New fuse board in Barry, fitted and certified in a day.

Barry housing spans a century and the board tells you which era you are in before you have taken the cover off. The Victorian and Edwardian terraces around Barry Town and Cadoxton still throw up rewireable boards — actual fuse wire, or the cartridge type that replaced it. No RCD protection at all, which means nothing disconnects automatically if a cable is damaged or an appliance develops a fault.

The post-war estates at Colcot, Buttrills and Gibbonsdown are where the most common Barry job sits: a plastic consumer unit with a single RCD covering everything. It was compliant when it went in and it is not dangerous, but one fault anywhere takes out the whole house — including the freezer and the lights, while you are trying to find the cause. Since 2016 the regulations have also required non-combustible enclosures in domestic properties, which is why a plastic board under a wooden staircase now attracts a C3 on an EICR, and worse if it sits on an escape route.

The Waterfront and Highlight Park builds are usually fine, and Aled will say so rather than sell you a board you do not need. Where a replacement is genuinely warranted it is from £700 + VAT, and the upgrade to individual RCBOs — one device per circuit, so a fault takes out one thing rather than the house — is worth the small difference on nearly every job.