number of power sockets

I am about to modernise an empty 30's 3 bed semi What would you consider to be a suitable number of double sockets? Rooms are two 13x12 bedrooms ,7x7 3rd bedroom , lounge , dining room and 10x6 kitchen? If I was staying there I would probably add more sockets where I knew the Hi-Fi/TV/lamps would be placed but in this case I don't want to spend too much time chasing and making good where my time can be spent elsewhere. I'll provide a seperate radial for the single oven and upstairs/downstairs hallway double sockets but is there anything else that one would consider "should have" rather than "would be nice". (e.g I'll provide a couple of smoke alarms [battery backup] on the lighting loops )

Reply to
davep
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If I were planning to live there, I'd have at least 3 double sockets per bedroom. Poss more for lounge (depending on size). At least 6 for a kitchen. Ideally more than you could imagine you would ever possibly use.

On a budget, I'd cut the number for the bedrooms to 2 perhaps. I wouldn't skimp on kitcehn sockets though as everyone expects/wants lots these days. Use decent quality sockets too, i.e. not el-cheapo sub=A31 Screwfix ones. If you're doing up to sell, the little touches will make a significant difference to the value/saleability of the property.

good

not necessary I wouldn't think - just connect to upstairs/downstairs rings.

Seperate ring for kitchen is nice, but probably not essential in a smallish 3bed house.

The question is - do you tell building control? Almost all here will say no (me included). But do make sure you do the wiring to 16thEd regs and to partP standards. (eg. heights of sockets above floors/worktops etc, etc)

Good luck.

Jon.

Reply to
Tournifreak

In a kitchen you cannot have two many sockets in our3mx4m we have 7 double sockets. The lounge needs at least 3 doubles and the other rooms at least 2.

Mike

davep wrote:

Reply to
Mike

In my year 2000 build house I have 4 doubles in the main bedrooms (all have something or other plugged in, I would put more either side of bed if I was doing it ie clock, light, electric blanket, + charging PDA thats 4 sockets just for my side of the bed !!) and 3 doubles in the smaller bedrooms. Lounge has 5 doubles (one in each corner + 1 in centre for my plasma when I buy it), dining room 4 doubles and kitchen 6 doubles. We are redoing kitchen (and making bigger) with 8 double sockets, mainly as going to be a long section of work top for things like breadmaker, coffee machine etc and leaving spare sockets to plug in things like blender etc as needed

Reply to
Ian_m

in the 7x7 bedroom probably 5 - 1 at each corner and 1 behind the door

In the larger bedrooms, lounge, etc, probably about 8-10.

Well you know where the TV is going because you're putting in an aerial socket?

2-way switching of bedroom lights at bedhead in the principal rooms.

Couple of 5A round-pin sockets for table lights, switched from the door, in the lounge.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Sounds about right I'd have thought. Worth considering what appliances will be used where - eg, in a living room with a door and a fireplace, there's almost certainly a 'logical' place for the TV - make sure you put a socket there!

One socket either side of a double bed head is good.

Under the OP's cirmcumstances I think el-cheapo Screwfix is fine, unless he's going to go for stainless steel/chrome stuff, which may or may not be worth the extra. But if you're going for white polycarbonate, nobody is going to persuade me that paying 345p for MK sockets rather than 84p on cheapo ones will make the slightest difference to the sellability or selling price if you're just doing it up to sell.

I think that's what he meant...

Are you fitting an RCD-protected consumer unit? If so, give thought to which circuits should be RCD-protected or not. Eg, freezer and boiler definitely shouldn't be; a socket accessible to a garden (eg for lawnmower definitely should be. I suspect the extra expense of fitting an RCD CU, along with the extra circuitry it is likely to require, is probably another example of spending money on an area which will make naff-all difference to selling - unless you get a particularly savvy buyer.

Another tip, from someone who's modernising a house not much older...! In a house of that age you may well find that the doors open *into* the room, rather than *onto* it, as they should do in the 21st century as decreed by the Gospel According to Saint Beeny (to maximise space in the room and make it feel bigger) - so if you're fitting new doors, they may need hanging the other way round. That in turn has implications for position of light switches and sockets, so you need to think about that when you're running the cables.

No, socket heights are about disabled access etc, which IIRC is Part M, not Part P, and you don't need to conform to that in an old house like this.

David

Reply to
Lobster

The message from Lobster contains these words:

Or two doubles. TV, DVD, Satellite/cable box and possibly surround-sound amp.

Reply to
Guy King

I think I saw in an IEE publication a recommendation that the area of the living room where TV, Hi Fi, etc are most likely to go should be provided with 2 double sockets nowadays.

Yes, but make them doubles.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Its hard to say. However many sockets you put in wont be enough. I'd go for maybe 4 doubles per bedroom, one near each corner, but dont kid yourself its all you'll need. Really people are constrained more by appearance than anything, a 4 or 6 way in each corner would be good, but not look good.

If you dont fit enough, make sure what you fit are not spurs, so more can easily be added later.

An RCBO for each socket circuit would be a definite advantage, ditto having 2 circuits, each of which supplies every room, so a trip wont lose any room its power. When doing this the CU must be clearly marked to indicate this, otherwise its a risk to future electricians.

Stay well away from one all-house rcd, unless youre on TT, use a split CU with a switch (not rcd) in each half.

Mains smoke alarms, separate feed to fridge freezer, battery backup lighting where necessary to enable emergency exit. Avoid dimmers and halogen downlighters, use spotlight fittings as uplighters, arrange lighting so everywhere is lit by at least 2 bulbs, ensure all bulbs are reachable, etc.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Yes - given that I have 5 or 6 telly-related appliances plugged in there in my own house, why did I say "a socket"!?

Agreed - actually I meant to include in my last post "don't bother fitting single sockets anywhere unless there's a real need, as they take the same effort to fit as doubles".

David

Reply to
Lobster

Put sockets where they don't look stupid, and they won't be hidden and made unusable by furniture being placed in front of them. You can use multi-way extensions for light loads, indeed these are possibly best for TV/HiFi systems, 'puters.

Reply to
Chris Bacon

Sigh... failed to comply with the former but complied with the latter...

Five years or so we refurbished our main living room, moving the telly (already on a piece of two-feet-high furniture) to sit against a wall and half way down the room length. I love electrics and gadgets; I hate seeing cabling. So I raggled the wall and installed two double sockets (mains), plus two "dual" sockets (might get the terminology wrong here, but one of them things that are two singles slapped together) for loft aerial, input to video amplifier and output from video amplifier and telephone and something else like a socket to allow the video player audio output to be fed across the room to our hi-fi amplifier.

Anyways, a lot of sockets in a little space, but all masked by the furniture so it worked a treat and no-one saw it.

Until SWMBO decided a new layout was in order for the living room a few years later... eeek.

So now we must disguise the abhorrent cluster of white rectangles with yet another piece of furniture because it looks ghastly.

And in future I won't be so keen to spread things out - perhaps buying a blanking plate and adding all my (low voltage) electrics to it rather than using four such plates.

You live and learn.

Mungo

Reply to
Mungo

Wouldn't it be quicker just to break in a new SWMBO?

Couldn't you just make them inconspicuous by painting/wallpapering over them?

Owain

Reply to
Owain

The message from "Mungo" contains these words:

Ah - you've met Telewest's installers then?

Reply to
Guy King

...

And you complied???

I hate furniture movers. When we have visitors we move the table to the middle of the room from the window to allow more chairs round it but otherwise everything in the house is as it was when it was first put there. It was thought out well in the frist place and, as you say, services were installed accordingly. It irks to move it for cleaning and decorating :-(

Learn to say NO!

:-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Hmm. And how often does Spouse say "no", I wonder...? ;-)

David

Reply to
Lobster

My attitude to this after many weary years looking after offices full of people (and latterly SWMBO, who is just the same) who

- agree to a seating plan/room layout

- change their minds on where they want everything to go as soon as you put it in place.

- change their minds on an annual or better basis on where they want things to go anyway.

Is that whatever you do will be wrong.

So do the minimum, use extension leads and when She decides finally where She 'really really' wants the telly, the bedside lamps and so on., then chase out and redo the bits you need to, and finally, do so in the full and certain knowledge that you will be doing it on an annual basis for the rest of your life. ;-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I've fitted 3 - 4 per bedroom to ensure wires don't need to cross doors etc.

Front room possibly 5 again making sure that no cables are run where there are door.

In the kitchen I would suggest a minimum of 5 with strategic ones for washing machine etc under the surface - if that's still allowed?

Generally you can never have enough and you can still expect to use trailing sockets in the TV area. I hate the idea of trailing sockets in the kitchen for obvious reasons. But the government in the guise of Part P think it's a good idea to discourage adding extra sockets later.

Reply to
Fred

Not often enough but when he does I comply.

What I'd like is for him to make more decisions but there you go, that's men for you :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

|My attitude to this after many weary years looking after offices full of |people (and latterly SWMBO, who is just the same) who | |- agree to a seating plan/room layout |- change their minds on where they want everything to go as soon as you |put it in place. |- change their minds on an annual or better basis on where they want |things to go anyway. | |Is that whatever you do will be wrong. | |So do the minimum, use extension leads and when She decides finally |where She 'really really' wants the telly, the bedside lamps and so on., |then chase out and redo the bits you need to, and finally, do so in the |full and certain knowledge that you will be doing it on an annual basis |for the rest of your life. ;-)

I just have masses of extension leads fastened to the walls, wherever they are needed at a particular time. Just slip the keyholes in the back of the extensions over two screws driven into plastic wall plugs. The wires to the extensions hidden or fastened to the wall with single nail plastic clips. I used to use 4s then 6s, now 12s, as the number of appliances, with consumption of a few watts each grows. Blocks of 12 switched sockets on the ring in several places in the room seems to be a bit OTT.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

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