Rewiring access

[rcs]

Hi
First post on this forum, so a big hello!

I'm looking at renovating a house which needs rewiring and I'm wondering how much access is required. There are ceilings that need renewing and floors to be lifted for other work but is it better to get the rewiring done with that access made or doesn't it make much difference?

Great forum by the way!

Rob

 

[Job_n_knock]

Put it this way, you wont be able to rewire this house without access anyway. Where theres an electrical accessory there will be cable feeding it and if you dont want to see that cable it will have to go into the walls or floor/ceiling voids. First decide what you want to put into the house, where you will need sockets etc. Where the mains are, plan it properly and go from there.
Without a working knowledge of the regs you will struggle to do this job yourself properly. Do you intend to do the whole lot yourself ? Because if you get an Electrician to price the job he will you tell where he needs access, saving you his labour for chasing the walls, pulling up boards etc. and also ensuring a certified rewire, assuming of course he is Part P qualified.

 

[Steve]

part p doesn't apply down under

 

[JohnD]

Electrics UK

you never know what to believe

 

[Job_n_knock]

Good point. Give it time they will have

 

[Pensdown]

Down under surely the will have Part d.....?

(I think I've read to many of securespark's jokes )

 

[RF Lighting]

You can never find a groaning emoticon when you need one

 

[rcs]

Hi Guys
The house is in the UK and we're looking at popping back and renovating it later in the year. Trying to get my head round the best sequence to do things but I'm guessing the rewire should be way up there in front.

As far as regs go here, you can't touch a thing without being certified and you get "Warrants" from registered sparkies when they complete a job.

Did you know that the plugs here don't have fuses?
R

 

[Steve]

Hi Guys
The house is in the UK and we're looking at popping back and renovating it later in the year. Trying to get my head round the best sequence to do things but I'm guessing the rewire should be way up there in front.

As far as regs go here, you can't touch a thing without being certified and you get "Warrants" from registered sparkies when they complete a job.

Did you know that the plugs here don't have fuses?
R

strip everything back, then have the plumbing and electrics done. then start to put things back (plaster, bathrooms, ceilings, floorboards, kitchen etc)

And your electrical system was probably built with unfused plugs in mind - for example in Europe they have 16A radial circuits, because they, too, have unfused plugs. The 16A breaker ensures protection of all connected appliances. This country is the only in the world to use fused plugs and higher-rated socket circuits AFAIK!

 

[crystal ball]

And your electrical system was probably built with unfused plugs in mind - for example in Europe they have 16A radial circuits, because they, too, have unfused plugs. The 16A breaker ensures protection of all connected appliances. This country is the only in the world to use fused plugs and higher-rated socket circuits AFAIK![/quote]

There are a few, former colonies mainly, Zimbabwe, Malta?, Cyprus?, India and Sri lanka seem to use a mix of whatevers available, saw 13 amp plugs and sockets in Vietnam but was probably the spec of the hotel chain

Also Malawi, Zambia, Singapore?, Malaysia?, S Africa?

Also all the above drive on the left too (Vietnam excepted)

 

[plugwash]

a lot of countries with unfused plugs seem to have been slowly upping the maximum allowed breaer on socket circuits though. 20A is commonly allowed and i belive some even allow 32A.

i assume this is a result of the insanely fast short circuit trip times of modern breakers combined with a push to get overload protection into the vast majority of multiway extention leads.

 

[rcs]

Older properties (1960's) just have the wired cartridge fuses (with a 6" nail across it ) with adverts on TV for smoke alarms and domestic sprinklers! The multigang sockets are straight through as well. The new builds have all the bells and whistles though.