looking at having to re-wire my ex-wifes house to save on cash. It definitely needs a new consumer unit - the existing one being a metal box with some old bakerlite type switches and well you get the idea. Also the wiring to the light fittings and sockets is starting to fall apart. There are woefully inadequate numbers of sockets so I need to add to these. I have multiple questions and would really appreciate any help.
1) should I just save up and get an electrician in?
2) should I do the donkey work myself - I am reasonably competant at stuff - and get an electrician in to do the consumer unit?
3) I presume that I will be having to cut out channels in wall to add new sockets - is there a good book on the planning of a rewire with good practical advice
4) Should I rent or buy and angle grinder to do the channelling?
etc etc Clearly I have not done this before but as the house really belongs to me I am not averse to gtting stuck in and sorting th#e jovb myself - if it isnt going to take to long.
You can do the job yourself and you don't have to be qualified but you do have to ensure that all wiring and fittings comply with 16th Edition Wiring Regs otherwise you can be held responsible in law for any 'shocking events'? etc. A good book I'd recommend you read first is : THE WHICH? BOOK OF WIRING & LIGHTING by Mike Lawrence. Don't take any notice of the purists who will post info telling you this and that and the other.Get the book but read the introduction first and then make a decision as to whether to do it yourself or get an experienced electrician in.
I prefer an SDS chisel. Angle grinders produce an astonishing amount of dust, whilst the chisel simply produces rubble which can be swept or vacuumed up. You can't just put channels anywhere, though. There are rules to prevent the cables being spiked by screws and nails.
I suspect this is a case of "if you have to ask, then you should".
You may find an electrician who lets you do the expensive, time consuming donkey work of running the cables and then will connect up the accessories, test and commission (and possibly design the circuits, if required). This might be a happy medium for someone not quite confident enough for such a large job.
That is simply not true. The 16th edition wiring regulations are still advisory, not mandatory.
Obviously in a court of law the prosecuting lawyer would be thumbing thru the regs as he asked you questions, but you aren't actually breaking the law to not comply with the regs.
PoP
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If the house is occupied then most of the donkey work is moving furniture and lifting carpets. If you do not DIY then ask for discount if you clear the rooms and refit the carpets yourself.
If you need to ask these questions, then I would suggest you would not be competant to do it. Don't forget that having done it, you then need to persuade someone competant to take the responsibility for it and connect it.
A better way would be to find someone qualified to do the job and then you offer to do the labouring tasks, to save some money..... Lift the floor boards, chop out the walls, help feed the new cables in, repair the plaster and etc..
Possibly, possibly not, Personally I prefer to let someone make their own decisions on that point, given the requisite information. I wouldn't suggest that someone who has really done any DIY take on the job, I would suggest that anyone who is reasonably competent in they way they approach their job, and has a modicum of technical nous about them is able to, learn how to do the job well.
Domstic wiring isn't that hard IMO, yes there are a number of areas where you need to be aware of technical requirement, but it isn't, via the use of books, this group etc. to gain the relevant knowledge.
No you don't, there is nothing to stop you connecting it up yourself.
I'd agree with that, it has a few weak areas but in general is very good.
I don't agree with that. the 'purists' are likely to people with experience and knowledge, and could well stop you doing something dangerous. There is a wealth of good advice to be found here. I have completed jobs I wouldn't have liked to have done otherwise, with the advice from the likes of Andy Wade etc.
read up, think about what has to be done, then ask again on the questions that you still have lingering.
A good way to do so, a lot of the charge for rewiring is down to labour.
If it really is falling part then it is probably old rubber insulated cable, and certainly beyond the end of it's life. how old is the house /wiring? A full rewire, even if some bits are usable is probably the best way to go
(in our current house - 30's semi - we had a mix of the original rubber cable on the lights with newer (1960-70) sockets and a few lights. Even though some of the sockets could have been re used , linked in, just redoing the whole lot made much more sense.
I have no idea - how competent do you feel to do the job? Have you done any wiring before, do you have much general DIY experience?
TBH, I'd consider the CU the easy bit...... If you can do the rest then that shouldn't hold any worries.
Assuming you have brick/block walls then yes you will need to cut channels, and recesses for the back boxes.
Certainly don't use an angle grinder for this, it creates an immense amount of dust - I did it once never again.
You may find you don't actually have to go to much effort to cut channels. I have managed to do most of mine just buy cutting channels in the plaster, only in a few places did i need to touch the brickwork.. While modern plaster might require a bit of work, the 1930's stuff in this house doesn't. The surface layer is fairly hard, but underneath it is fairly crumbly. It is possible to score though the lot with a Stanley knife, and then remove the plaster with an old chisel easily.
If there is a lot of channelling to do and you can arrange to do it in one go, then you can hire specific channelling cutters. that do the best job.
What I would by is an SDS drill. Cutting out recesses in brick with a standard hammer drill and a hammer and bolster is a dreadful job. An SDS drill makes it an almost cinch. You can get special box cutters, but I just use a couple of SDS chisels, does the job fine.
I did mine it fits and starts as other jobs allowed etc. if you able to do the job in one fell swoop, most disruptive, but easiest in the long run, then I would guess that DIY-ing by yourself alone, we would be talking say 2 weeks or so?
Take time to read up on the job, understand the various requirements, spend plenty of time planning, ask here for clarifications etc. I would also suggest getting a copy of the 'On Site guide' if you a re going ahead. it's not a how to manual but it is a reference manual really on various technical requirements and procedures that anyone doing a rewire should understand about.
Whilst what you say is true, it's not the whole story if you want your wiring connected to the public electricity supply.
We're talking about a complete re-wire here and a supplier (distribution network operator) is now quite within their rights to refuse to connect your meter tails if the installation does not comply with the "British standard requirements" - i.e. BS 7671:2001 (as amended). This has been the case since the ESQC regulations came into force one year ago. So, in effect, the wiring regs are already mandatory. The supplier will expect to see a signed-off electrical installation certificate, as described in BS 7671. There's an example of a completed certificate in the On-Site Guide.
Sound advice. 99% of teh work is laying the new cables and sockets and making good the mess afterwards. This is not rocekt science, and neither actullay is fittin a bnnew CU, tho you may be disinclined to mess with the meter -to- CU tails.
I would do it all yourself, up to installing the new CU, and get the electrician in to simply test the new stuff properly, and deal with the connection of the new CU to the meter.
However I would make a point - there isn't actually a legal requirement as in "you will go to jail if you don't do this". The electricity supply company isn't a public service per sieu, but a private organisation supplying services (more or less). So you don't supply the certificate and they don't connect you up? That's not going to put points on your license or anything.
However let's not disagree :)
PoP
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