House Re-wire.

[unlucky]

First of all I'd like to say this is a preliminary question and will only proceed based on the answers coming back in my favour, not simply if it involves spending less money at the risk of injury to my new wife, child and myself!!

Long sentence!

I heard from an electrician in passing that it is possible to carry out a re-wire on your own house and have the council come to inspect the install before switching the tails across from the old CU to the new one.

Is this possible and, more importantly...legal.

If it is a case of having to pay a qualified sparkey to do the work then so be it. But if it is possible to save some money without any extra risk anywhere down the line then I'll go for it, read up on everything i need to, be careful and take a week off from work to do the job!

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Phil

 

[SparkyNinja]

What is your location within the UK?

 

[sparkybird]

I'm sure others will post here about the LABC notification process, but you need to think about how you are going to demonstrate that the installation is safe - ie by carrying out all the required live and dead tests.

Do you have calibrated test instruments? Are you familiar with how to test and the sort of results you should be getting?

Plus, if this is your first rewire - you'll need longer than a week (unless your house is tiny!)

SB

 

[flameport]

It is possible and legal to do electrical work in your home.

Building control may well inspect it for you, provided you pay whatever their fee is, and notify them before any work is started. However some will not, or will (wrongly) want you to have the installation tested by an electrician at your own expense.

However, rewiring a property is a significant undertaking, and if you have little or no experience of electrical work, just reading a few books simply won't be good enough.

One week for a DIY rewire in an occupied property is completely unrealistic.

If you want to save money, the best option is to do some of the work yourself (such as chasing walls, shifting furniture, removing floorboards, fixing backboxes etc) and have an electrician do the rest. However you MUST find an electrician willing to do this before starting anything.

 

[unlucky]

I've got a reasonable amount of experience, but nothing on this sort of scale.

Its good to know that it is possible, I was planning on doing the chasing and back boxes and anything else possible outside of the week I'm going to take to do the actual wiring in.

The main reason I'm thinking about carrying the work out myself is cost, the only time I have requested a quote it has been around the £3k mark, if I didn't have ALL the credit cards in the world I would pay that as it will equate to more when I sell the house with circuits that don't trip when the oven and kettle are on at the same time as the microwave! How much would you say a 3 bed terrace house would cost, I know its going to be REALLY aproximate!

Cheers for the speedy responses!

Phil

 

[sparkiemike]

One week is totally unrealistic!

If you do the re-wire yourself and if the LABC are not happy then you will be required to put it right, would could cost you a lot more.

With regard to price, it depends on which part of the country you live for starters, I know electricians up north tend to be cheaper.

It will also depend on how much chasing is required and the number of sockets, switches and light points (i.e. 5 downlights are going to cost a lot more than 1 single ceiling pendant.) Also are other services included eg COAX and/or DATA.

£3000 is very cheap down in the south where £50 per point is the starting point.

 

[unlucky]

Thanks for the comments.

I'm not planning on making the new wiring live until it has been inspected and passed.

Pardon the ignorance but as long as all regulations are followed for point location, passing the rings through the joists and the chases in the walls are in the correct location, the consumer unit is wired correctly and everything is properly earthed in the correct manor what could go wrong (by the way, I ain't at all de-valuing the job of an electrician or saying it is an easy one, just want to know what i could possibly getting myself into before i start!)

I will do as much as possible before lifting the floorboards and putting the rings and lighting circuits in. Then floorboards up and crack on.

Why would a week be unrealistic if I was working 12 hour days on it? (again its probably me being ignorant!)

Thanks again.

phil

 

[Johnmelad502]

(again its probably me being ignorant!)

When it comes to electrical installations you are probably only a little more ignorant than me. But stop calling yourself ignorant, keep asking the questions, and you will get the answers.

Chin up lad.

 

[333rocky333]

Not to sure but wont the council inspect it at certain stages of the rewire, waiting for them could delay you.

 

[ColJack]

Thanks for the comments.

I'm not planning on making the new wiring live until it has been inspected and passed.

so you'll have 2 sets of sockets, light switches and lights in every room then? and take out and plaster over all the old ones when the job is finished?

Pardon the ignorance but as long as all regulations are followed for point location, passing the rings through the joists and the chases in the walls are in the correct location, the consumer unit is wired correctly and everything is properly earthed in the correct manor what could go wrong (by the way, I ain't at all de-valuing the job of an electrician or saying it is an easy one, just want to know what i could possibly getting myself into before i start!)

there's all the calculations to make sure that the cable sizes are the right size and so on.. while there are "standard" circuits in the regs, not every circuit will be standard at all times..
things like cables under insulation in a loft or in a cavity wall filled with insulation de-rates the cable so that a 2.5 is no longer suitable for a ring... and so on..

I will do as much as possible before lifting the floorboards and putting the rings and lighting circuits in. Then floorboards up and crack on.

fair enough.. might be worth hiring a self storage and shifting all non-essential nick nacks and bits of furniture to it for the duration.. nothing worse than having to empty a sideboard of little figurines and plates and so on just to move it and pull the boards up..

Why would a week be unrealistic if I was working 12 hour days on it? (again its probably me being ignorant!)

so 12 hours a day.. that's up and on the job at 08:00.. bashing holes in walls.. your neighbours will love you for that..
and still trying to put the place back together again at 20:00 at night.

and that's whilst trying to get the kids off to school, and dealing with them when they get back at 16:00 .... they'll love you for not having the telly on... then sorting out the evening meal and so on..

 

[baldelectrician]

Rewires go from £1200-£3500+

It depends on where you are and what you want

You need to tell more info, such as

Where in the UK (this is important as things are not the same all over)
How old the house is
What the internal and external walls are made of?

 

[unlucky]

so you'll have 2 sets of sockets, light switches and lights in every room then? and take out and plaster over all the old ones when the job is finished?

Thats what I was planning on doing, I have a mate who is a qualified plasterer so he will be able to do all the covering up.

fair enough.. might be worth hiring a self storage and shifting all non-essential nick nacks and bits of furniture to it for the duration.. nothing worse than having to empty a sideboard of little figurines and plates and so on just to move it and pull the boards up..

I was thinking of that, storage is pretty cheap and I live near a big yellow storage place.

and that's whilst trying to get the kids off to school, and dealing with them when they get back at 16:00 .... they'll love you for not having the telly on... then sorting out the evening meal and so on..

The wifes a teacher so I was planning on doing it in the holidays so she can be away for the bulk of the week. and the TV should still be on by the end of the day if im leaving the old rings in until I have had it all inspected?

What is the correct procedure for lighting circuits in loft areas under insulation?

I'm in west yorkshire, 3 bed terraced, brick built in the 1920's.

What kind of fee would I be looking at paying to have it inspected/registered?
[/quote]

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What is the correct procedure for lighting circuits in loft areas under insulation?

You see this illustrates the problem. You can't learn what you need to know just by asking whatever questions happen to occur to you, and people here can't teach you what you need to know via unprompted posts.

Have a read through all of these, and see what you think about your chances of becoming competent - only you can tell how much you already know, and how much sense the things you're encountering for the first time make to you - the first 3 you'll have to buy, but the others you can start reading online while you wait for the package from Amazon.

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0863418546
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0863418627
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0953788555
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/domesticinstallations.html
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/cableselection_web.pdf
• http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/1.1.htm[/list]
  
  
  

  What kind of fee would I be looking at paying to have it inspected/registered?

  Only your council can tell you that, and if your username here is accurate they'll be one of the ones who effectively won't let you do it.

 

[Johnmelad502]

Unlucky

Came across this and thought of you...
Screwfix

 

[unlucky]

thanks to ban-all-sheds for the book recomendations. I spoke nicely to my librarian who has got them all in.

They all make sense but I have a few questions around "safe zones" for running cables and protection requirements for burried cables.

Am I right in saying that all burried cables that are less than 50mm must either be in protective trunking or protected by a 30ma RCD?

Also the diagram for areas to run cables seems to be quite restrictive I think im interpreting it wrong. Can I run cables anywhere in the wall provided they are outside of the 150mm safe zones and are run on horizontal/vertical planes?

If im attaching cabling to a ceiling joist which will then be covered with insulation am I best running this inside trunking due to the amperage drop from 20 down to 13?

One last thing; Im in Leeds if anyone has any experience dealing with the local council, eg how restrictive they are with self installs etc it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Phil