I'm definitely not simply wanting HDMI cables buried in the wall.

* Speaker wiring: @tjagain, I didn't think about that beyond the main lounge (which has a big AV amp and wired 5.1 setup). Future extension is probably the only other room likely to have fixed/wired sound system in it though, so possibly no need.

And:

Go on holiday! 🙂

Ideally yes! A previous quote a couple of years ago expected 5-7 days to complete, so I think geting out of here for the duration is sensible. Althoguh "holiday" might be our massive tent in the garden and use all our camping stuff...

Outside plugs: check, already got some planned. Will add some more!

It's addictive, I keep adding them all over the garden now, powering lights, tools, wildlife cameras etc..

Plus the sheds have light and power.

If you are going through the disruption check your heating pipes and whether it needs improving / upgrading.

Inspect joists, floorboards etc for woodworm.

If you are going through the disruption check your heating pipes and whether it needs improving / upgrading.

That's definitely project creep, but sensible. I expect the major changes to our heating system will be when we move away from a gas boiler. I assume bigger diameter pipes and different rads would be necessary for a heat pump setup, but I suspect we're too early to think about that at the moment. Realistically years away from any air or ground source heat pump - would be tied into extension to replace conservatory.

It’s addictive, I keep adding them all over the garden now, powering lights, tools, wildlife cameras etc..

You've got me thinking. Outdoor socket in the shed halfway up the garden would be useful for the lawnmower - currently use a huge long extension from the house.

Throwing in another one. If you don't want WiFi thermostatic valves run cable for 24v controlled ones. That's just my industrial preference for 24v contr systems.

You’ve got me thinking. Outdoor socket in the shed halfway up the garden would be useful for the lawnmower – currently use a huge long extension from the house.

Yep, I now have outdoor sockets on the house, the shed and the workshop at the end of the garden....

I want to add some more for wildlife cameras as they eat up AA batteries esp when it's cold.

That’s definitely project creep, but sensible. I expect the major changes to our heating system will be when we move away from a gas boiler. I assume bigger diameter pipes and different rads would be necessary for a heat pump setup, but I suspect we’re too early to think about that at the moment. Realistically years away from any air or ground source heat pump – would be tied into extension to replace conservatory.

it might be fairly cheap to run in "dark" pipe under the floor with larger bore tubing (to each existing rad point) - so that when you do change to a heatpump the sturcture is there and its just a case of tying it in?

* 5A lighting circuit with switches: I like this idea a lot. We never use the main ceiling lights – always table or standing lamps – so this would be great.

I had these in a previous house and hand no idea what they were for (or why we had a light switch that seemed to do nothing) - didnt twig til I saw them in use at a hotel I was staying at - got home and changed all the plugs on our lamps. Total revelation

So immediately rewired when we go our new place mostly motivated but the desire to continue to have them

Something thats worth a thought.... look at how your various doors hang and whether changing them could give you a better room layouts . When rewiring we moved three of our light switches so we could rehang the doors (although amusingly I've so far only rehung one of the doors :-). Can make a real difference

You’ve got me thinking. Outdoor socket in the shed halfway up the garden would be useful for the lawnmower – currently use a huge long extension from the house.

I just did exactly this last summer - plug socket on outside of garage which can be used for both the lawnmower and the BBQ rotisserie.

Reminds me of a job I went to in Blackheath bitd, they were on third 3rd rewire before the refurb was finished trying to keep everything "state of the art" when tech was advancing daily, apparently they were just installing a huge hard drive in the basement so that the owner could listen to what ever music he wanted to in any room 🤣🤣

it might be fairly cheap to run in “dark” pipe under the floor with larger bore tubing (to each existing rad point) – so that when you do change to a heatpump the sturcture is there and its just a case of tying it in?

It's an option although could they be made redundant in future by advancements in heating etc? Might be crossing the line into trying too hard to plan for future without knowing exactly what might happen!

I had these in a previous house and hand no idea what they were for (or why we had a light switch that seemed to do nothing) – didnt twig til I saw them in use at a hotel I was staying at – got home and changed all the plugs on our lamps. Total revelation

Yep, a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.

 look at how your various doors hang and whether changing them could give you a better room layouts .

That's a can of worms I've already opened with Mrs a11y. Almost all our internal doors are hung such that you have to walk around the door to see into the room fully. Unsure if that's a period thing or not: doors hung this way provide greater privacy for those already in the room. That's the opposite to what I've seen in modern builds (where doors open towards the nearest perpendicular wall in the room). Apparently doors should swing open into a room in the direction that is most frequently walked and rest against a wall that is perpendicular to the door.

Almost all our internal doors are hung such that you have to walk around the door to see into the room fully. Unsure if that’s a period thing or not: doors hung this way provide greater privacy for those already in the room.

Yes, it was the norm in Victorian and pre-war housing. Our 1930's house was built that way. The bedrooms are still like that but downstairs has been swapped. We did have one light switch behind a re-hung door which was somewhat inconvenient but that switch has been moved now.

Yes, it was the norm in Victorian and pre-war housing. Our 1930’s house was built that way.

I'm all for originality (and avoiding the work involved in rehanging doors...) so I'm happy to hear that!

I’ve got about 60 WiFi devices

60! I'm off to count how many are in our house now, surely it can't be anywhere near that many.

ETA: I count 12 for 2 old adults and 2 young adults. I think I must need some more stuff.

60! I’m off to count how many are in our house now, surely it can’t be anywhere near that many.

Just ask the router....

If you're smartifying things, run neutral to anywhere where there's a light switch. It's relatively uncommon in the UK and many smart light switches require it (or a nasty hack).

* Cat 5e/6 and wireless: I admit I’m still not fully clued up to 5e vs 6

The short answer is use Cat5e. This is a hill I will die on.

Run in cabling for an EV charge point

There are quite a few wireless devices on our LAN which I don't recognise and a MAC Address lookup comes up cold...

I've labelled all the ones I know about in the Router, so I can see who is connected and who isn't, but there are half a dozen where I simply haven't a clue.

I really need to run tcpdump on WAN side of the router and see who is talking to what, as that might give me a clue...