Diy house rewire

[pete01]

Yeah i wont be putting in any hard wired smoke alarms

Why?, id definitely do that at the same time.

 

[Murdochcat]

Why?, id definitely do that at the same time.

Me too.

Daft idea to say the least not doing this

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yeah i wont be putting in any hard wired smoke alarms or any out door sockets or lights also good point about the bathroom and kitchen extractor but i wouldn't feel the need for these to be on there own dedicated circuit these both could be ran on spur units from sockets or a spur break in the ring from the loft

Your aim, now, whilst these things are easy to add - should be to at least put the cables in place for everything you need, and everything you might need in the future. You should add to the list, Internet and LAN outlets.

 

[thomp1983]

If you genuinely feel competent to do then do it, if you don't have it signed off by a bco then that would only be an issue if you try to sell the property and it's upto you if your willing to accept the difficulty/loss in value.

From a safety point of view the first thing to sort out is an isolation switch so you can safely remove power to the consumer unit, the dno should do it for you for a fee, you'd not be the first person to pull your own cut out fuse and fit one yourself but you'd have to make the decision on the condition of your incoming supply and if it's safe to attempt to do so, if the cut out or supply cable fall apart while pulling a fuse you shouldn't be touching you'll be in a huge mess ranging from having to admit to the dno you were doing unauthorised work to potential death.

After your at a point of safely isolating the incoming supply carry on with the rewire, personally I'd get a multi function tester even if it's uncalibrated, it'll still perform all the main safety checks correctly you just won't be able to rely on it's results for disconnection times but you can work them out with a pen and paper the mft results are just to confirm your workings out, someone with calibrated kit can do that at a later date, the mft should still be reliable for ir testing and testing for shorts and connections, you can do them reasonably reliably with a normal multi meter.

 

[endecotp]

Yeah i wont be putting in any hard wired smoke alarms

Why not?

Here in Scotland, they are now a legal requirement. I guess that will be the case where you are soon enough.

 

[crystal ball]

I was going to say why bother with ring final circuits? 20A radials should be ample.

In the 80s, 1.5 for lighting was oddly seen by many sparks as "manly". You were a wimp if you used 1 milli.

But particularly today, when most stuff is LED, you don't need 1.5 for lighting.

When I was rewiring council houses for the local board 1.5mm was specced, 1.0mm any other time

 

[JohnD]

After your at a point of safely isolating the incoming supply carry on with the rewire, personally I'd get a multi function tester even if it's uncalibrated, it'll still perform all the main safety checks correctly you just won't be able to rely on it's results for disconnection times but you can work them out with a pen and paper the mft results are just to confirm your workings out, someone with calibrated kit can do that at a later date, the mft should still be reliable for ir testing and testing for shorts and connections, you can do them reasonably reliably with a normal multi meter.

You can get terrific bargains in kit that is out of calibration or not the latest model.

 

[markus2025]

Thanks again for the replies , i got the energy supplier to install a isolator couple months ago so i wont be pulling any mains fuse


but yeah regarding smoke alarms i feel there a personal choice battery alarms did good enough for years and i dont even have any in my current home


but yeah going back to the rewire yes i feel fully able to do it myself however i dont wanna avoid any legit paper work routes and then come a cropper with any future sales or insurance claims...


ive gathered its not illegal in the uk for a none trade to rewire there own home so im looking at options


i dont currently work and im not living in the house so even if it takes me months or building control take weeks to deal with i dont care about that


folk maybe say by time you deal with building control you can get a scheme spark in to do the job but can this be true ?


if a spark say wants 3/4k to do a rewire even if building control came out several times the cost would surley be no way near 4k...


so the sum of that is yeah if im only gonna save couple hundred quid doing it myself then likey not worth it but if im gonna save a couple of thousand quid even for a few months of my own time which i dont put a value on then its worth it but it still needs to be down a legit route and thats what im seeking out


its not illegal to rewire a full house of your not electrician yet you cant self cert if your not part of a scheme and anyone who is part of a scheme cant cert someone elses work... so its like what is the route ??


if it was clear and was like you cant rewire a house if your not part of a scheme then that would be that but its not....

 

[davelx]

It's not illegal to rewire a full house if you're not an electrician, yet you can't self cert if you're not part of a scheme and anyone who is part of a scheme can't cert. someone else's work... so it's like what is the route ??

Basically as described by ericmark way back in post #4, but the details will vary between LABCs.

"You complete your request, and pay the fee. They will visit, and want to see plans and tools, at least they did with me. If they think you have the skill, they will give the go ahead, they can refuse if they feel you don't have the skill. Again, they have to decide if you have the skill to inspect and test. If they think you have the skill, and equipment then you do the work then submit the installation certificate, and the completion certificate comes in the post.

If they think you can't inspect and test, then the power will be isolated, you do the work, and they inspect and test at set points during the installation, once the final inspection and testing is done, the power is put back on. If the LABC use a third party inspector, then you pay for him onto of the LABC fee. This is where all the money goes, you can be looking at paying the LABC £100 plus vat or more, and the inspectors £500 plus vat, so it is adding around £1000 to the bill."

 

[markus2025]

Ok so if thats the process then i just need to find the exacts costings from building control even if building control charge the said 1000k and the materials 600 quid thats still probably half the price of what a trade would charge to do the job i can see something on my local council website 300 and odd quid from building control but not sure if thats just to inform them or thats them coming out or what

 

[pete01]

How big is your house? Doubt youd get it done for 3200

 

[markus2025]

Small 2 bed cottage yeah so thats what i mean if not 3200 then even 4k/5k so diy building control route even if it was 2k with inspections its still gonna be a 2k saving

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

but as ive mentioned its a small 2 bed cottage for myself


folk shout there is so much more to it but if i gave some basic points here

Technically, there is nowt much to it at all. What is important, is the quality of the finished job, and that only comes with practice and experience. The OP is talking in terms of weeks, or maybe even months to complete the job - most professionals, would be in and out, easily within a week, on a completely empty property, with bare brick walls. The testing phase, only catches the obvious errors in the installation, errors which should not really ever occur - errors which should have been caught, during the installation phase.