If your home was built before 1980 and hasn't been rewired since, there's a good chance parts of the wiring are aged, under-rated, or made from materials no longer considered safe — cloth-insulated VIR cable, early aluminium wiring, or brittle rubber insulation. Full rewires are a significant but straightforward job. Millar Electrics has rewired dozens of homes across Melbourne, from Edwardian weatherboards in Mont Albert to 1960s brick veneers across Ringwood and Blackburn. A full rewire in an occupied home takes about 5–10 working days depending on size and access. We work zone by zone so you usually have power restored each evening, and we tidy up daily. Plaster patching is included in the quote — we don't leave holes for "someone else" to fix.
Partial rewires are also common. If your switchboard is fine but one wing of the house has dodgy cabling, or you've found aluminium wiring in the ceiling space, we can replace just that section and bring it up to modern standards.
Signs you need a rewire (vs spot repairs)
Multiple recurring faults across different circuits — RCDs tripping for no clear reason, lights flickering across multiple rooms, power points feeling warm — usually indicate degraded wiring throughout, not isolated component failure. Cloth or rubber insulation visible at the switchboard is a clear flag for cable from before the 1980s. Aluminium wiring (silver rather than copper at terminations) needs careful evaluation — it can be retained with proper terminations but often warrants replacement.
How we minimise disruption
We plan the rewire room-by-room with you so you know which areas will be without power on which days. We feed cables through ceiling and wall cavities to avoid major plaster damage; where cuts are unavoidable we keep them small and patch them as part of the job. Furniture is moved minimally and protected with drop sheets.
Standards we work to
Every rewire is installed to AS/NZS 3000 (the Wiring Rules) — the binding standard for all fixed electrical work in Australia. Cable sizing is calculated under AS/NZS 3008 so circuit current ratings and voltage-drop tolerances are right for the run length and load. RCD coverage on every final sub-circuit is required by AS/NZS 3000 on new installations, and we apply it to partial rewires as well. The Certificate of Electrical Safety lodged with Energy Safe Victoria is the formal record that the rewire complies.
