How to hide conduit trunking...?

[dannyboi2003]

Its really annoying that someone has been paid for that work, problem is your management company will almost always go with the cheaper quote and then you end up with this sort of work.

Ok so trying to be more helpful how does the supply get from the external CU to the stairwell lights at present, it must get there somehow.

If using that same route isn't possible i would have run a 6mm armoured submain from the external meter cupboard into the stairwell either buried under the slabs or following a similar route to the white conduit although dressed in much better so it doesn't stand out as much and then terminated that into a new CU in the stairwell from which you can run your socket/fire alarm circuits, and the existing stairwell lights doing away with the external one entirely. This saves you having to go out in the dark should anything trip and gives you the option of adding additional stuff in the communal areas in future should that ever be necessary. But all that costs money and i suspect your management company wont be interested, after all they don't live in the property so wont care how it looks and will only be prepared to do the bare minimum.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

We did employ an electrician and he has a good job.

Anyway - unless you bury the cable under the flags, it will have to be clipped to the wall. That PVC conduit the electrician used was about the worst option - it is visually obtrusive, and come the summer it will sag, especially in that section between the garden wall and the house.

The least obtrusive solution, and the one I would have specced, would be to use MICC, aka pyro cable

Along the garden wall it could have been run between brick courses, or up under the capping. Can't tell how it transitions to the house, but again it could have been clipped under the cill.

 

[sparkwright]

Anyway - unless you bury the cable under the flags, it will have to be clipped to the wall. That PVC conduit the electrician used was about the worst option - it is visually obtrusive, and come the summer it will sag, especially in that section between the garden wall and the house.

The least obtrusive solution, and the one I would have specced, would be to use MICC, aka pyro cable

Along the garden wall it could have been run between brick courses, or up under the capping. Can't tell how it transitions to the house, but again it could have been clipped under the cill.

I think this is the best answer to the op's problems, the only problem may be finding someone competent to terminate the cable.

I understand they don't teach trainees how to work with it now.

 

[Edddd]

Can't you just power the socket from a spur from your flat? Or get one of those battery vacuums that they have now. Fire alarm could be powered from lighting circuit.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How come there isn't already a fire alarm in this conversion?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I think this is the best answer to the op's problems, the only problem may be finding someone competent to terminate the cable.

Given that the management company have already had the cheapest person do that cheap job, I don't think svout's only problem in having it all removed and done again will be finding someone to do it.

We don't know if everybody else in the building is happy with the work, and it's just him who isn't.

ATEOTD it is the residents who pay the management company to do the property management - if they don't like the way they go about it then they need to make them aware that they want higher standards (and higher charges) and if necessary kick the existing ones into touch.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ok so trying to be more helpful how does the supply get from the external CU to the stairwell lights at present, it must get there somehow.

He won't tell us:

Where do the supplies for the flats enter the building? Where are the meters?

I prefer not to discuss about the meters and all other things

 

[ban-all-sheds]

This is not an expansion coupler:

Maybe it won't all sag in the summer - perhaps it will buckle instead.

 

[SimonH2]

ATEOTD it is the residents who pay the management company to do the property management - if they don't like the way they go about it then they need to make them aware that they want higher standards (and higher charges) and if necessary kick the existing ones into touch.

The other option is to bypass the management company, which is what we do where I have a flat. Get things done/do stuff and split the bill between us. It means we get to choose who does things and how they are done - and also we don't pay someone to take the cheapest quote and add a markup !
In our case, while there is a management company, they are very hands off - basically it's the original builder and he'd be happy to not be involved. The OPs management company might not be so amenable.

 

[OwainDIYer]

The consumer unit for the communal staircase lights is in an enclosure in the front garden. The conduit is for installing socket for hoovering in the communal staircase but later on we want to install a fire alarm system.

Then I think the whole lot will have to come out and be redone as electrical supplies to fire alarm systems must be in fire-resistant cabling back to as close to the service head as possible.

PVC conduit at low level exposed in that way really isn't suitable anyway as it's too vulnerable to being kicked or stood on. PVC conduit is also not suitable for use in escape routes as it provides no support to the cabling in the event of fire. PVC trunking can be used, if the cabling inside is secured by metal clips screwed into the building structure.

 

[SimonH2]

And on that basis, if your instructions to the managing agent included the requirement for supplying a fire alarm - then you'd have grounds for going back to them and asking why they had done, and are charging you for, work which is not compliant with standards.