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We moved into a new (old) house a year ago. It was built in about 1910 and has been heavily extended since (before we moved in). The roof gutters are weird. Most drain into the 'main' drains, which go to our septic tank. One half of the roof drains down a downpipe which empties straight onto the...

While having some building work done, a 2.5mm T&E cable was found in an inconvenient place (coming from loft to floor level) . It's on a 20A MCB circuit, which I had assumed was a radial circuit On investigating to work out which sockets would be disconnected if that wire was removed, I found...

Sorry to piggy-back onto this thread, but my question is closely related to this. I have a block wall with plasterboard over it and want to hang kitchen cupboards off it. The plasterboard isn't glued directly to the wall, but is on battens (not big enough to hold any load IMO) . So, from the...

That seems about the only logical explanation :cry: Sorry, I know what I meant... :oops: I wasn't planning on putting a doorbell in the bathroom, or my kids' paddling pool ;) Well, like a doorbell or alarm. Softus above said that a doorbell wasn't signalling - it seems to me that it is (or...

Sorry, when I said 'does part P apply', I meant 'do I need to notify' (I was tired :oops: ) Thanks for your answers. Yes, that was my plan. We're planning to put some new kitchen units in where previously there weren't any. There's a socket just above the skirting board, so ideally I'd...

That's the problem for a lot of people! You need to test the connections etc. If you know how to do that, you probably know how to do the rest. If you don't, you can end up with a broken ring (with a big risk of fires) when the cable which seemed securely terminated becomes loose when...

The circuit breaker is there to protect the wiring & equipment. If she held it down, something else has probably fused. If you're lucky, it'll be a fuse in the boiler, if you're unlucky it could be the wiring between the circuit breaker and the boiler. If you're really unlucky, it could be...

You could try this: http://www.screwfix.com/prods/28261/Electrical/Switches-Sockets/Dimmers/Lutron-Trim-Ring-Spacer-White It's made for a specific range of dimmers, but it might work with others.

I know Part P applies to electrical work in a kitchen, but obviously there are limits - eg buying a new kettle or microwave and plugging it in doesn't require LABC approval (or does it??? :? ) I guess because of the 3(c) exception. So, if I was to get an Evoline V-Dock (essentially a pretty...

FWIW, when we first moved into our house we had a big problem with normal bulbs blowing regularly in our house (though not physically exploding). CFL bulbs are fine. We even had a couple of 12V lighting transformers die which was a real pain. A bit of experimentation found that our mains...

Hmm, that's interesting... You're right, that's what 522.6.7 says. My 'Guide to the wiring regs - 17th ed' from the ECA is wrong - that specifically says that if the wire is in the safe zones it's OK not to have an RCD. (I'm glad our house was wired before 2008...)

Surely lighting (along with smoke alarms, freezers etc) should generally not be protected by an RCD.

Yes, but... If the point of the buildings regs is to make work in buildings be done to a safe standard, then what SHOULD happen is that any added expense/difficulty imposed by the regulations is reasonable. At the moment, for electrical work, it is most definitely not. This will cause people...

GU10s have a bevel on the base, GZ10s don't You can use GU10s in GZ10 enclosures but not the other way around. See http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/article/fittings-caps-and-bases/

I could, but the LABC would ignore that and still want to charge me the extra £150 for their own test - even for the 10 minute tests required by the 'Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate'. ISTM that the BCOs don't understand electrics AT ALL, so they just go over the top on safety...

To me this exemplifies the massive flaw with part P in particular, and building regs in general. If I was getting a "random" electrician from the yellow pages to do some work for me, then buildings regs would be a good 'safety net', but if either I'm doing the work and am competent, or I am...

Yeah.. You don't put the reds & blacks into the same hole! Maybe you need to get in touch with an electrician...

Well, all the work I did WAS before 2005. However, I was thinking of doing some notifiable extra work which was related to the earlier work, and was slightly worried that the inspector would think that some of the work I did then should have been notified as well - IYSWIM. BTW, here, in...

I can't remember what type of boiler it is (I'm not at home at the moment), but it's a biggish condensing boiler. The pressure vessel is external. The pressure doesn't rise noticeably when running. It's something I checked, as it did rise considerably just before they found the previous PV...