Decomissioning a ring main

[f0rmula]

I'm not part P certified, but we're renovating our house. The house will be rewired at a later date, but in the mean-time, am I able to remove sockets from a ring main, replacing them with chocboxes and 30A terminal strips?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/chocbox/54936

At present, there's only one ring main in the house, which makes this all particularly awkward. I realise this isn't "like for like" repair, so I suspect it's probably not allowed. :-/

If it's not, what do you guys suggest are my options? Get an electrician in to wire just a couple of sockets near the existing fuse board, and run the renovations from that and a few extension leads? Current board is in the cellar and all the wiring is exposed, so I don't suppose this'd be a particularly complicated job.

Cheers for any suggestions!

 

[securespark]

What is the purpose of removing sockets to replace them with joints?

I don't understand..

 

[Taylortwocities]

Yes
Get electrician to provide acouple of double RCD protected sockets as a site supply and disconnect the rest from the board.

Personally I would disconnect everything from the board so the whole house, lights too, are disconnected.
The electrician can confirm everything is "dead" and you can then leap around with your crowbar having a good renovation.

 

[f0rmula]

What is the purpose of removing sockets to replace them with joints?

I don't understand..

Some sockets are on walls that are moving, some sockets are being moved in the rewire and we need to plaster over them.

Yes
Get electrician to provide acouple of double RCD protected sockets as a site supply and disconnect the rest from the board.

Personally I would disconnect everything from the board so the whole house, lights too, are disconnected.
The electrician can confirm everything is "dead" and you can then leap around with your crowbar having a good renovation.

Hehe. A good renovation indeed.

The lights are being replaced as is. They're all just loop-in, so I think I'm able to replace them under the like-for-like rule, no? That would leave us with working lights throughout the whole process. We then just get an electrician to fit a new consumer unit and sockets etc, but hooking up to the two existing lighting circuits. Hmm. Perhaps I'm not allowed to replace that much under like-for-like? The existing cables are old un-harmonised.

EDIT: Gah. "Replace damaged cable for a single circuit", so I shouldn't replace more than one cable. Bah. That's frustrating. I wonder which level of hell I'll end up in if I replace a tiny bit more... Probably one with only six sockets. Oh, hang on. I live there already.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If you are renovating/re-wiring. Why the hang up about notification?
Get a sparky on board with you, seems daft to rip a house apart and still only have one lighting circuit, even if old core colours they can still be altered and split, providing the existing cables are fit for the purpose.
It would be worth getting a condition report done on the existing and the stuff you are keeping.
If you are rewiring, the socket circuit, then decommission the lot, then run a temporary supply from the board and bang a RCD on it.

 

[RF Lighting]

Cut the whole lot off. Start again. Now's the perfect time to do it. You'll regret it if you get the house all finished and you find out there's something wrong with the wiring.

 

[flameport]

Some sockets are on walls that are moving, some sockets are being moved in the rewire and we need to plaster over them.

If the wall is being removed, a live cable with a joint in it will still be in the way, just the same as the socket would be.
You can't plaster over connections like that either.

The lights are being replaced as is. They're all just loop-in, so I think I'm able to replace them under the like-for-like rule, no?

No idea where you heard of this 'rule', but there is no such thing, and what you are proposing is clearly far more than replacing items.

We then just get an electrician to fit a new consumer unit and sockets etc, but hooking up to the two existing lighting circuits.

Which you then discover are broken / damaged / dangerous / inappropriate for the new layout / etc.

The other work you are intending to do (moving walls / altering the layout) is notifiable anyway, so adding some electrical work won't make any difference.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm not part P certified,

Don't worry - nobody is, Part P is not a qualification.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You can't plaster over connections like that either.

Even if there were no no joints to consider, you probably couldn't plaster over where sockets and switches had been as they would have been creating the zones for the cables.

f0rmula - as people have said you plan is unworkable at best, and dangerous and illegal at worst. You need to get the electrician involved now, not at the end.