Burning Behind the Walls Is an Emergency — We Treat It Like One in Edgbaston
Concealed overheating inside walls and ceilings handled as the serious fault it is: isolate, trace the heat, repair back to sound cable.
Booking fee plus hourly labour — the price is confirmed before any work starts.
What this costs
| Booked 14+ days ahead | £25 booking fee £85 per hour |
|---|---|
| Booked within 48 hours | £100 booking fee £65 per hour |
| Same-day call-out | £220 booking fee £45 per hour |
The booking fee secures the visit. Labour is then charged by the hour, so you only pay for the time the job actually takes.
Booking fee £25–£220
£25 + £85/hr booked 14+ days ahead, £100 + £65/hr inside 48 hours, £220 + £45/hr same day. Agreed before we arrive.
Covered under Wiring Issues
Electrical › Wiring Issues — one of 20 documented jobs in this section.
Same-day electrical burning behind walls
Urgent jobs can often be booked for today. Ask when you book and we will confirm the slot before you pay anything.
15 service areas
Birmingham, Coventry, Dorridge and 12 more across the West Midlands.
Why Burning Inside a Wall Is Different
At a socket or a light fitting, overheating shows itself where you can see and smell it, and the fitting can simply be switched off. Behind plaster there is no such off switch. A connection or cable burning inside a partition wall, a ceiling void or a boxed-in duct is heating timber studs, joists, insulation and dust — materials that have smouldered in countless house fires before the flames ever showed. The smell may be faint at first, strongest near a particular wall or at a socket on the far side of the wall in question, and it will not go away by airing the room, because the heat source is still powered.
What to Do in the Next Few Minutes
Switch off at the consumer unit's main switch if you can reach it without moving close to the affected wall — that removes the heat source from the whole installation, which no individual socket switch can do. Keep children and pets out of the room, do not press on or cut into the wall to look for the source, and do not assume the danger has passed if the smell fades; smouldering does not recover the damage, and the fault underneath is still there. If you can see smoke coming from the fabric of the building, or the smell is strong and rising, leave it to the fire service and call them — our work begins when the immediate danger is past. Otherwise, book the earliest urgent slot and keep the power off until we arrive.
How We Find the Heat Source
Once the installation is confirmed dead, we work from the outside in: checking which circuits serve the affected area, opening the fittings at either end of the suspected run — socket, switch, ceiling rose — and testing along the cable route with insulation and continuity instruments until the damaged section is located. Thermal damage leaves evidence: discoloured conductors, hardened insulation, a junction box that no longer looks like its neighbours. Only when the fault is bracketed do we open the wall or floor at the smallest point necessary, and only with your agreement about where that cut will be.
How We Make It Right Again
The burned section of cable is cut out entirely and replaced back to sound cable on each side, because insulation that has been heated past its rating cannot be trusted even where it looks intact. Every joint is remade in an accessible position with proper connectors. Fittings that took heat are replaced rather than refitted — a cooked socket interior is not a foundation for new work. Where damage reached other services in the same void, we tell you what we found so you can arrange any other trades needed. The repair is then tested under load before the power goes back on.
What We Check Afterwards
A burn inside a void almost always has a cause worth knowing: a loose joint years in the making, a cable undersized for what the circuit now carries, damage from earlier work, or water that found its way in. We test the remainder of the affected circuit, look at the consumer unit's protection — whether an RCD covers the circuit and whether it operated — and give you a plain summary of what failed, why, and what is worth doing about the rest of the installation. If wiring elsewhere shares the same age or the same history, you will hear it from us straight.
When to Call Us
Treat any burning smell you cannot attribute to a visible appliance as an emergency, especially if it is strongest at a wall, ceiling or floor, or if it is paired with a tripped breaker, warmth or discolouration. Do not reset breakers and carry on; a circuit that has been burning does not get a second chance by asking nicely.
Book an Urgent Engineer Today
Concealed burning is frightening precisely because you cannot see it — but it is also a fault with a known, methodical solution. Call us now and we will get a qualified electrician to you on the earliest available slot, isolate and trace the heat, repair it back to sound cable, and leave your installation tested and safe to switch back on.
How the price works
We charge a booking fee to hold your slot, then an hourly rate for the work itself. The fee changes with how soon you need us; the hourly rate changes with the slot you choose. You approve the price before we start, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
Booked 14+ days ahead
£25 booking fee
then £85 per hour of labour
Best value. Book the slot now, pay the smallest booking fee.
Booked within 48 hours
£100 booking fee
then £65 per hour of labour
For jobs that can wait a day or two but not a fortnight.
Same-day call-out
£220 booking fee
then £45 per hour of labour
Urgent problems: standing water, no heat, no power, leaks.
Book the slot
Choose the window that suits you and pay the booking fee. That holds your place in the diary.
We diagnose on site
The engineer confirms the cause and tells you what the job involves and how long it should take.
You approve, we work
Nothing goes ahead until you agree the price. Labour is then charged per hour at your slot rate.
If the smell of burning is coming from inside a wall or ceiling rather than from a socket or appliance you can see, it needs treating as the most serious wiring fault there is. Heat inside a concealed space has nowhere to go, and everything around it — timber, insulation, plaster — is fuel. Switch the power off at the consumer unit if you can reach it safely, keep clear of the area, and call us immediately for an urgent visit.
What our customers say about our electrical service
4.6 out of 5 from 11 reviews
Does what it says on the tin
No complaints about the work itself — clear explanation, sensible advice, fair price. Booking online was easy enough once I found the right job page.
Job: Smoke Alarm Replacement
Fixed it, but took longer than expected
Work itself was fine and tidy. Communication beforehand was patchy — I did not get the confirmation message and had to ring to check the slot. Would still use again.
Job: Flickering Outdoor Lights
Turned up when they said
Third time we have used Maintenance Men, and the same experience each time: agreed price, proper explanation, job done in one visit. The hourly rate is fair for the standard of work.
Job: Appliance Causing Power Trip
Book Electrical Burning Behind Walls
Tell us what is happening and choose a slot. If you are not sure this is the right job, use the diagnosis panel — it narrows the problem down before you book.
- Booking fee confirmed up front
- Hourly labour, agreed before work starts
- Same-day slots for urgent problems
Questions people ask about electrical burning behind walls
Straight answers to the things customers ask most often before booking.
What does an emergency call like this cost?
A booking fee is paid when you book, and after that labour is charged hourly at a rate that depends on urgency — same-day and emergency visits sit at the higher end of the scale. The full cost of the repair is quoted and agreed with you before any of the work starts.
Should I cut into the wall to find the burning?
Absolutely not — cutting into a wall that may contain overheated wiring risks contact with damaged conductors and can disturb smouldering material. Isolate the whole installation at the consumer unit if you can safely, keep the room clear, and let an electrician locate the source with proper testing before any opening is made.
How will you find the fault if it's behind plaster?
We work from the ends of the circuit first — the fittings we can reach — and use insulation and continuity testing to bracket the damaged section of cable before opening anything. That method usually finds the fault within a small area, so any access in the wall is minimal and agreed with you first.
When should I call the fire service instead of an electrician?
If smoke is visible coming from the wall, ceiling or floor, or the burning is strong and getting worse, call 999 first — that is a fire situation, not a repair. For a persistent burning smell with the power safely off, an urgent electrician visit is the right next step.
Will the repair leave a big hole in my wall?
Only as big as the fault requires, and we bracket the damage with testing first so the opening is as small as possible. The burned cable section has to come out and new cable go in, and you will need a decorator to finish the surface — but we keep the openings as few and as tidy as the job allows.
Need electrical burning behind walls sorted in Edgbaston?
Book a slot in the diary and pay only the booking fee up front. We confirm the rest before we start.