Installing lights and electrics to shed and decking

[mikeybadlad]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie and after some tips.

After one too many beers one night, i managed to let the wife talk me into overhauling the garden. Woke up the next morning to more diy brochures than you can shake a bit of 1x1 at!

Anyway, I'm installing decking which i think i'm ok with but need to start thinking about the electrics. I want to run power to my shed as well.

Basically, i have a double external socket on the outside wall then 5.4 metres of decking then my shed. I'm putting small leds into the decking which are on a plug and am also going to be putting in more on the deck and also a water feature. I was hoping to be able to run under the decking and into the shed. Is this possible or does it really need burying?

Also, i was going to run all lights off whatever i put in the shed but now the wife has decided she'd like to be able to turn everything on from inside. Seriously, i despair.

Am i being too ambitious in thinking that i can run switches on the inside of the house for the lights but the power for them would be in the shed?

Basically i'm at a loss as the best way to do it. so any help is much appreciated.

 

[riveralt]

Firstly, you're going to run slap bang into the Building Regulations in particular Part P. So if you intend to do the work yourself prepare to speak to your Local Authority Building Control before you start.
You might want to speak to an Electrician because you seem to be setting yourself up to fail with the plans you (or is your wife) proposes.
Unless the outside double socket is IP4X or above rated and retains that rating when a plug is plugged in then water will get in and cause problems.
You do not say how your house is currently wired and whether any of the circuits are protected by an RCD.
If you have no RCD protection then to run power to your additional lights and the shed then you will need to have this protection.
Unless you have spareways on your consumer unit, then I would suggest that you will need to have a Garage Unit. This normally contains both an RCD and additional MCB protected circuits.
You will then need to run steel wired armour cable to the shed to get both power for sockets and lights - you then can run swa cable from the shed to power you decking lights.
The Garage unit will allow you to control your shed power from inside the house.

 

[jj4091]

Perhaps something like this might help, alternatively google remote controlled external sockets, there are plenty of options that you could use for replacing your existing socket. As for the cable I would suggest you use hi-tuff which you can clip to the beams of your decking. http://www.energysaving-shop.co.uk/...tm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=ProductSearch

 

[mikeybadlad]

Cheers JJ4091, i would use this idea i think. if i was running this of my original external, what size cable would i need to do this.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:mcbtocable
  
  
• http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/4.3.1.htm
  
  
• http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/4.3.11.htm
  
  
• http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/5.3.1.htm
  
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/cableselection_web.pdf
  
  
• http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Charts/VoltageDrop.html