Old lighting circuit - changing bathroom light fittings

[brighty73]

Hi all

I am looking to redecorate the bathroom which will involve getting rid of the 4 halogen downlight things and replacing with a couple fittings.

I'm aware that since its in the bathroom I will need to inform the local Building Control office OR get an approved spark to do the work for me and test the installation

My worry is that the whole place looks to have been wired / rewired well before Part P regs came into force .... I've had the floorboards up and there are wires / juntion boxes jammed into grooves in the joists etc -- it looks a total fail to my untrained eyes .. so I suppose my big question is to the level of testing that would be expected.

I'm going to assume the worst and expect the test to be on (at least) the whole of the circuit that the bathroom lights are currently wired into ?? That would seem sane to me.

I'm actually hoping that an inspection would involve only the parts of the system that get touched (e.g. a new junction box in loft plus the two new light fittings) but that seems like wishful thinking and pretty negligent on the tester's behalf since /i'm sure part of the test is that the system is not overloaded etc

Can anyone shed any light on what to expect ???

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If the lighting circuit only is being altered, it will be that circuit that will go under inspection and testing. Not the whole house.
Junction boxes in ceiling and floor voids are quite common on older installations, your system will not be condemned because of it.
If a conditional report was to be made on the whole system, it would be put down in observations, but it is very likely the existing installation pre-dates requirements for accessible joints.

 

[brighty73]

Cheers for the reply

Some of the circuit (juntion boxes must be since I cannot find them under the boards I've lifted) is under laminate floors - is this going to cause me a world of pain. Will they ask me to lift the floors to inspect ??

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

is this going to cause me a world of pain. Will they ask me to lift the floors to inspect ??

You will agree with the electrician on limitations to the extent of the inspection, the non removal of flooring/floorboards can be marked down as limitations.