Crofter Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 I should preface this by saying that my build is exempt from building control/regulations so in legal terms I have free rein. Hence my question is really about what is practical, achievable, and advisable. If time was not an issue, I would do loads of research and aim to wire in everything myself, no doubt with the aid of a heap of questions on Buildhub. But the fact is I need to get a shift on and get my project finished in the next few weeks- or at the very latest, by about June. What I am considering is to position the wires themselves in the service cavity, and quite possibly do the connections at the sockets and other fittings, but leave the whole CU side of things to someone who knows what they're doing. What I'm wondering is if this will prove a hard sell and no sparkie will touch my project with a bargepole. I expect that my explanations of being building regs exempt will fall on deaf ears, as it has done with almost every trade I've talked to so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Closed shop... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stones Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 When I did some additional wiring at our last house, I did just that. I spoke to the electrician first to ensure i was installing the correct size of cable etc, ran all the cables to their final point, wired the light fittings and sockets but left the CU side to the electrician. He was more than happy, and checked / tested all the fittings & sockets as part of the deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Firstly you are in Scotland. There is no such thing as part P here (I get shot in another place for saying that) so if you are COMPETENT you can do it all yourself. Even if it did come under building control, all they want is an EIC which you are supposed to issue anyway regardless. Your best bet is find a local electrician who is willing to let you run the cables and then come and make the connections. you really need to find him before you start. He will give you the run down on what cable to run and more importantly Where to run it (look up "safe zones") If you run the cables first then ask someone to connect them, the answer is more likely to be no. Do you have a supply to the new house yet? This is certainly the sort of job I would do and have done, but a day trip to Skye is a bit too far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 I am in a similar position, I just hope my builders electrician will agree my plan, allow me to first fix then second fix and hopefully test and pass it. I always was an optimist ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 1 hour ago, ProDave said: Firstly you are in Scotland. There is no such thing as part P here (I get shot in another place for saying that) so if you are COMPETENT you can do it all yourself. Even if it did come under building control, all they want is an EIC which you are supposed to issue anyway regardless. Your best bet is find a local electrician who is willing to let you run the cables and then come and make the connections. you really need to find him before you start. He will give you the run down on what cable to run and more importantly Where to run it (look up "safe zones") If you run the cables first then ask someone to connect them, the answer is more likely to be no. Do you have a supply to the new house yet? This is certainly the sort of job I would do and have done, but a day trip to Skye is a bit too far. Think more widely on that one...nice drive, day shift, whiskey, nice sleep, big breakfast. One more half shift, home for tea. Might be the best two days ever! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steptoe Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 2 hours ago, Crofter said: I should preface this by saying that my build is exempt from building control/regulations so in legal terms I have free rein. Hence my question is really about what is practical, achievable, and advisable. If time was not an issue, I would do loads of research and aim to wire in everything myself, no doubt with the aid of a heap of questions on Buildhub. But the fact is I need to get a shift on and get my project finished in the next few weeks- or at the very latest, by about June. What I am considering is to position the wires themselves in the service cavity, and quite possibly do the connections at the sockets and other fittings, but leave the whole CU side of things to someone who knows what they're doing. What I'm wondering is if this will prove a hard sell and no sparkie will touch my project with a bargepole. I expect that my explanations of being building regs exempt will fall on deaf ears, as it has done with almost every trade I've talked to so far. First off, I'm legal terms you don't have free rein, You are still connecting to the DNO so your install needs to meet their requirements, And EAWR, @ProDave solution is the way to go, Get an electrician onboard, he can spec what cable he wants, where it wants it run etc, take a load of pictures for him if he can't get back before you board, Should be good to go then. If you are going to 2nd fix, don't screw anything back, he will probably want to unscrew mostly everything anyway. fwiw, I'm in the middle of a court case atm where a home owner got an 'electrician' to rewire their house, he has refused to issue an EIC without a further £600 payment, and he is unable to PartP notify it (not applicable to you, I know) , the house is a mess BTW, trading standards are involved, as are a few other statutory bodies. The EIC is the biggie, the DNO have threatened to cut off the supply to the house to until they receive a copy of it, as apparently they could be liable for supplying an unsafe installation, As it stands, the installers competence is being called into question, and he has to prove otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 57 minutes ago, Tennentslager said: Think more widely on that one...nice drive, day shift, whiskey, nice sleep, big breakfast. One more half shift, home for tea. Might be the best two days ever! If I wasn't so busy I would do it if he can't find anyone more local. I've done plenty of "stopover" jobs like that before. I have a supsicion in the next week or so it might go form a "bit busy" to "oh my god" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Plenty food for thought there, thanks. I do have a very local sparkie (as in a few doors away) but he seems plenty busy. No harm asking. On the legal aspects, I had assumed that SSE would come along and install the meter and then go away again- and they would have no knowledge or particular interest in my CU and wiring. Happy to be corrected on this but curious about what sort of enforcement system would apply. I don't have a supply in the house quite yet- the cable has been taken to just outside and a duct installed, so now what I am wind and watertight I could get them back to finish it any time really. I hope I haven't jumped the gun, but I already bought a reel of 2.5mm T&E and one of 1.5mm, with the intention of using this for the sockets and lights respectively. Obviously the kitchen appliances, water heater, and shower will need something else. These higher power circuits are all going to be along one wall so I could leave that unboarded maybe? I consider myself competent enough to do the sockets and lights as I've done that sort of thing before, but I'm more reluctant to get involved with the other stuff. @ProDave what can I do to tempt you over to Skye... a free weekend break in a partially finished luxury self catering? Complete with a lovely Burley stove which as we both know is the connoisseur's choice of stove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 If you know someone who would buy his house he would be there in a shot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 (edited) Not sure about Scotland, but here you can't even officially run cables yourself anywhere that they can't be seen for inspection by a competent person, as things like cable grouping, going through insulation and proper support of cables are all a part of the regs, so subject to inspection if you go down the DIY route. Given that there's normally a requirement to fit some form of acoustic insulation between floors and in stud walls, and given that acoustic insulation will almost always be pretty good thermal insulation, cable sizing has to take that into account for any run of cable in insulation; there's a cable size thermal insulation correction that needs to be applied depending on the length of cable within an insulation layer. In a new build it's safe to assume that pretty much all the cabling running in the floor/ceiling void will be effectively running in insulation. Our build has 200mm of acoustic insulation in the ceiling/floor void and 100mm in the stud walls, for example, so almost every cable ended up having to have the derating in the regs applied, as practically every cable in the house ended up in an insulated void somewhere. Edited February 4, 2017 by JSHarris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Ah yes that rings some bells from when I did my loft conversion. I that instance, I laboured for a sparkie and did all the running around in small spaces whilst he did the clever bits- seemed to be a good compromise as we got it done in a day and it cost me less than £200. In the new house, most of the wiring will be running in a non insulated service void, but there will be a small amount in the partitions- which don't even exist yet so I tend to forget about them. I'm planning to board out the whole perimeter and warm ceiling and then build the partitions after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 39 minutes ago, Crofter said: Ah yes that rings some bells from when I did my loft conversion. I that instance, I laboured for a sparkie and did all the running around in small spaces whilst he did the clever bits- seemed to be a good compromise as we got it done in a day and it cost me less than £200. In the new house, most of the wiring will be running in a non insulated service void, but there will be a small amount in the partitions- which don't even exist yet so I tend to forget about them. I'm planning to board out the whole perimeter and warm ceiling and then build the partitions after that. That's pretty much what I did for our build - worked as the electricians "labourer". It worked well for both of us, as I got to make sure that absolutely everything was in exactly the right place, we had each other for company for a few days (I find working on my own, with no one to chat to, gets me down after a bit) and he got a big'ish job not long after he'd first started his own business as a self-employed electrician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 2 hours ago, Crofter said: what can I do to tempt you over to Skye... a free weekend break in a partially finished luxury self catering? Complete with a lovely Burley stove which as we both know is the connoisseur's choice of stove I'm not ruling it out. I'm just not sure if I am going to go from busy, to rediculously so. It's something like a 3 hour 130 mile trip for me to get to you so it will almost certainly be cheaper to get your local electrician. to do it. Is your boat in comission? should I bring my LJ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Yeah three plus hours from your side of the Sneck. A bit of a slog. Boat is in the water but sails, boom, canvas all stripped off. The sailing here is rather nice though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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