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JimCee

DIY
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Leyland, Lancashire
Hi,
My son has just (last week) had a rewire done on his house in Leyland. He has just bought the house but a "domino" type consumer unit was spotted and so a rewire was deemed necessary.
He wanted to move in with his girlfriend and 2 month old son as quickly as possible so phoned a website to get electricians to call him with quotes based on the job being done ASAP.
Electrician gave him a quote £3000 and he accepted - work could be done the following week. The day arrived and was completed in the day by "a load of very young people" and the house was in a right state.
They have run 4 spurs in the house which I thought was pretty poor for a rewire and I don't know if this is to regulations.
But the real problem came when I was reboarding the loft. There were a load of chopped wires in the way of the boards so I pulled them back as far as possible and cut them further back. Whilst pulling the wires, the skirting board fell off. Behind the skirting board, there was a hole in the plaster board and an old fashioned connection block (with screws) fell out as did the ends of 2 conductors. One of the 3 wires that came out of this block was in the way of the boards. As conductors had dropped out, obviously an old wire I thought and so started cutting it with my electrical cutters and the upstairs socket ring tripped.
On investigation, the new upstairs socket ring has been cut, the earth conductors cut back - breaking the earth ring, the positive and neutral conductors having been pushed into the connector but not screwed down properly and the cable that I had cut - upon tracing was actually an open live cable - just lying under the loft insulation.
Looking round, the new lighting circuit has been extended - also by means of an old fashioned type connector block with screws in and taped up.
I was furious and phoned the electrician who between my rants told me that it was perfectly reasonable to extend the lighting circuit by means of a taped up connector block with screws to secure the conductors.
The electrician has given my son an electrical certificate (which I haven't seen and probably wouldn't understand) but on reading info on the internet, I cannot understand how he has done a test with the earth conductors on the upstairs ring being cut back at the loose connection block breaking the circuit.
The guy is coming back on Monday to "have a look what is going on" but apart from being outright dangerous with an open ended live cable, are the old fashioned screw type connector blocks acceptable - whether taped or un-taped, are spurs to standard and can I report this guy and if so, who to?
Thanks for any advice,
Jim.
 
No RCD trip times but all the test buttons operate???
No IR results.
Arc fault protection on EVERY circuit.
That certificate is as dodgy as the wiring.
I will eat my hat if they have installed a full AFDD consumer unit
 
Exactly what I thought when reading the OP and wondered if they work in the north of England?
The 1 day Re-wire guy from Scotland him and his team appeared to do work to a reasonable standard , a bit rough when it came to chasing out walls but I don;t remember seeing him bury connector strip in the walls and under the skirting boards

The 1 day re-wire in this thread looks like it was done by people who just didn;t give damn
 
The 1 day Re-wire guy from Scotland him and his team appeared to do work to a reasonable standard , a bit rough when it came to chasing out walls but I don;t remember seeing him bury connector strip in the walls and under the skirting boards
The Scotland rewire is not the 1 day rewire video I was thinking of. The one I'm thinking of used no furniture or carpet protection when chasing, and directly plastered over the new wiring which was singles throughout.
 
A pity the plasterer didn’t pipe up with “ this looks a bit rough” before he covered it up.


Getting your money back seems unlikely, but depending on local trading standards office… there may be some comeback.
Solicitor?
Local MP?

I hate these crooked tradesmen. Taking advantage of the general public.
Get onto the BBC Rough Traders or whatever.

Any chance of a photo of consumer unit?
There are rcd times listed, but no rcd on the certificate. (Might be a dual rcd board, but it still should be listed)
 
Might was well wipe your arse with paperwork when the workmanship is so shockingly bad

I think we get too hung up on what the paper work / Certs reads like

I would rather a decent job be the focus
 
Might was well wipe your arse with paperwork when the workmanship is so shockingly bad

I think we get too hung up on what the paper work / Certs reads like

I would rather a decent job be the focus
On the same understanding, if the paperwork is bad, then it’s likely corners were cut with the actual job as well.

The certificate is part of the job… just as much as making sure sockets are level.
It has its own chapter in the regs, and the job isn’t complete until the certs are done.
 
On the same understanding, if the paperwork is bad, then it’s likely corners were cut with the actual job as well.

The certificate is part of the job… just as much as making sure sockets are level.
It has its own chapter in the regs, and the job isn’t complete until the certs are done.
But would you rather a really net well installed Re-wire with a scruffy cert
Or

A shambles of a shocking rough arse re-wire with a neatly printed off cert

I know which I would prefer to walk into...
 
Most members of the public dont understand the need for the certificate... but it should be stressed its an important document.
Most members of the public dont understand the need for safe zones, cable sizing, OCPD sizing, RCD requirements, SPD requirements, etc etc... they just want it working, and as you say... looks good in the end...

But as our OP has found out, a few new clean sockets does not a rewire make.
 
Most members of the public dont understand the need for the certificate... but it should be stressed its an important document.
Most members of the public dont understand the need for safe zones, cable sizing, OCPD sizing, RCD requirements, SPD requirements, etc etc... they just want it working, and as you say... looks good in the end...

But as our OP has found out, a few new clean sockets does not a rewire make.
This is the consumer unit - can anyone see anything wrong in this?
[ElectriciansForums.net] How not to standard is this rewire?
 
Can I kick off with a design question? What do we think about 20A for the kitchen with no separate appliance circuit(s)?
 
A pity the plasterer didn’t pipe up with “ this looks a bit rough” before he covered it up.


Getting your money back seems unlikely, but depending on local trading standards office… there may be some comeback.
Solicitor?
Local MP?

I hate these crooked tradesmen. Taking advantage of the general public.
Get onto the BBC Rough Traders or whatever.

Any chance of a photo of consumer unit?
There are rcd times listed, but no rcd on the certificate. (Might be a dual rcd board, but it still should be listed)
Can I kick off with a design question? What do we think about 20A for the kitchen with no separate appliance circuit(s)?
It’s a 20A for the kitchen sockets & a 30 for the cooker
 

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To be fair, I have seen a LOT WORSE than that, it looks like it has been installed by someone who has some pride in their work.

if I had to nit pick,
there is too much copper on show where the cables exit the circuit breakers.
no surge protection
i think 20A radials x3 is a bit mean for a house, especially a kitchen.
 
Can I kick off with a design question? What do we think about 20A for the kitchen with no separate appliance circuit(s)?

I think it could be quite a bold choice considering the ease with which a 32A socket circuit could have been installed and the potential for all manner of appliances and gadgets to be used.

But having said that I know my own kitchen would be absolutely fine with just a 20A radial, in fact my entire flat would be fine on one 20A.
 

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