Search results

Also have a look at http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=119162

Interesting. You are required by law to notify BC of notifiable electrical work, but you choose not to. Why then do you feel you must notify the BC of notifiable building work (i.e. an extension)?

I have just had a new staircase fitted. It is made of American white oak and is to be exposed (i.e. not carpeted). My joiner and carpenter have both told me that I will need to treat it, but have not provided any details. I have very little knowledge of wood (it comes from trees doesn't it? :))...

It is truly a shame that this aspect of part P was not thought out properly and that the LABCs vary so much. I am certainly glad that my own LABC was so understanding for me to self-certify my own work on my house. Having been through the whole DIY route myself, I can offer the following...

I wish it was a standard. Get T4 10W lamps from two different manufacturers and chances are they will be different lengths! It does seem to vary but in general T4 are the most efficient, both in terms of light per watt but remember that they are smaller. So if you want to fill a big area then...

Using an amp and a separate splitter rarely works. Try an all-in-one distributor instead. Do you have clear line of sight to the transmitter? If not there is not much you can do if you have a good arial. Maybe you can consider freesat instead?

"Mr. Twisty" installed the original electrics in my house. It has been a PIA making changes, or even doing the PI. In some cases I found about 10cm of cpc twisted together! It's a long time since I studied materials physics, however IIRC "work hardening" initially strengthens the metal due to...

Maybe I am missing something here. If you are putting up new ceilings then doesn't that mean that the old ones will be hidden in which case you can either pull them down first or else just cut them up to put in new cables?

Thanks. At this stage I am just doing the (structured) wiring in my house. It will be star wiring from one of two central equipment locations so I can just run the cable and worry about the actual connections later. It just seemed to me that if I go to the effort of installing a dummy box...

Do I just need to plan for 6-core alarm cable for a sounder? Are there any that need LV supply, i.e. twin & earth? I see that it is typical to fit a dummy box as well. Why? Seems to me that must burgulars would expect the box on the front of the house to be a real sounder and the one at the...

Yes, that is one issue, the other is if you use dimming. If you have more lights than connections, simply double-up, but make sure wiring is parallel and not serial (which is unlikely as serial connection needs extra terminals).

T4 link-lights come in various lengths. I believe that the smallest is 6W and about 20cm long. Unless you have some tight radius bends you should be able to arrange some so that there is no break in the lighting effect.

I use the Erbauer chaser (100 quid) and Earlex dust extractor (about 70 quid) from Screwfix. No dust at all. I follow up with SDS chiselling, and this is what causes some dust, but short of getting some sort of attachment to hold the vaccum pipe near the wall, I guess this is unavoidable.

Just watch out for the minimum loading of the transformer. Should be 20VA, but you never know. The trouble with kits is that they can use cheap components, and cheap transformers can cause trouble...

Presumably the actual thickness of the ceiling is not as it appears in the photos? (If it is then surely a conventional DL would not fit properly). Note the statement by Osram about the aluminium-coated lamps: "Drastically reduced thermal load in the luminaire thanks to an aluminium-coated...

It depends on the purpose of the individual lights - task or accent. For task lighting you want to make the work area bright, particularly if there is potential danger (e.g. using a sharp knife). So either you'll have a fixed DL directly above or an adjustable DL at a suitable angle...

I also used MS Visio, but didn't use colour (maybe because I am partially colourblind, but probably because I didn't think of it). I scanned in the floorplans that my architect had produced, and then I placed little circles with numbers in them and other symbols (from one of the "Wingdings"...

100m is for the total length of cable, including drops to switches.

So I need to run lighting cable along/through my joists to the point where the light fitting will be. Then I need to get plasterboard tacked and skimmed to make a nice new ceiling. So the wiring needs to be out of the way when the plasterboard is tacked, yet accessible for when I drill a hole...

It is certainly interesting to see that properly dimmable flourescent technology is moving forwards, but also that maybe it is not quite ready yet??? For the OP, I can offer some experience. I am soon to replace my whole house lighting, and am using a centalised dimmer system. This is partly...