Sockets in skirting- rewire - Regs?

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rossyl

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Hi

I've got a Victorian house with tall skirting boards.
The sockets are in the skirting board. I want to limit disruption to the skirting and the wall.

If I'm having a partial rewire / do other internal works requiring Regs (no extensions, just removal of internal walls and inserting steels)

- do I need to move the sockets higher up on the walls?

I know the question has been asked before but not for 7yrs, didn't know if Regs might have changed.

Thanks
 
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Personally, I would say they would be OK.

Tall Victorian skirting means they are well off the floor, away from damage hazards, like getting bashed with the vacuum.
 
It is not an electrical regulation as such it is a building regulation, little strange as 300 mm in commercial and 350 domestic maybe people shrink as the go out of the house? However it is really for new build so no problem with old house, there is a problem some times following safe zones, it seems there is a safe zone following the ceiling but not the floor, so zones defined by the position of socket, so if the cable is behind the skirting the socket must remain on the skirting so that the cable remains in the safe zones. So as @securespark says. Although I have had LABC inspectors asking for things which are not required following the rules. For example wanted an extractor fan in a bathroom even with opening windows, he said since on ground floor some one may walk past the window, so if LABC is involved I would submit detailed plans showing socket positions so if they want to object they do so before not after they are fitted.
 
Thanks very much.

We'll be getting private building control, so hopefully more sensible.

But just in the planning stages at the moment, so trying to understand where we ca save costs/limit damage to the current structure
 
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The regulation for socket and switch heights only affects new circuits.

Pre-existing circuits can stay where they are if required.
 
Eric

Having dealt with LABC recently, they are a bunch of contrary people who think they know everything.

I had them round to look at a roofing job and they were just so inconsistent. Two people came to look at two separate times, and I think there lay the problem.

One came to look at the roof. I explained the roofer had used 100mm rigid insulation. (it should have ideally been a minimum of 133mm) He insisted it was fine, even though he admitted it did not been building regs.

Regarding the proposed insulation under the floor he said that my proposed 170mm rockwool would not suffice and I had to use 100mm rigid.

He did pass the roof, having climbed up to have a look.

The second LABC guy to visit said that 100mm rigid was not to standard for the roof and if he had been the first one to visit, he would have made the roofer redo it.
He also said that 170mm rockwool would have been absolutely fine under the floor.
But when he looked at the roof (from the ground!), he said there may be an issue with rainwater and he would have to "go back and discuss it with a colleague".

And these are two guys who work in the same office for the same LABC.

What hope?
 
Yes also I have seen it where the LABC has said this must be done, and my daughter who at that time worked for Royal commission said no way, and the LABC had to back down with a listed building.
 
So if I put new circuits in a currently occupied and old house

Do the sockets need to be the "new" Building Regs height?
 
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