Putting up wall lights after redecoration

The old wires were in the original wall before the batons and cladding went up. In view of what I have learnt about all this I am not hopeful of doing anything about it and if the worst comes to the worst, the lights will have to go up but not be connected. At least that would look better than 3 holes in my cladding or an attempt at filling them/covering them up which would look dreadful. Thanks again for all your help.
 
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One final question - what qualifications should I be looking for in an electrician these days? Also do they charge an hourly rate or job rate and which is safer so you don't get ripped off or does it depend on the guy and/or the job? I gather electricians are like gold dust these days - is this because of new legislation that requires another qualification and costs thousands to get in an attempt to rid the industry of cowboys?
 
This install may well be fed from a TT supply.

In which case, RCD protection is a must-have, plus checking the earthing electrode.

Yes good point. Does look like TT. And with all that bonding wiring, no chance of the crabtree operating!
 
And with all that bonding wiring, no chance of the crabtree operating!
It depends - So long as the "E" terminal of the ELCB is still connected solely to the earth reference electrode via an insulated conductor and so long as none of the bonded metalwork has encroached into the resistance gradient area of that electrode, then it will still operate as intended.
 
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What if there is a boiler or immersion heater?
No difference - You can have whatever you like bonded on the "F" side of the coil. So long as the integrity of the reference electrode and its connection have not been compromised (e.g. by bonding something which is within the electrode's resistance gradient area or by connecting something else directly to the coil's "E" side) then the ELCB will work as designed.
 
One final question - what qualifications should I be looking for in an electrician these days? Also do they charge an hourly rate or job rate and which is safer so you don't get ripped off or does it depend on the guy and/or the job? I gather electricians are like gold dust these days - is this because of new legislation that requires another qualification and costs thousands to get in an attempt to rid the industry of cowboys?

Yes, but the introduction of legislation for electricians has been diluted so much since it was introduced (10 years ago) that qualifications, or even membership of one of the so-called Competent Person Schemes is no guarantee that the person is really capable of doing the job.

All of the registered electricians are on this website http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk

At least the people on the list have their workmanship backed up by their scheme if things go wrong.
But the best way to get a reliable tradesperson is by personal recommendation.

Get a price for the job from 2 or 3. This is often a problem, as small jobs like this are a PITA, especially at this time of year (its busy and everybody wants it done before Christmas….).
 
Thanks again for the website - very useful.
"But the best way to get a reliable tradesperson is by personal recommendation" - I would have agreed with you upto this latest DIY project but not now. The person I used was recommended by a friend but although some of his work was excellent, in work that was outside of his comfort zone he didn't apply commonsense or follow basic rule of thumb and I am now left with this problem. Admittedly he was not an electrician but he should have raised this issue before going any further and he didn't.
 
You employed someone to board the walls, and plaster/paper/paint/etc, I assume.

Why on earth would you expect him to have electrical knowledge?
 

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