I'm converting a small out building into a cinema room / place we can hide form the kids when they get older. I'm generally pretty handy at DIY stuff so thought I would attempt my first wiring project. It will be quite simple, just one lighting circuit and one wall socket circuit.
My question is, when do I get the electrician in to sign it off. Will they want to see all the wiring in place before I put the plasterboard up or can I get the whole thing finished and plastered before I get them in. part of me would like two visits - one when the initial wiring is done and then again when the Consumer Unit is in and plastering is all done. thoughts?
I didn't bother when running electric to the summer house. It's plugged in to a wall socket via an RCD in the garage and then armoured cable into the summer house where we have two sockets and two lights. Essentially a fancy extension lead.
Technically you can't do as you describe. It can only be signed off by the person who designed and constructed the circuits. You can go through building control but it'll likely cost as much as getting someone in to fit it and certify it. You have a few options.
- Find a friendly spark who will do what you describe and is happy to bend the rules a bit. I expect they will want to see that everything is in safe zones and cables correctly supported and sized.
- Just DIY it all. Who will know?
- Get a spark in to fit the cu and one socket and light where the power comes in, you then fit all the other sockets/lights from this by extending the ring or radial. This then won't need any sign off. Just need to make sure that first supply is correctly sized (do you actually need a CU in there?, you could run the sockets straight from house CU and the lights from a fused spur if the loads aren't that high)
Thanks all. There's a CU already in there (I just want to replace it with a more modern one) as the power comes to the building via a single cable suspended overground from the house. I think the DIY overall option might win out and then get a sparky in to make sure I haven't done something absolutely stupid.
It needs to be signed off if it's "notifiable" under Building Regulations, which means
(a)the installation of a new circuit;
(b)the replacement of a consumer unit; or
(c)any addition or alteration to existing circuits in a special location [ie, bathroom or shower]
Is the CU in your outbuilding fed from the CU in the house? If so I'm not sure whether it's technically a CU (need to ask a spark); the point of the reg as I understand it is to prevent DiY work on the live feed to the house. But I think I'd put in the new CU and the wiring stand alone, then get the spark to check it and swap the cable from old to new.
we've just done something similar to our ongoing garage conversion to garden room / kids hideout. In the end we paid for a sparky to do it - cost circa £800 for sockets (internal and external), lights (again, both internal and external) and then certification etc. It's a timber frame and whilst on a separate ring from the house, it needed to have him do it rather than DIY. It has its own mini-CU with RCDs etc.
He did two visits. One at first-fix where he put in the circuits etc, and then again once it'd been insulated and boarded.
I think you'll find that once into their teens they will be hiding from you [in their bedrooms].place we can hide form the kids when they get older
or in the cinema room
Well, they're welcome to take over the cinema room as long as we can occupy the living room.
I think I'll go DIY. The 'CU' in the out building is in fact a 'mini-CU' connected to the main one in the house as woffle says, not sure exactly what the proper name for one of those is (I think it's just a Garage CU).
or in the cinema room
The Netflix-and-Chill room?
Have you included soft furnishings and a beaker?
That seems like a reasonable approach. If you can isolate the mini CU from the house CU then swapping for a new one should be easy. Go for a metal one. Its debatable whether this is a new circuit or a new CU if branches from the existing one in the house so arguably doesn't need regs sign off. I'd still want to properly test all the circuits once fitted, and read up on safe zones before you start running cables.I think I'll go DIY. The 'CU' in the out building is in fact a 'mini-CU' connected to the main one in the house as woffle says, not sure exactly what the proper name for one of those is (I think it's just a Garage CU).
...TBH it was as much about my worrying about doing something silly with wiring in a largely flammable building as it was the regs (though I know regs are arguably in place for exactly that reason). Specific to the shed / mini-CU thing - our electrician was very keen to understand what form the cable run out from the house took. Ours was a properly armoured cable run, deep trench etc (thanks to the prior owner and shed builder).
Also - we have friends who had some issues when selling their house with a converted garden room. The buyer wanted to see reg sign off which was a bit of a ball-ache to sort out retrospectively.
Having a sparky or two running back and forth between the house and shed trying to trouble-shoot a problem kept my wife amused for a good few hours. A badly wired light (manufacturing fault) caused some serious swearing.
read up on safe zones before you start running cables.
Hurriedly prints off Part P on the work printer for a bit of bedtime reading (I've just finished Part J for the wood burner. It would be so much easier just to be a bodger).
It would be so much easier just to be a bodgerDepends if there is much demand for chair legs or not....
Well you learn something everyday, a bodger is a wood turner working in beech in the Chilterns.