electrical/socket/sanitry/tv/wifi/outside lighting position advice

[Dave_madl]

Good Afternoon, 

 

our plans are currently in for planning so next stage is Building warrant, weve been asked about positions of all our electrics, what lights in each rooms, sanitry/sing positions. thought this would be easy to decide but we just cant seem to agree on what we would need, looking for advice of anyone, or is there somewhere online who helps with these sort of things.  I have attached our floor plans for reference.

House FF.pdf House GF.pdf

[ProDave]

Sockets. 

 

TIP #1:  Mark some sockets on the plan to satisfy BC there are enough, typically one each side of the bed, one on each wall, etc.  THEN when the shell is up and you can see the bulding and visualise how you will use it, go round with your electrician and mark the ACTUAL positions you want them on the walls.

 

TIP #2:  Agree with your electrician that he will route socket circuit cables around the entire room at socket height. As long as there is one socket on each wall that is a safe zone.  Then you have a cable in place to add extra sockets any time you want to.

 

[Bozza]

Completely agree with what proDave says.  In particular cable runs so Additional sockets can be added easily if needed.

 

One thing we did was to have bedroom light switches also next to beds, so main light can be turned off when you jump into bed.   Also ability to turn downstairs hall lights on/off from upstairs.     where TVs and computers may go put in more than you think. you’ll need.  Pop in a socket in each of the big cupboards and plenty in utility room too.

 

 

[Temp]

+1

 

Good one is to go into the kitchen and pretend every light in the house is off. Then walk to each of the bedrooms turning on imaginary lights ahead of you and off behind you.  That will show where you need two way switching. Perhaps repeat for other routes around the house.

 

We have some nice wall mounted outside lights triggerd by a PIR sensor near the front door. The PIR has a switch indoors that can be used to put it in different "modes" (ON, ON at dusk, OFF, ON until daylight, ON for 30 seconds when triggered etc). Right pain as we can never remember the "morse code" needed to switch modes. Would prefer something easier, perhaps even a simple display telling you. Might make one.  Wish I had also put a PIR or manual switch by the back door connected to the same lights. 

 

A light on a PIR where you park the car is also useful. 

 

Light for the house name plate helps delivery drivers (ours is on a daylight sensor).

 

 

[Drew1000]

I have just finished two new builds and put in some round pin 5A sockets in the corner of the lounge/living room controlled from a switch coming into the room.  That way you can get some table or floor standing lamps controlled from light switch.  Much better than the Blackpool illuminations that a lot of spots give off however retain some form of main/bright lighting for whenever it is necessary.  I also use two way and intermediate upstairs outside the bedrooms to enable anyone coming out a bedroom at night to turn on/off the upstairs hall light.  As for sockets a good rule of thumb is a double in the corner of each room.  Agree about tv area if having a tv unit with other boxes like sky Q, games consoles etc put 2 doubles behind unit. For upstairs and downstairs hall its a good idea to have one for a vacuum cleaner and don't forget about the Xmas tree area which might need extras. Hope that helps.

[Drew1000]

Just a thought Dave.  Looking at the wall between the family room and Lounge there looks like a sliding door.  Given where you have the seating (which looks like the natural place for it) it will severely restrict a wall or floor area to put a tv on for both rooms.  (Maybe you are not having any).  Just a thought to ponder and its your house at the end of the day.

[Andehh]

10 hours ago, Drew1000 said:

Just a thought Dave.  Looking at the wall between the family room and Lounge there looks like a sliding door.  Given where you have the seating (which looks like the natural place for it) it will severely restrict a wall or floor area to put a tv on for both rooms.  (Maybe you are not having any).  Just a thought to ponder and its your house at the end of the day.

 

 

Also a thought for me! 

 

 

[Dave_madl]

thank you for your replies, we have moved the pocket door further up towards the back of the hall cuppbard as far as it can go, this should give us enough space for the tv on the wall now.

[CalvinHobbes]

Remember to put in some external sockets, especially handy at christmas. Get the ones with the on/off switches, some don't have them which is silly since you have to pull out the darn plug.

[TonyT]

And put things like fridges, boilers on their own circuit, so nothing else can affect them, ie it’s only a fault on that single piece of equipment/circuit that can trip that circuit.

 

all about minimising  future inconvenience at the design stage.