Hi All
first of all thanks to all the posters on here as the advice I've read, been given, has been of great help to me.
I'm planning on doing a rewire of my home. I'm fully aware, (thanks to this site), of the fact the works notifiable and PartP regs etc. To give you some background, I've spent the last 6 months gathering information from this forum, trawling through the pages picking out useful bits of information. I've also bought several books (including IEE regs). Also in that time i've labelled all my current circuits in my house to the point where if you look at any cable under my floorboards you'll find its been labelled. So i've not taken this lightly and understand the dangers involved.
I've also now designed what circuits I want, calculated cable lengths, max demands etc...
Current layout -> 1 x 30A Ring Main, 1 x 30A Cooker, 2 x 5A Lighting (Up\Down)
Planned Layout -> 1 x 40A Cooker\Socket [6mm], 3 x 32A Ring Mains (Up\Down\Kitchen) [2.5mm] (RCD Protected), 3 x 6A Lighting (Up\Down\Outside) [1.5mm], 1 x 6A Smoke Alarms [1mm 3core+E]. May also include circuit for boiler rather than fuse spur of ring main.
I know a family friend who's an electrician. He will test\certify the work as long as he can follow all cables, (he will trust me on cables running through conduit). I'm going to change as much cable as I can without actually opening my fuse box, (just removing fuses, I know my limits), ie all lighting circuits apart from last length to fuse box. As much of the ring mains although this will be more difficult due to it being split into 3. Install all sockets, do chasing, run conduit. I'm hoping to get it to such a level wherby my electrician friend can come up for the day, swap the CU, attach the ends, test and certify.
I still have a few questions which I'm not 100% on. I don't wish to ask the family friend as I don't personally know him that well, but would appreciate any advice.
Questions
1) Does a complete rewire mean that the work is classed as a refurb, and therfore comes under Part M? Its just that all my upstairs sockets are positioned just above the skirting and i'd like to keep them their if possible, (rather than moving to 450mm).
2) Do cables running alongside joists have to be clipped? Its just that i've recently sanded\varnished my bedroom floorboards and am keen to avoid removing floorboards if possible. I was therfore planning on running a ring mains cable from the neighbouring room. This would run under the partition wall and alongside a joist to the far wall in my bedroom. Would this be OK?
3) My kitchen cooker is currently on a 30A fuse. The cooker IF fully loaded would use just over 30A. I'm planning on adding a socket to the cooker circuit, (built into switch). I was therfore going to put the cooker onto a 40A circuit on the new CU with 6mm cabling. Does this sound OK? (Cable run from CU is fairly short and will be using kettle\toaster etc... on socket)
4) My current house supply is 60A. Should I ask to have this increased to 100A? Thinking demand will be higher after rewire due to extra cabling and lights. Or is it a case of leave it at 60A & if problems then uprate it?
5) Would you RCD protect outside light circuits? 1 x PIR Security light, 1 x Dusk-Dawn light + a few lights in outbuilding.
cheers
first of all thanks to all the posters on here as the advice I've read, been given, has been of great help to me.
I'm planning on doing a rewire of my home. I'm fully aware, (thanks to this site), of the fact the works notifiable and PartP regs etc. To give you some background, I've spent the last 6 months gathering information from this forum, trawling through the pages picking out useful bits of information. I've also bought several books (including IEE regs). Also in that time i've labelled all my current circuits in my house to the point where if you look at any cable under my floorboards you'll find its been labelled. So i've not taken this lightly and understand the dangers involved.
I've also now designed what circuits I want, calculated cable lengths, max demands etc...
Current layout -> 1 x 30A Ring Main, 1 x 30A Cooker, 2 x 5A Lighting (Up\Down)
Planned Layout -> 1 x 40A Cooker\Socket [6mm], 3 x 32A Ring Mains (Up\Down\Kitchen) [2.5mm] (RCD Protected), 3 x 6A Lighting (Up\Down\Outside) [1.5mm], 1 x 6A Smoke Alarms [1mm 3core+E]. May also include circuit for boiler rather than fuse spur of ring main.
I know a family friend who's an electrician. He will test\certify the work as long as he can follow all cables, (he will trust me on cables running through conduit). I'm going to change as much cable as I can without actually opening my fuse box, (just removing fuses, I know my limits), ie all lighting circuits apart from last length to fuse box. As much of the ring mains although this will be more difficult due to it being split into 3. Install all sockets, do chasing, run conduit. I'm hoping to get it to such a level wherby my electrician friend can come up for the day, swap the CU, attach the ends, test and certify.
I still have a few questions which I'm not 100% on. I don't wish to ask the family friend as I don't personally know him that well, but would appreciate any advice.
Questions
1) Does a complete rewire mean that the work is classed as a refurb, and therfore comes under Part M? Its just that all my upstairs sockets are positioned just above the skirting and i'd like to keep them their if possible, (rather than moving to 450mm).
2) Do cables running alongside joists have to be clipped? Its just that i've recently sanded\varnished my bedroom floorboards and am keen to avoid removing floorboards if possible. I was therfore planning on running a ring mains cable from the neighbouring room. This would run under the partition wall and alongside a joist to the far wall in my bedroom. Would this be OK?
3) My kitchen cooker is currently on a 30A fuse. The cooker IF fully loaded would use just over 30A. I'm planning on adding a socket to the cooker circuit, (built into switch). I was therfore going to put the cooker onto a 40A circuit on the new CU with 6mm cabling. Does this sound OK? (Cable run from CU is fairly short and will be using kettle\toaster etc... on socket)
4) My current house supply is 60A. Should I ask to have this increased to 100A? Thinking demand will be higher after rewire due to extra cabling and lights. Or is it a case of leave it at 60A & if problems then uprate it?
5) Would you RCD protect outside light circuits? 1 x PIR Security light, 1 x Dusk-Dawn light + a few lights in outbuilding.
cheers