following rewire .....

[toofar]

hello guys looking for your thoughts on the following


fully rewired a 3 bedroom tenement flat installed completely to the 17th edition wiring regulations issued completion certificate (niceic) i was 100% happy and confident on my job

customer tried to withold money as i hadent clipped any cabling for sockets and switches ,

i explained (yes it would be slightley better finish ) but i had already spoken to plasterer and he was comfortable with the job.

basically the customer made it a complete nightmare as if i had left an unsafe dangerous non compliant job

hyne site should have put clips in but jeez

 

[telectrix]

I'd totally disagree with that statement, A 20mm conduit directly entering into the back box is infinitely better than using capping or that crap oval conduit for both rewiring or any future additions/changes. If you need to butcher a wall to sink a 20mm conduit in that wall then your skills need to be addressed. As for light switch positions soon being a thing of the past, i doubt that very much, certainly not for the vast majority of domestic households anyway....

you still need to chase into the brick to get the depth for conduit, though.

 

[Engineer54]

you still need to chase into the brick to get the depth for conduit, though.

That's no big deal though is it?? For bedrooms and other single cable switch drops etc, you could get away with 16mm conduit. Personally i'd stick with the 20mm just in case of future changes/additions...

 

[Risteard]

If you need to butcher a wall to sink a 20mm conduit in that wall then your skills need to be addressed.

You'd want to see what some labourers cut out of walls!

 

[BLBelfast]

Haha this is something that I've never even thought about questioning. Good to know for future reference but been putting conduits in the wall from day 1 so will likely stick with it

 

[Silly Sausage]

Haha this is something that I've never even thought about questioning. Good to know for future reference but been putting conduits in the wall from day 1 so will likely stick with it

Have any of your walls fallen down yet?! :smilielol5:

 

[Risteard]

Have any of your walls fallen down yet?! :smilielol5:

As I said, it is common practice here (to the point that no-one doesn't do it). But I have seen plenty of walls where you could see through the block because they had gone in that far. So don't try to tell me that it isn't structurally inappropriate, and almost certainly in breach of Building Regulations in many instances!

 

[2na]

I like to put 20mm conduit in the walls with an adaptor to connect it to the box. If you use a decent wall chaser, it is very easy to do and looks very professional.

 

[Engineer54]

As I said, it is common practice here (to the point that no-one doesn't do it). But I have seen plenty of walls where you could see through the block because they had gone in that far. So don't try to tell me that it isn't structurally inappropriate, and almost certainly in breach of Building Regulations in many instances!

If it's your labours that are butchering the walls, then it's down to YOU to put them straight, ...eg it's YOUR responsibility!! Don't blame the installation/use of 20mm conduit as being a breach of building regulations because it ain't!!

 

[telectrix]

iirc, you can cut up to 30% into the wall vertically. not much use on 2" hollow breeze block as you find in a lot of council houses.

 

[Engineer54]

I like to put 20mm conduit in the walls with an adaptor to connect it to the box. If you use a decent wall chaser, it is very easy to do and looks very professional.

I wouldn't fit any connector fittings to these embedded conduit drops, just let them enter the back box direct. Once you install connectors and bushes you are restricting the internal area and creating cable snag catch points....

 

[Risteard]

If it's your labours that are butchering the walls, then it's down to YOU to put them straight, ...eg it's YOUR responsibility!! Don't blame the installation/use of 20mm conduit as being a breach of building regulations because it ain't!!

LOL. I didn't say installation of conduit was a breach of Building Regulations - just that invariably it often leads to breaches. When working for other firms it is also outside of my remit to choose the labourers!

Also, as Tel says, many walls will not actually enable it to be installed without removing an excessive amount of the wall!

 

[Risteard]

I wouldn't fit any connector fittings to these embedded conduit drops, just let them enter the back box direct. Once you install connectors and bushes you are restricting the internal area and creating cable snag catch points....

Likewise where I am doing it with PVC I would just run it straight in.

 

[Engineer54]

Also, as Tel says, many walls will not actually enable it to be installed without removing an excessive amount of the wall!

I've never seen a 2'' hollow block, smallest i've seen for many years now is 100mm blocks. So much for the British building regulations. They seem to be going the same way the electrical industry is going, ...Down the pan!! lol!!

 

[telectrix]

these 2" breeze blocks are from the 50's. fitting sockets is a nightmare. i've done a few and had to gob in 2 boxes back to back. customer had then had a few extras.

 

[Engineer54]

these 2" breeze blocks are from the 50's. fitting sockets is a nightmare. i've done a few and had to gob in 2 boxes back to back. customer had then had a few extras.

My parents house was an ex council house, certainly no 2'' hollow blocks in that house, more like engineering bricks and blocks from what i remember. So bloody hard the bolster chisel used to bounce off them!! lol!! There were a few minor walls (basicall build-in cupbords) that used 4'' cinder blocks....

 

[telectrix]

-same here. built in 1955. all walls brick - hard as rock. it was the lower end of the council house market when quantity was more important than quality.

 

[imago]

these 2" breeze blocks are from the 50's. fitting sockets is a nightmare. i've done a few and had to gob in 2 boxes back to back. customer had then had a few extras.

Oh dear, you criticised buildings from the golden era when everything was built using superior materials, techniques and craftsmen. Tut, tut.

There's no need to let facts obscure the view through rose tinted spectacles. The materials used in construction on site constructing anything above a handful of houses was in the main absolute junk. Poor quality concrete, hardly and cement used in the mortar, sea sand used in the mortar and concrete, cinder blocks, honeycomb cardboard walls, chimneys infilled with rubble instead of supporting brickwork, no footings etc etc. No wonder there was conduit everywhere, it was the only thing holding most of the internal walls up!

Still, they were the good old days of craftsmen and quality homes. :rofl:

 

[telectrix]

yes but at least they held the roof up with timber ( purlins and rafters) instead of the flimsy balsa wood trusses they use now.

 

[imago]

Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of very good stuff built, the testament to which is the fact that it's still standing now. Equally a lot of the current stuff is rubbish. I just don't subscribed to the 'older is always better' routine. I've seen the guts of too many places, engineers reports etc which proves there has always been rubbish.

It's the same old story, you can have good, or you can have cheap, but you can't have both. Which is what I say to customers if they ask for a reduction on a quote.

 

[shanky887614]

I wouldn't fit any connector fittings to these embedded conduit drops, just let them enter the back box direct. Once you install connectors and bushes you are restricting the internal area and creating cable snag catch points....

why not just put female bush on end of conduit that wouldnt restrict it much

 

[DPG]

Female bush. Ha ha. Daz

 

[Silly Sausage]

.......

 

[imago]

Some years ago (mid/late '80s IIRC) I saw the best use of conduit in a domestic setting. We were working on some of the docklands warehouse conversions, and some were done keeping the exposed internal brickwork. All the cabling was put into Galv conduit and it looked the nuts. I have to admit I was sceptical when I was told, but once it was in it looked superb.

The lads that put up the conduit were from Macclesfield I think, somewhere in the Arctic circle anyway. It genuinely was artistry, and not so much as a grip scuff anywhere in sight.

Not exactly relevant to the thread I know, but it reminded me of it. Shame it was in the days before digital cameras and camera phones.

 

[shanky887614]

Some years ago (mid/late '80s IIRC) I saw the best use of conduit in a domestic setting. We were working on some of the docklands warehouse conversions, and some were done keeping the exposed internal brickwork. All the cabling was put into Galv conduit and it looked the nuts. I have to admit I was sceptical when I was told, but once it was in it looked superb.

The lads that put up the conduit were from Macclesfield I think, somewhere in the Arctic circle anyway. It genuinely was artistry, and not so much as a grip scuff anywhere in sight.

Not exactly relevant to the thread I know, but it reminded me of it. Shame it was in the days before digital cameras and camera phones.

grip scuff?

bit a spit and file is all you need

 

[Engineer54]

why not just put female bush on end of conduit that wouldnt restrict it much

That only works with metal conduit. You still need a screwed connector with PVC conduit and you'll find that the screwed part of that connector reduces the internal CSA of the conduit and creates a cable sheath snagging point to boot....