D.I.Y. REWIRE-- A Step By Step Guide.

[telectrix]

1. Remove all heavy furniture from upstairs. Place in Storage.

2. Roll up all upstairs carpets. Ditto.

3. Lift floorboards to enable cable routing (not the ones that the plumber has wrecked, fitting central heating)

4. Move all downstairs furniture to centre of rooms and cover with dust sheets.

5. Cover all ground floor carpets with polythene sheeting.

6. Chase out from ground floor ceiling vertically to every point you require a fitting/accessory.

7. Now that you've realised that you are totally out of your depth, get on the phone to a qualified Sparks.

 

[ruston]

To be fair if you do'nt give any indication of your level of skill or knowledge do you really expect to get a favorable response. A lot of your calculations regarding cpd's will be influenced by the earthing arrangement to your property for a start. Do you know what this is? That is just the basics to start from, you really do'nt want a correspondence course rewire.

 

[Marvo]

I somehow thought this wasn't going to be a 'helpful' thread...

Whilst I accept there are a lot of botched and potentially dangerous DIY jobs around there are also people perfectly capable of rewiring safely and legally in compliance with the relevant regulations.

As some of those reading this will know I have recently started a DIY rewire of my own, this is being done in compliance with relevant regulations and I really appreciate the advice and assistance offered by forum members, here and elsewhere both in the public forum and outwith it.

The attitude that no-one other than an electrician is capable of rewiring a house, installing a new circuit, adding an outlet to an existing ring final circuit, changing a light fitting etc is not helpful. DIYers coming here and asking questions are doing one thing right for starters - they accept they *don't* know exactly what to do and for that reason are asking advice.

My view is that you can dismiss these people with 'call an electrician' and, in many cases, they'll try and undertake the work themselves anyway.. or you can offer guidance and advice.

I'd be more inclined to agree with you if mistakes in electrical installations didn't cost innocent people their lives. Installing electrics incorrectly can cause people to get shocked or houses to burn down and it's not just the life of the DIY'er that's at stake.

I agree 98% of electrical installation can be instructed via a forum board or even a telephone for that matter but there's always that 2% that can't and that's where the 4uck-up's occur. You can only reduce this risk with two things, you need to be there first hand and you need experience that only years of education and on-the-job learning can give you.

You might be convinced electricians are overpriced or unnecessary but after you've seen the results of building fires where whole families including the pets have died and were started by nothing more than bad-practice electrical installation techniques you would recognize your short sightedness.

........So the qualified members who frequent forums such as this walk a thin line between helping unqualified visitors out with information and suggestions to save them some time and money but also encouraging them not to go places or do things that might get them or other people killed. Nobody knows where the line is, it varies from DIY'er to DIY'er and from job to job but the one thing we do all know is when the line is crossed we are as responsible for any unexpected outcomes as the guy doing the work.

All I'm trying to say is that if or when you start getting replies that it's time to call a qualified electrician then it's probably just that.....it's time to call an electrician.

Teach a man to fish and all that...

You can teach a man everything there is to know about fishing, it still doesn't mean he should be sailing a boat out to sea without a skippers license.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Like des says....most diyers wont understand the concept of Zs and why its so important and even if they had read it someware would they know about "rule of thumb" and which value to apply it to (measured or tabulated) also, would they concider rcd times or even the reason that cable clips have maximum spacing allowances etc? Or how about safe zones and adiquate protection for non rcd protected circuits or even not to run data or alarm cables in parrallel with final circuits. I am not saying that a diyer isn`t capable of installing but that the install may not be compliant.......

 

[millwall ken]

I'd be more inclined to agree with you if mistakes in electrical installations didn't cost innocent people their lives. Installing electrics incorrectly can cause people to get shocked or houses to burn down and it's not just the life of the DIY'er that's at stake.

I agree 98% of electrical installation can be instructed via a forum board or even a telephone for that matter but there's always that 2% that can't and that's where the 4uck-up's occur. You can only reduce this risk with two things, you need to be there first hand and you need experience that only years of education and on-the-job learning can give you.

You might be convinced electricians are overpriced or unnecessary but after you've seen the results of building fires where whole families including the pets have died and were started by nothing more than bad-practice electrical installation techniques you would recognize your short sightedness.

........So the qualified members who frequent forums such as this walk a thin line between helping unqualified visitors out with information and suggestions to save them some time and money but also encouraging them not to go places or do things that might get them or other people killed. Nobody knows where the line is, it varies from DIY'er to DIY'er and from job to job but the one thing we do all know is when the line is crossed we are as responsible for any unexpected outcomes as the guy doing the work.

All I'm trying to say is that if or when you start getting replies that it's time to call a qualified electrician then it's probably just that.....it's time to call an electrician.



You can teach a man everything there is to know about fishing, it still doesn't mean he should be sailing a boat out to sea without a skippers license.

Mods please use this post as a sticky that members can use to post to Mr DIYer. Spot on mate.

 

[millwall ken]

Like des says....most diyers wont understand the concept of Zs and why its so important and even if they had read it someware would they know about "rule of thumb" and which value to apply it to (measured or tabulated) also, would they concider rcd times or even the reason that cable clips have maximum spacing allowances etc? Or how about safe zones and adiquate protection for non rcd protected circuits or even not to run data or alarm cables in parrallel with final circuits. I am not saying that a diyer isn`t capable of installing but that the install may not be compliant.......

Alright clever cloggs, I was just trying to post a quick response, thats all. We all could of gone into this much detail, you Teacher's pet... LOL.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Sorry about that guys. Feel free to kick my shins wont you. lol

 

[ruston]

Sorry about that guys. Feel free to kick my shins wont you. lol

Whats nice about this forum is that everyone has responded in a responsible and reasonable manner, and have not responded by insults and derision so prevalent on other forums. As the consensus is that safety is utermost and that information is not given wiily nilly to boost the ego of the poster is admirable. So no you do'nt need your shins kicked lol.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

I do have a way of running with it though...bad habit really.........

 

[rsmck]

I'm really want to avoid getting drawn into this further however, since some of you have posed questions to me directly..

Well why don't you enlighten us as to what it is that you do for a living - and I'm sure that some of us could tell you how to do your job a lot better as well.

I have never, at any point, tried to suggest to anyone here that I could do their job "better" nor tried to tell them how to do it.

Instead of watching all of these rogue trader like TV programmes, why don't you trust the 99% of decent tradesmen out there to do a proper job and not rip you off.

My reference above wasn't from watching TV, however I accept the majority of tradesmen aren't out to rip me off. To be honest - cost is a factor in choosing to rewire my own home however it's not the only one.

To be fair if you do'nt give any indication of your level of skill or knowledge do you really expect to get a favorable response. A lot of your calculations regarding cpd's will be influenced by the earthing arrangement to your property for a start. Do you know what this is? That is just the basics to start from, you really do'nt want a correspondence course rewire.

Generally I've had favourable responses - it just seems the whole purpose of this thread was to belittle DIYers.... Oh and the earthing arrangement is TN-S, and I assume you meant CPC ? If there are CPD calculations then I guess I have missed something.

Like des says....most diyers wont understand the concept of Zs and why its so important and even if they had read it someware would they know about "rule of thumb" and which value to apply it to (measured or tabulated) also, would they concider rcd times or even the reason that cable clips have maximum spacing allowances etc? Or how about safe zones and adiquate protection for non rcd protected circuits or even not to run data or alarm cables in parrallel with final circuits. I am not saying that a diyer isn`t capable of installing but that the install may not be compliant.......

All very valid points and yes, in my case, I've considered them... On a related note (sorry to side track) my understanding is the rules relating to running data cables in parallel with power circuits are recommendations rather than a requirement. Where possible I've kept a 50mm separation but there are a few places they run closer I don't believe this would affect compliance however.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

no but loop certainly is......

 

[telectrix]

CPD, circuit protection device. e.g fuse, MCB. RCBO.

 

[Des 56]

Generally I've had favourable responses - it just seems the whole purpose of this thread was to belittle DIYers...

What would be the benefit to anybody on an electricians forum to belittle diyers
The forum is frequented by mainly sparks apprentices and to a much lesser and infrequent extent, general public

If your assumption were the case,who is reading these posts to feel belittled ?

The initial post was almost certainly a very humurous, tongue in cheek topic, by a well respected spark who has given untold amounts of very worthwhile advise to many, who were probably diyers and possibly out of their depth,that is a very unreasonable opinion you have

gratitude for the advise he has given would have been more appropriate

 

[rsmck]

CPD, circuit protection device. e.g fuse, MCB. RCBO.

Noted, thankyou, hadn't recognised it being called a CPD - and yes, appropriate ones have been used

 

[rsmck]

The initial post was almost certainly a very humurous, tongue in cheek topic, by a well respected spark who has given untold amounts of very worthwhile advise to many, who were probably diyers and possibly out of their depth,that is a very unreasonable opinion you have

gratitude for the advise he has given would have been more appropriate

Sorry if I misconstrued it's original intention ... and yes, I am indeed very grateful for the advice given

 

[ruston]

Sorry if I misconstrued it's original intention ... and yes, I am indeed very grateful for the advice given

Spot on and good luck. Whatever you do though get it checked out. You can understand the reluctance of people not wanting to give advice on the heading of your post though . General questions may have yielded better replies if your level of understanding had been more prevalent.