House Re-wire Wishlist!

[galliano2001]

Dear All,

My sister has just purchased a new house in need of renovation including a full rewire, she has taken the very sensible decision to get this done before moving in.

What i would like to know is, what would you pros do with a house if you were buying it now and doing a complete new install? I have already suggested to her:

RCBO based circuits / fusebox
Seperate circuits for the fridge/freezer and alarm
Cables in conduit for any future changes?

Just throw your ideas out and ideally rate them as essential/ would like / luxury.

Cheers

 

[Steve]

Conduit is gonna be expensive if done throughout. Its tricky when its all going to be covered up - normally it would be done exposed, or easily accessible in commmercial premises. It would, however, mean your lighting circuits can be done sans RCD.

However, you can use steel conduit on circuits where you dont want RCD protection - fridge freezer, boiler, anything else you dont want to be without power. An alternative for this purpose would be SWA, pyro, split con or SY (I think). A spark would probably be happier with these than conduit.

Conduit drops are also a good idea to lightswitches, where future rewiring would create a large amount of disturbance.

RCBOs are a very good idea. They allow totally independant control of circuits, as opposed to an RCD taking out half the house.

Dont forget seperate circuits for:

Outdoors
Outdoor lighting
Shed submain
Garage submain
Kitchen sockets (should be seperate because of loading)
Intruder alarm
Fridges and Freezers (though a seperate circuit should be run, it is acceptible to put all refrigeration on one circuit in domestics)
And dont fill a consumer unit - make sure there will be a few spare ways for future expansion.

 

[Chri5]

Add in sky, Tv amp for sky + freeview in bedroom, front and rear receptions, morning room / kitchen if warranted.

AV / speaker cables for 5:1 sound, maybe a few speaker cable run for sound in room via a QED speaker switch.

Broadband / Cat 5E cabling.

Cabling for security, alarm, CCTV, door entry (or bell push).

Phone points for hardwired telephones.

 

[flameport]

Individual RCBOs - definitely.

Conduits - no, since that will only help if replacing the wires in the exact same places. By the time that is needed in 30+ years time, who knows what kinds of sockets and other things will be required.

Separate circuits for fridges - no, since contrary to what some people believe, a properly designed and installed system does not trip out every five minutes.

Lighting - properly designed fluorescent or LED fittings for all rooms.
Socket outlets linked to light switch(es) for table lamps/floor lamps etc.
No bayonet CFLs or silly GU10/MR16 downlighters.

Plenty of socket outlets. Far more than the recommended amounts in the OSG.

No ring circuits. 2x 20A radials for the kitchen. This has significantly more capacity than one 32A ring, and avoids all that mess over having 20A switches on a 32A circuit.

Outside lighting - fluorescent or LED only, no halogen.

If there are gardens front and back, a double socket outlet on the outside wall of the house for both.

Something else to consider while the place is empty:
Insulation under the ground floor - remove all of the floorboards and fit 70mm Celotex board between all of the joists.

 

[Steve]

If there are gardens front and back, a double socket outlet on the outside wall of the house for both.

But isolated by a DP switch indoors Dont want the local ****** getting a free supply do we?

 

[Aragorn84]

Outside lighting - fluorescent or LED only, no halogen.

Surely gas discharge lighting should be considered too...

 

[Steve]

Outside lighting - fluorescent or LED only, no halogen.

Surely gas discharge lighting should be considered too...

How often do you have your outside light on for 3 hours at a time?

 

[JohnD]

if by conduit you mean the oval sort, I also think this is a good idea. It can be plastered over, and yes, it does make it easy to slide new cables in.

I also suggest that the kitchen, utility room and study/ workroom/ anywhere with lots of high sockets, has the ring run 150mm/200mm above the worktop, with plenty of double sockets and switches at this height. This is very economical in labour and materials compared to running up and down for every outlet, and makes it easy to add more later. You need a lot of outlets in a kitchen for your toaster/ kettle/ mixer/ espresso/ George Formby/ microwave/ fridge/ freezer/ juicer/ ice cream maker/ boiler/ TV/ answerphone/ hoover/ phone charger/ sandwich toaster, and you want to have enough outlets that you are not constrained on where you have to put them

For the kitchen I recommend a switched fused spur above the counter at every point where you have, or one day might want, an undercounter appliance, feeding an unswitched socket below. FCUs for the extractor, or under-cabinet lighting, can be put in the same row of outlets above the worktops, but in this case a flex outlet above is used.

 

[aptsys]

How often do you have your outside light on for 3 hours at a time?

Every night.

...I also suggest that the kitchen, utility room and study/ workroom/ anywhere with lots of high sockets, has the ring run 150mm/200mm above the worktop...

It also makes it that little bit less likely that the kitchen fitters will drill through the drops to the sockets!

 

[Aragorn84]

Doesnt have to even be 3 hours, but a silly CFL isnt going to come close to a 500w halogen in terms of illumination, so if you NEED an equivalent of a 500w halogen, then gas discharge is worth looking at.

Ok it takes a minute or two to warm up, and has a restrike time that needs to be taken into account, but for floodlighting an area its the sensible option.

If its just a little light for your porch or whatever then CFL's are fine as suggested.

 

[ColJack]

in my ideal house, I would drop all the ceilings and fit 2x2 battens crossways to the joists undeneath.. that way you can run all your pipes and cables without having to notch or drill any joists..

 

[JohnD]

for floodlighting an area

AFAIK he has a house, not a football stadium.

 

[Aragorn84]

yes, and i'm talking about a 70-150w metal halide or SON, not a 35kw lighting rig...

 

[galliano2001]

Thanks for all the comments so far, yes the garden is medium sized, not football stadia, though its nice to hear all the options!

As she will be asking a couple sparks to quote, im guessing you guys would like to go to a job and have a printed sheet of what needs doing, socket locations etc?

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

Thanks for all the comments so far, yes the garden is medium sized, not football stadia, though its nice to hear all the options!

As she will be asking a couple sparks to quote, im guessing you guys would like to go to a job and have a printed sheet of what needs doing, socket locations etc?

If you want to have your garden emitting more light than the sun, then get some floods in. If you don't feel as though you want to have to wear a welding mask at night time just to put the bin out, you might want to put a supply in a convienient place so you can put lights of your choice in at a later date.