Moving light switch wiring - do I need electrician to certificate

[Dave Grant]

Hi all new here,

I rent from housing society and have asked to do work on the property myself. They have sent me a form to complete. It's a non standard build and the wiring involved in set into the door frame. I am asking to remove the door and block up as it's never used.

My plan is to do stud work, plasterboard etc and run the existing light wiring into the stud work. So all I'll be doing is disconnecting to current light switch(s) and re-route. Before I put in my application I was wondering if I will need a sparky to issue a certificate and will this work full under UK Building Regulations.

I have attached a photo doorway, on the frame you'll see the light switch, same the other side door hallway light.

Many thanks
Dave

 

[flameport]

In terms of building regulations, the electrical part is this:
Reasonable provision shall be made in the design, installation, inspection and testing of electrical installations in order to protect persons from fire or injury.
In most cases complying with BS7671 is the method used to indicate compliance with building regulations.

Blocking up doorways may have implications in terms of escape routes, fire safety and others.
All work in dwellings, whether electrical or not, needs to comply with building regulations.

For certification, the person doing the work should complete a minor works certificate, which is a description of the work, who did it, when, and some basic test results.
It's typically a 1 page A4 document, examples of the 'model' forms here: https://electrical.theiet.org/bs-7671/model-forms/ although in reality most people use software or buy pads of them.

Doing the work yourself and having someone else do a certificate is entirely unrealistic, and even if you found someone willing to do that, it would probably cost as much as having them do the work as well.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Does the cable run up to the ceiling or down to the floor.?

either way, you cannot block up the door and leave live cables in the wall. You’ll need a maintenance free junction box to terminate the cable(s) and for this to go in the ceiling or under the floor.

BTW. How will you turn on the light if you remove the switch?

 

[Dave Grant]

@Taylortwocities
I'm not leaving live cables inside stud work - they will be reconnected to switch(s).

@flameport
I'm aware of the issue with escape routes, fire safety etc and that any work needs to comply to regs - the escape routes, fire safety etc will be down to my landlord and if they deem an issue then I doubt they will allow me to carry out the work. Ironically the door has been blocked of with settee for years.

Back to the wiring, I'm more than capable of doing this job.

So I've had a quick look at the form but sorry I do not understand it, are you saying that as this is minor work I could complete the form myself and submit to my landlord once (if) work completed?

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

assuming your landlord agrees, there really shouldn’t be a big deal stud the opening and offer to fireboard both sides.
lets assume there’s a ground floor window in that room that allows youre escape and another internal door there that leads to another window that you could escape from.
I see your point about basically repositioning the switch and switch wire in the new wall, however the fact that you can do it with your eyes shut is irrelevant .
given the circumstances with it being a rental property , your hands are tied. sourcing a spark to remove and terminate the cable temporarily and return to fit a patress and switch shouldn’t cost that much?

 

[Dave Grant]

I see your point about basically repositioning the switch and switch wire in the new wall, however the fact that you can do it with your eyes shut is irrelevant .
given the circumstances with it being a rental property , your hands are tied. sourcing a spark to remove and terminate the cable temporarily and return to fit a patress and switch shouldn’t cost that much?

Ok Ben I get that bit and if a spark did it then they would have to issue a minor works certificate right?

I am tired but will pick your brains tomorrow if okay, can I DM you about this?

Dave

 

[Dave Grant]

Just wanted to update my thread with this as not sure if others would find this a handy tool to use - might need a wiki for it?

So just laying out room plan and found this, you can do the plan but you need to be logged in to save etc, so I just screen-shot it.

Online floor plan designer, have a play with it if you need to do floor plan for anything and click the view more examples for better plans

Here's my effort:

 

[Dave Grant]

I'll convert form and update shortly - funny it not support for PDF when the file format is designed to work across all platforms (Portable Document Format)

What language is the forum built in DOS?

Done - see reply below............

 

[Taylortwocities]

Here's the form from housing

Forum does not support PDF. You'll have to convert it to JPG, or something like that..

 

[Dave Grant]

 

[Taylortwocities]

Don’t go into too much detail. Don’t mention the electric aspect. just say that you are going to block up the doorway and tick the no boxes for planning and building regs.
if you provide more detail than that it will cause procedural problems. If they need more info they’ll ask for it.

 

[Dave Grant]

Here are the window openings for living room and dining room.

Living room, opening either side:

Dining room - opening one side only:

 

[Dave Grant]

Don’t go into too much detail. Don’t mention the electric aspect. just say that you are going to block up the doorway and tick the no boxes for planning and building regs.
if you provide more detail than that it will cause procedural problems. If they need more info they’ll ask for it.

I hear you, the issue I have is: My housing officer might send someone to inspect prior to work, they are normally on the ball when it comes to checking their property.

 

[SUNRAY]

Just wanted to update my thread with this as not sure if others would find this a handy tool to use - might need a wiki for it?

So just laying out room plan and found this, you can do the plan but you need to be logged in to save etc, so I just screen-shot it.

Online floor plan designer, have a play with it if you need to do floor plan for anything and click the view more examples for better plans

Here's my effort:

View attachment 191217

Are you sure your landlord is OK with this alteration?

As a landlord myself I would not want this work done and there is no way on earth I'd allow my tenant to block the access from hall to lounge without a massive additional deposit to cover the full cost of reinstatement in ten years time.

It looks like neither of those windows will be acceptable as fire escapes in their present format.

 

[Dave Grant]

Are you sure your landlord is OK with this alteration?

That is the whole point of this thread, I need to put in an application to my Landlord.

As a landlord myself I would not want this work done and there is no way on earth I'd allow my tenant to block the access from hall to lounge without a massive additional deposit to cover the full cost of reinstatement in ten years time.

If approved then I would have to make good if/when I moved out.

It looks like neither of those windows will be acceptable as fire escapes in their present format.

You might be correct - however corner sofa blocks off the door already