How many rules would this break?

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Moving house shortly and the new house needs some rewiring doing.

In June we will be having an extension built, the current consumer unit is in a kitchen cupboard on the interior side of an external wall, that external wall contains the meter cupboard on the outside as you'd expect. Once the extension is built that external wall will be the internal wall of my new double garage, the consumer unit will be getting moved to be above the meter cupboard, so on the opposite side of the wall its currently mounted on.

As soon as we move I'm planning on getting the supplier or dno out to fit an isolater to the meter so i can isolate the power, cutting out the chases for all the current wiring, replacing the wiring with new all the way back to the consumer unit for each circuit, leaving enough spare cable on each circuit looped up conveniently near the consumer unit so that when an electrician fits the new consumer unit in it's new location and wires in the new circuits for the extension he will be able to unfurl the service loops on the current circuits so they nicely reach the new consumer unit, the electrician will then test the new install as usual and I'll receive a shiny completion test certificate for the whole property?

The current wiring has all sockets on a single ring main protected by rcd, this will be wired exactly the same as is using 2.5mm t+e and metal capping over all cables in chases, the only change to this will be if I find any nasties while doing the work which will be fixed accordingly.

The lighting is on 2 separate radials, these will be slightly different in that I will be doing them with 1.5mm t+e and a single to each switch so there will be a spare wire to it that can be used for a neutral in the future if required such as smart switches.

I'm confident that me changing or replacing the wiring in the consumer unit is notifiable work, but i think replacing the rest of the wiring for new would class as modifying a circuit which is acceptable diy?

All work will be getting loop tested and looked over by an electrician at work but he's not part p registered so can't sign any of it off but I'm happy to go with him saying it's safe until I get an electrician in for the new consumer unit and extension part as I know I have to use an electrician for that bit to get it signed off for the extension.

And the reason for all this is understandably the wife doesn't want to spend 3 months with chases cut everywhere and the mess or having to move all the furniture and stuff again after moving in to do it all in June so I want to get it done in the first week get all the chases made good and the main part of the house renovated before we start on the extension parts in June.

Chris
 
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.... I will be doing them with 1.5mm t+e and a single to each switch so there will be a spare wire to it that can be used for a neutral in the future if required such as smart switches.
Ignoring the rest of your post for the moment, why "T+E and a single" rather than 3C+E? (and, while you're at it 1.0mm² cable would be more than adequate).

Kind Regards, John
 
Ignoring the rest of your post for the moment, why "T+E and a single" rather than 3C+E? (and, while you're at it 1.0mm² cable would be more than adequate).

Kind Regards, John

3c+e would do perfectly it just hadn't occurred to me which it should. Of done really as I'm used to using multi core at work.

1.5mm was solely to future proof anything that may change, I know 1mm would be fine especially with diversity considered. this house is going to be our home at least until my 1 year old daughter leaves school so I only want to be doing stuff once, as its such a big project overall I also want to be able to look back and say I did as much of it as possible
 
I'm confident that me changing or replacing the wiring in the consumer unit is notifiable work, but i think replacing the rest of the wiring for new would class as modifying a circuit which is acceptable diy?.
Some electrical work is notifiable, most of it is not.
All of it can be done by anyone competent, there is no restriction on who can do certain types of work based on whether it's notifiable or not.

All work will be getting loop tested and looked over by an electrician at work but he's not part p registered so can't sign any of it off but I'm happy to go with him saying it's safe until I get an electrician in for the new consumer unit and extension part as I know I have to use an electrician for that bit to get it signed off for the extension.
Any alterations, replacements or new circuits need to be tested before they are connected to the consumer unit.
Whether someone is 'part p registered' or not has no relevance to that, the same electrical tests apply to all work regardless.

The extension is notifiable because you are building an extension, the electrical work in it will be part of that notification in the same way that the structure, the windows, the heating, ventilation, drainage and all the other things are. It does not need to be notified separately.
 
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I only want to be doing stuff once, as its such a big project overall
Consider where you actually want to have sockets, lights and switches, rather than just blindly copying what's already there.
Someone else's choices made many years ago of how many sockets and their positions is unlikely to be the same as what you want today.
 
1.5mm was solely to future proof anything that may change, I know 1mm would be fine especially with diversity considered. this house is going to be our home at least until my 1 year old daughter leaves school so I only want to be doing stuff once, as its such a big project overall I also want to be able to look back and say I did as much of it as possible

As JohnW2 says 1.0mm is more than adequate. It will continue to be in the future as well as it is rated up to 16amps.
 
3c+e would do perfectly it just hadn't occurred to me which it should. Of done really as I'm used to using multi core at work.
Fair enough.
1.5mm was solely to future proof anything that may change, I know 1mm would be fine especially with diversity considered. ....
I'm a great believer in 'future-proofing' whenever it can reasonably be implemented but, as has been said, light circuit cables is one case in which there is already so much intrinsic future-proofing that you really don't need to think about adding even more!

Even in the days of incandescent lamps/bulbs (when some people got fairly close to 'fully loading' a 5A or 6A lighting circuit), 1.0 mm² cable had nearly 3 times the current-carrying capacity that the circuit could require, even if fully loaded (to 5A or 6A). Now (and certainly in the future) we are primarily talking about LEDs, you would probably struggle to have a total load of even 1A (230W worth of LEDs), so 1.0 mm² cable probably has the capacity to carry at least 15 or so times more current than will be needed in the future.

In contrast, what makes total sense in terms of future-proofing (if one is re-wiring) is to run 3C+E cables to all switches - since even the present, and presumably even more so the future, seems to have an increasing need for neutrals being available at light switches.

Kind Regards, John
 
It seems if you need to involve the LABC then the extra charged to include the electrics is not that much, I did mothers wet room using the LABC route and the big problem was getting them to allow my son and I to do the work, this varies county to county so your LABC inspector may just want you to call him at various stages and submit the installation certificate and they then send the completion certificate.

However to start with Flintshire wanted to use third party inspectors which I would need to pay for at so much per visit. In the end they allowed me to just send in the installation certificate, however had they not relented then the cost of third party inspection can be as expensive as getting a scheme member electrician to do the work.

So it all depends on what your LABC inspector will allow, both my son and I have the C&G 2391 inspecting and testing exam papers and I have a degree in electrical and electronic engineering and had been working as an industrial electrician for some 35 years at the time, what my son said to LABC inspector was if some one is going to say my dad's workmanship is not up to scratch then he will need to be higher qualified to my dad which got him to change his mind, but it's is up to the LABC inspector no one else can say who can do what etc.
 

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