Renovating an older house: what to do with the consumer unit?
In Brussels' older houses, the consumer unit often tells the building's story: successive additions, fuses from another era, circuits that grew without a plan. When you have just bought, it is one of the first points to look at, because almost every other job depends on it. Here is what you find there, how to prioritise, and who does what.
What old installations look like
- A consumer unit from another era: cartridge fuses, too many or too few breakers, no free space.
- Missing or outdated protections: no 30 mA RCD for wet rooms, sometimes no RCD at all.
- Missing or partial earthing: present in the kitchen, absent in bedrooms, or connected nowhere.
- Missing diagrams: the position plan and the single-line diagram were never drawn up, or nobody knows where they are.
- Improvised circuits: extension leads turned permanent, open junction boxes above the suspended ceiling, cables along the skirting boards.
Where to start?
The rule is simple: safety first, comfort second. In practice, the working order looks like this:
- Assess the situation. If the house was sold with an inspection report, it already lists the infringements: that is the roadmap. Otherwise, an inspection or a technical visit plays that role.
- Secure the base: main earthing, RCDs, consumer unit rebuilt or rebalanced. That is the foundation everything else rests on.
- Rework the critical circuits: kitchen and bathroom first, with the dedicated circuits modern appliances need.
- Plan the comfort: extra sockets, lighting, moved points — while the walls are open, so chases and finishes are not paid for twice.
Who does what?
The strictly electrical part — consumer unit, circuits, compliance work — belongs to an electrician; the final report belongs to the inspection body. Fixtures & Fittings Services - Benelux works around and after it: chases and filling, repair of opened walls, fitting of the hardware (sockets, switches), and finishes up to painting. We coordinate the whole so nobody is waiting on anyone else.
Frequent findings and the work they involve
| Finding | Typical work | Our part |
|---|---|---|
| Unfavourable sale report | Correction of the listed infringements, new inspection | Chases, filling, finishes, hardware |
| No earthing in several rooms | Earth conductors pulled in, sockets reworked | Opening and closing the passages, socket replacement |
| Full, ageing consumer unit | Unit replacement or rebalancing (electrician) | Wall repair around the unit, finishing |
| Kitchen to equip | Dedicated circuits (oven, hob, dishwasher) | Chases, socket fitting, tile or wall repairs |
| Cables along the skirting boards | Proper recessed routing | Chases, filling, skirting boards, painting |
Frequently asked questions
The sale report lists infringements, where do I start?
Does an old house need a full rewire?
Can we live in the house during this work?
Who coordinates the electrician and the finishes?
What happens next with Fixtures & Fittings Services - Benelux
Fixtures & Fittings Services - Benelux takes care of the chases, the filling, the hardware fitting and the finishes of your electrical upgrade, in coordination with the electrician of your choice, in Brussels and Brabant. For a need that does not fit a category, our other work and repair requests page explains how to describe it simply.
A few photos of the consumer unit and the rooms concerned are enough for a first opinion. Call +32 472 88 08 66 or send your photos via WhatsApp.
