Diy house rewire

[JohnW2]

what is the point in having the DIY building control route if its not obtainable ?

It is obtainable but, as morqthana has said, few if any LABC departments have in-house electrical expertise. They will therefore often/usually contract out the necessary inspections etc. to suitably qualified electricians, and will often/usually charge accordingly (in addition to their basic notification fee).

One other thing to say is that they probably do not think of it as a "DIY control route" but, rather, primarily as a route that can be taken by competent electricians who happen to not be ('self-certifying') members of a "Competent Persons Scheme". However, it remains possible for a DIYer to utilise trhe process.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

what is the point in having the DIY building control route if its not obtainable ?

If you want to follow an official route, your best hope is really to find yourself a member of the "Competent Persons Scheme", living locally to the address, get yourself in a friendly position with them, such that they would be willing to pop round to the address, and check/supervise your efforts, to ensure they would be happy to take responsibility, to eventually sign it off on your behalf. Not many qualified guys, would be willing to bother getting involved, with the work of an otherwise unsupervised amateur, there are just too many things to go wrong.

The other alternative, if you really feel you are competent - is to simply do the job, make sure it all done meticulously, and not bother with any official approvals.

The forum members can only answer technical questions, we cannot so easily supervise the work, or teach any practical, hands-on work, yet there are numerous pitfalls.

 

[markus2025]

Thanks again for the replies


yeah so its kind of one of them old style british technicalities where its not illegal to do your own diy rewire but its not really the done thing and your only really using a route not really intended for DIY unless your a diy spark


as a couple of the local sparks have said under there scheme rules they arnt allowed to sign off work they have not installed.
so maybe they would be a slim chance i could find a spark who would discount the total price if i was willing to help , but that would likely be me doing all the mr jogging bottom airmax jobs i.e all the chasing in and such while they do all the wiring in at the board and such and considering a board change can be anywhere up to 1000k alone i cant see them nocking much off but can only see .


so it would then be the toss of the price from building control fees and inspections to helping a spark
but like i originally said is this a route that is possible.. or am i doing that thing in the wind where a building inspector is going to come out and say you have no qualifications no past electrical experience sorry no...

Cause if a spark cant sign off work they have not installed and building control have none of the own inhouse team then who is gonna be good enough to check it

i just dont know why there cant be a route of you do you it all yourself and then pay for someone to do full electrical test and physical check of everything even if it took them a full day or so and then sign it off as safe


i would understand if you had stuff buried but when everything is on show and all socket faces could be left off for pull checks and visual checks

Thanks again for the replies


yeah so its kind of one of them old style british technicalities where its not illegal to do your own diy rewire but its not really the done thing and your only really using a route not really intended for DIY unless your a diy spark


as a couple of the local sparks have said under there scheme rules they arnt allowed to sign off work they have not completed..
so maybe they would be a slim chance i could find a spark who would discount the total price if i was willing to help , but that would likely be me doing all the mr jogging bottom airmax jobs i.e all the chasing in and such while they do all the wiring in at the board and such and considering a board change can be anywhere up to 1000k alone i cant see them nocking much off but can only see .


so it would then be the toss of the price from building control fees and inspections to helping a spark
but like i originally said is this a route that is possible.. or am i doing that thing in the wind where a building inspector is going to come out and say you have no qualifications no past electrical experience sorry no...


i just dont know why there cant be a route of you do you it all yourself and then pay for someone to do full electrical test and physical check of everything even if it took them a full day or so and then sign it off as safe


i would understand if you had stuff buried but when everything is on show and all socket faces could be left off for pull checks and visual checks

 

[markus2025]

Thanks again for the replies

yeah so its kind of one of them old style british technicalities where its not illegal to do your own diy rewire but its not really the done thing and your only really using a route not really intended for DIY unless your a diy spark

as a couple of the local sparks have said under there scheme rules they arnt allowed to sign off work they have not completed..
so maybe they would be a slim chance i could find a spark who would discount the total price if i was willing to help , but that would likely be me doing all the mr jogging bottom airmax jobs i.e all the chasing in and such while they do all the wiring in at the board and such and considering a board change can be anywhere up to 1000k alone i cant see them nocking much off but can only see .

so it would then be the toss of the price from building control fees and inspections to helping a spark
but like i originally said is this a route that is possible.. or am i doing that thing in the wind where a building inspector is going to come out and say you have no qualifications no past electrical experience sorry no...

i just dont know why there cant be a route of you do you it all yourself and then pay for someone to do full electrical test and physical check of everything even if it took them a full day or so and then sign it off as safe

i would understand if you had stuff buried but when everything is on show and all socket faces could be left off for pull checks and visual checks

 

[pete01]

Just do it and get an eicr done afterwards, simple.

When you sell hand it in no one will question anything

 

[EFLImpudence]

Let's try again.

yeah so its kind of one of them old style british technicalities where its not illegal to do your own diy rewire but its not really the done thing and your only really using a route not really intended for DIY unless your a diy spark

Sort of - but you have to use the same routes.

as a couple of the local sparks have said under there scheme rules they arnt allowed to sign off work they have not completed..

That's true once it is completed but they can supervise a labourer doing all the manual work.
However, when that labourer is you it is not worth the bother coming and going several times while you do it.

so maybe they would be a slim chance i could find a spark who would discount the total price if i was willing to help , but that would likely be me doing all the mr jogging bottom airmax jobs i.e all the chasing in and such while they do all the wiring in at the board and such and considering a board change can be anywhere up to 1000k alone i cant see them nocking much off but can only see so it would then be the toss of the price from building control fees and inspections to helping a spark.

Exactly.

but like i originally said is this a route that is possible.. or am i doing that thing in the wind where a building inspector is going to come out and say you have no qualifications no past electrical experience sorry no...

If you have done the above no building inspector will be involved.

i just dont know why there cant be a route of you do you it all yourself and then pay for someone to do full electrical test and physical check of everything even if it took them a full day or so and then sign it off as safe

Because they would virtually have to do everything again apart from the hammering and chasing.
It isn't worth the bother for an electrician who doesn't know your standard of working.

i would understand if you had stuff buried but when everything is on show and all socket faces could be left off for pull checks and visual checks

But you don't understand (what is involved) - that is the fundamental problem that you have.

 

[pete01]

Or see if you can find a Napit 3rd party route sparky.

 

[richw]

Just do it and get an eicr done afterwards, simple.

When you sell hand it in no one will question anything

This is the way.

If you really want professional assistance during the job, then you should draw on the wall where you want sockets etc. and lift/expose the flooring/ceilings throughout the house, then install all the backboxes. This would make the sparky's job much quicker. Maybe you could even do a bit more, like pull cables, so it's closer to a second-fix stage. But your sparky would have to be happy with this, and you'll probably struggle to find one who would be (it's potentially a whole load of hassle for them, as they have no idea if you'd do it correctly).

Another option would be to replace everything apart from the CU, and book a spark for a new CU job.

Trying to play the game with civil servants just sounds like a waste of time and money - and for what gain?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Or see if you can find a Napit 3rd party route sparky.

But it's not worth their bother is it?

 

[pete01]

But it's not worth their bother is it?

Probably not, but it might be worth ringing round a few to see if they offer the service

 

[JohnW2]

yeah so its kind of one of them old style british technicalities where its not illegal to do your own diy rewire but its not really the done thing and your only really using a route not really intended for DIY unless your a diy spark

That statement is a little potentially misleading. It IS illegal for anyone (even a highly qualified and experienced electrician) to undertake notifiable work which is not notified to LABC as required by the Building Regulations.

I think you may be over-playing/over-thinking the 'difficulties' in utilising the system for a DIYer (or electrician who is not a CPS member) to directly notify work. If you submit a 'Building Notice' (not a 'Full Plans' application) to a LA, together with the appropriate fees, then I think you can then start the proposed work within 48 hours (telling them when it is 'started' {defined as when less than 15% of work has been done}) and I don't think that the LA can say 'no'. It is up to them to decide what inspections/supervision are required and to arrange for that to happen (at additional charge in some cases). That';s certainly how it used to be, and I'm not aware of it having changed.

Having said that, as others have indicated (unusually 'frankly' for this forum), many DIYers will simply do the work and not notify it, with, in practice, minimal risk of any 'consequences'.

 

[markus2025]

Yeah i mean my first route was gonna be just do it myself get a eicr and that be that

i would then know it was safe cause i know how its been physically installed and the test would show there was nothing wired wrong and such like
it was just when i read more into when a install cert can be needed and such for example if the house was sold or if there was ever i insurance claim so thats when i looked into the more by the book route
and what brought up this topic of a diy rewire and informing the building control
And not only that but if by the very slim chance there was any liable issues im sure i would be quick to be jumped on for doing a diy rewire by the conformers

but call me what you like im not gonna settle for anyone telling me no matter how many certificates that they have that the rewire of a small domestic house is very complex... the chernobyl control panels for sure i wouldnt even attempt to look into a rewire but there is no reason at all that a competent DIY person who has done the correct research is more then capable

your allowed to replace all the socket faces lights faces light pendants and such in your own which involves unscrewing the terminals and re tightening them you can add spur units which involves adding cable and clipping

so im not gonna ever take it from someone to say that is a massive complex task that should only be carried out by a fully trained spark not that anyone on here has said that but its the genral way

unless someone here can give me some of this complex mystics stuff and baffle me lol

 

[morqthana]

the brown live goes in the L the blue neutral goes in the N

Not necessarily with lighting circuits.

why not just have it black and white as unless your a fully qualified spark with all the tickets then No you cant rewire a house in the Uk.

Put up a link to the website of your Building Control.

 

[pete01]

unless someone here can give me some of this complex mystics stuff and baffle me lol

Its not as easy as you think, I've seen some cock ups in my time

 

[markus2025]

Yeah ok so depending if your wiring to the switch with neutral at the switch or wiring to the pendants and using the blue wire as a switched live etc please tell me the complicity pete