Bungalow re-wire

[La Poste]

Greetings and salutations.
I have been working for an electrician for a while but unfortunately he will soon be defunct.
I have just started a bungalow re-wire for a friend of my father and want to make a nice job of it.
The wiring is a right old state and there is steel conduit in the walls that is not big enough to take two 2.5mm cables so I can't run a ring main around the place without chasing which the guy does not want.
I have decided to make the sockets radials and fuse them at 20A, I shall run maybe three or four radials from the fuse board although I am not sure yet, I am pretty sure there will not be excessive loads on any of the sockets.
I may be able to get 4.0mm cable down the conduits but it is far more expensive than 2.5mm so I am kicking this idea into touch.
Because I am going to use junction boxes I want to try to have an area in the loft where all the junction boxes sit, this will use more cable but it makes it better in case in the future someone wants to put a floor in, if the junctions boxes are all in one place then it will be easy to put a trap door in the floor so that all terminations will be accessible for inspection and testing.
This is my plan however I don't like standard junction boxes as I think they are ugly.
Can anyone recommend a type of junction box that I could use, I am thinking maybe one feed in and four sockets coming out, that means four individual cables running out of the junction box.
All of the junction boxes are going to be in one place in the loft so the more cables I can have coming out of a box the less boxes I will need to use and the less confusing it will look.
One cable going in and maybe four if not more cables coming out, one outward cable for each socket.
Does this idea sound not correct to anyone?
Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks.

 

[ezzzekiel]

wagoboxes with cage clamps although personally i would avoid using the boxes alltogether, would also run 4mm radial for kitchen then maybe 2.5 for other rooms

 

[jeremy]

When you say the conduit wont take 2x2.5 do you mean 2.5 twin and earth? If this is the case it should still take 6xsingles allowing you to install the ring. If the conduit is open into the loft singles can be protected with metal flexible conduit. Just a thought, let us know how you get on.

 

[La Poste]

wagoboxes with cage clamps although personally i would avoid using the boxes alltogether, would also run 4mm radial for kitchen then maybe 2.5 for other rooms

Thanks alot, if you were to avoid using boxes what would you use?

When you say the conduit wont take 2x2.5 do you mean 2.5 twin and earth? If this is the case it should still take 6xsingles allowing you to install the ring. If the conduit is open into the loft singles can be protected with metal flexible conduit. Just a thought, let us know how you get on.

Yes I mean twin and earth. Singles is a good idea but the flexible conduit seems quite expensive, I will haveto run the idea past him.
The conduit is open into the loft.
I didn't like the idea of singles as there is only one layer of insulation but then I have never re-wired a bungalow like this before. This would seem to be the best idea though.
I guess a series of P-clips would be best to anchor the conduit along its run.
Also has wooden back boxes behind the light switches, haven't looked at the sockets yet.
Also with the flexible conduit it might be awkward to join as there will be one flexible conduit going in and one flexible conduit going out of each single metal conduit running to the socket if you see what I mean.
So many problems.

 

[rocker]

I'd go down the singles route as well - if it's tight just shove a load of y77 down the drops and they should pull through fine - may even get away with using twin this way.
If you are looking at a lot of online sellers or wickes/B&Q you will find pvc conduit expensive - if you go down your local wholesaler you will find it radically cheaper! (providing your local is not CEF or neweys!!) and to be honest if you're running one straight ring, you won't have to use that much of it.

 

[La Poste]

Thankyou all.
So that's the sockets taken care of, I just haveto figure a way of terminating the flexible conduit to the metal conduit in the walls and making it look nice and tidy.
As far as the lights go I like the sound of wagoboxes. I don't like to three plate at ceiling roses as the guy might decide he wants to change the light fittings to something else that hasn't the ability to three plate. At the light itself I just like to have one wire, as I can't terminate inside the switches due to there not being enough room to get all the cables down I guess using wagoboxes is the most sensible idea.
Also the back boxes are made of wood and he is adamant he does not want them changed due to the mess although maybe I can persuade him but it's highly unlikely.
So it's singles for sockets and wagoboxes for lights.
Any advance on singles for sockets and wagoboxes for lights?
Going going......

 

[jeremy]

Tradepoint/ electrifix do 10m plus 10 threaded ends plus lockrings for c.£25 though cut this with a very fine tooth hacksaw and wear gloves!! To join this to conduit get an adaptable box with lid, holecut a hole in the bottom and slid over, then connect the conduit to one of the knockouts. If the end of the existing conduit is rough and can't be finished properly once cables are in seal it with silicone to prevent them moving