Diy house rewire

[crystal ball]

Errors, in the OP's own work, rather than faults created subsequently by other trades. Nowt much the OP can do about those, and such faults can appear any time, from straight away, to even years later.

Indeed, I was called to a fault on a socket circuit I installed in 2002, checked the outside sockets first, all dry, traced the fault to the conservatory, and found a live conductor shorting to a fixing screw, took 20+ years to wear through

 

[ericmark]

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.

This was my problem, if I am testing and inspecting, only the LABC to pay, and you know up front the cost, if you're going to be using third party testers, there is no ceiling to the charges, if they fail anything, then they have to return to re-test, with yet another charge.

The problem is how pedantic will the inspector be?

 

[markus2025]

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.

yeah i agree... but you get some that say its not as simple as running cable A-B but it pritty much is aslong as common sense is used aswell as the correct rated rcbo for the cable its protecting and aswell as the correct size cable for the load
in domestic house 99 percent time would 2.5mm / 1-1.5mm/ 6mm
on a diy if you take your time dont start rushing make sure all your connections are tight and in the correct terminals then i can see what issues can happen

one thing i would ask whee people talk about a poorly designed system what is a example a system that would have a poor design ?

 

[flameport]

what is a example a system that would have a poor design ?

Inadequate quantities of socket outlets
People who install ring circuits where no ring circuit is required, such as for a utility room or garage, or the mess discovered a couple of months ago where a ring circuit supplied one socket outlet in a bedroom.
Rooms with two or more doors and a light switch at only one of them
Long hallways with a single light switch in the middle, or at one end
Stairs where someone forgot to have the light switched from both upstairs and down
Large rooms where someone has decided a single central light is appropriate
Cupboards that are part of the building structure with no light in them - under the stairs is the usual one.
Outside lights with no switch/isolator - just hoping that the sensor keeps working for ever.
New lighting installations where there is no neutral at the switch, or no permanent line at the light fitting.
Cooker circuits wired in oversized 10mm² or even 16mm² because some uninformed type thought it was necessary
Electric shower circuits - the same.

 

[markus2025]

Inadequate quantities of socket outlets
People who install ring circuits where no ring circuit is required, such as for a utility room or garage, or the mess discovered a couple of months ago where a ring circuit supplied one socket outlet in a bedroom.
Rooms with two or more doors and a light switch at only one of them
Long hallways with a single light switch in the middle, or at one end
Stairs where someone forgot to have the light switched from both upstairs and down
Large rooms where someone has decided a single central light is appropriate
Cupboards that are part of the building structure with no light in them - under the stairs is the usual one.
Outside lights with no switch/isolator - just hoping that the sensor keeps working for ever.
New lighting installations where there is no neutral at the switch, or no permanent line at the light fitting.
Cooker circuits wired in oversized 10mm² or even 16mm² because some uninformed type thought it was necessary
Electric shower circuits - the same.

Ow ok so when folk talk about a poor designed system they mean in the sense of
practicability more then safety
using your example there doing a ring circuit
for """1 socket in the bathroom"" there no safety issue doing this just a waste of cable


i remember when i spoke to one of my electrical freinds down country awhile ago he mentioned things you have to plan for is if cable is in conduit its reduces the amp rating same if you have insulation sitting ontop of the runs in the loft

covering aswell there where you say about not having a neutral at the switch , i ask about this awhile ago on here and alot people said why was i planning to have a neutral at the switch i just though it was what you did so i was kind of convinced to not bother

 

[morqthana]

The problem is how pedantic will the inspector be?

Depends on whether he's given the opportunity...

 

[morqthana]

covering aswell there where you say about not having a neutral at the switch , i ask about this awhile ago on here and alot people said why was i planning to have a neutral at the switch i just though it was what you did so i was kind of convinced to not bother

You can easily come to regret that, these days.

 

[JohnW2]

Ow ok so when folk talk about a poor designed system they mean in the sense of practicability more then safety

That's certainly true in terms of the list of 'poor design features' posted by flameport. I don't disagree with him about hardly any of them being 'bad design', but none represents any safety issue - so I really don't see that they are issues which could/should reasonable be raised by any 'inspector'.

 

[Murdochcat]

Given the input from the OP maybe he needs to reach out to local sparks to see if he can locate 1 who will work with him to keep costs down

Doing a rewire with multiple threads being started certainly isn’t going to endear him to anyone

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That's certainly true in terms of the list of 'poor design features' posted by flameport. I don't disagree with him about hardly any of them being 'bad design', but none represents any safety issue.

A design should meet the needs, of the present, plus some years into the future - at least until the next time any redecoration might be needed. Usually, never enough sockets are installed, or those there are, are simply not in the right place. Always better to have too many, than too few.

 

[JohnW2]

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.

In reality, it's unlikely to be a significant issue even if/when the property is sold.

If someone is otherwise keen on buying a property, then what matters to them is the current state of the electrical installation- and the only way they can be reassured about that is by their commissioning (and paying for) an EICR - and that remains the case regardless of what past work may have been done on the installation, when, by whom, and whether of not notified to LA.

I see a lot of houses being sold which, because of their history, we genuinely have no idea (let alone documentation) about what has been done (and when, by whom, and whether notified) with the electrical installation in the past and that very rarely results in any problems.

 

[Murdochcat]

A design should meet the needs, of the present, plus some years into the future - at least until the next time any redecoration might be needed. Usually, never enough sockets are installed, or those there are, are simply not in the right place. Always better to have too many, than too few.

That reminds me of a new build I was asked to look at as the first owner wanted outside lights and sockets

No outside lights at all, no outside sockets. No way without major work inside to add either

How stupid of the designers not to think about future changes or additions

 

[JohnW2]

A design should meet the needs, of the present, plus some years into the future - at least until the next time any redecoration might be needed. Usually, never enough sockets are installed, or those there are, are simply not in the right place. Always better to have too many, than too few.

Of course it should - but I really don't think that a failure to achieve that should be of concern to someone inspecting the installation, do you?

 

[JohnW2]

That reminds me of a new build I was asked to look at ... How stupid of the designers not to think about future changes or additions

The developers/builders probably did 'think' - about the cost of addressing those issues.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Of course it should - but I really don't think that a failure to achieve that should be of concern to someone inspecting the installation, do you?

Who mentioned inspections, not me?