Electrician in Paddington

Victorian terraces and the Oxford Street shops

Paddington is a suburb of Victorian terrace houses running down from Oxford Street, split between Woollahra Council and the City of Sydney. Three in five of its homes are semis or terraces, and a little under half are rented.

• Victorian-era terraces where the meter board often sits on the front verandah or in the hall, and older boards can be mounted on asbestos backing, so switchboard upgrades start with checking what the board is fixed to
• Long, narrow floor plans with high ceilings, where lighting design has to work down a single hallway and into tall rooms
• Shops and galleries along Oxford Street, where office and shop fit-outs are planned around opening hours

Wiring in Paddington's terraces

Most Paddington terraces are well over a century old, and the NSW Government's electrical safety advice is to have the wiring in older homes checked by a licensed electrician, because rubber-insulated cable breaks down with age (the signs of old wiring are worth knowing). A typical terrace has its meter board at the front, a cable run down the length of the house and circuits added room by room over the decades, so an electrical safety inspection is the sensible place to start before a renovation or a sale.

Paddington is a heritage conservation area, so work on the street front of a terrace, such as moving a meter box or adding lights to the facade, is worth checking with the council before it starts. Inside, the usual jobs are a safety switch on every circuit where there are none, more power points in rooms wired for a single lamp, and pendants or wall lights that suit high ceilings.

For an emergency electrician in Paddington, call Peter on 0415 684 120. Ambient Electrical is a 24 hour electrician and takes calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Paddington is about 4 km from Bronte, where Peter is based. Response is often within the hour.