Mains electricity only reached Tilehurst in the 1920s. Every Victorian and Edwardian terrace here was wired as an afterthought, and a century of afterthoughts is what we usually find.
NAPIT registered
Assessed against the national standard and authorised to self-certify our own electrical work under Part P. Add registration no.
Fully insured
Public liability cover in place on every job, domestic and commercial. Add cover amount
BS 7671 18th Edition
Every installation designed, installed and tested to the current wiring regulations.
Tilehurst, Berkshire
That one fact shapes a lot of the work. Gas arrived in Tilehurst in 1906 and electricity not until the 1920s, so the oldest houses in the village — the terraces built from local Tilehurst brick while the kilns at Grovelands and Kentwood were still firing — were never designed around an electrical installation at all. Everything in them has been added, and often added repeatedly. The 1920s and 1930s brought extensive semi-detached development, and a council estate was going up at Norcot by 1929; all of that predates the 1966 change that brought an earth to lighting circuits. Building restarted in earnest in the 1950s, and the population climbed from around 3,000 at the point Tilehurst was absorbed into Reading in 1911 to roughly 15,500. Dee Park deserves a specific mention because it changes how we work. It was mainly built in the late 1960s with further phases through the 1970s, 80s and 90s, and parts of it used Crosswall and Bison system-built concrete construction. You cannot chase cables into a structural crosswall, so on those properties the answer is surface containment, floor voids and ceiling voids, planned before we start rather than discovered halfway through. Dee Park also holds around 900 former council and right-to-buy homes plus housing association stock, much of it now on its original installation, so board upgrades and additional circuits are steady work there.
What we do in Tilehurst
Older properties with rubber or fabric-insulated cable, undersized circuits or a board that keeps tripping. We plan the circuits accordingly and cover everything from first fix through to second fix, testing and certification.
Replacing older units that have no RCD protection with an 18th Edition metal-clad consumer unit, RCBO protection on every circuit, and full earthing and bonding brought up to standard. Most are done inside a day.
Bespoke lighting solutions to suit any room, shape or size, designed around what you actually want from the space. From hanging a simple ceiling rose to bespoke LED strip lighting with smart switching.
First and second fix covered in collaboration with all other trades, ensuring a smooth process from start to finish and an exceptional installation throughout.
We self-certify all of our own work, from minor works right through to full Electrical Installation Certificates on fuse board upgrades and new installations.
Something tripping and nobody can explain why? We'll trace it and tell you what it actually is. Speak to our electrician about our current hourly rate for fault finds.
Lighting a garden properly, and getting a real supply out to a shed, garden office or outbuilding. Buried armoured cable, its own protection at the board, and certification on completion.
Questions
Yes. Tilehurst is part of our regular working area, along with Calcot, Kentwood, Norcot, Little Heath and the surrounding villages. Call 07482 209800 and we'll arrange a free survey.
We reply to enquiries the same day, most days within the hour, and we'll give you a firm survey date on that call rather than a vague window.
No. Quotes are free and there's no obligation. We survey the job, write the price down and leave it with you — no same-day discounts, no pressure on the doorstep.
Protec Elec Ltd is NAPIT registered, which means we're assessed against the national standard and authorised to self-certify our own work under Part P. We carry public liability cover on every job.
Nearby
Before you get quotes
What replacing a consumer unit costs in the UK, published averages by property type, and how to tell whether your fuse board actually needs changing.
How to tell whether your house needs rewiring or just a new consumer unit, what the age of your property tells you, and when to get it properly tested.
What a rewire costs in Reading and across Berkshire, why local housing stock changes the number, and what a fixed quote should actually include.
Tell us what you need and we'll come back the same day — usually within the hour.
