How common is this?

[Simon_]

After some digging around in my house that I moved into last year, I've discovered that the upstairs is on the ring main and all downstairs sockets apart from the extension are spurred off the upstairs sockets!? This seems like a really lazy way of wiring a house to me. Some of the other houses on my street are wired like this too.

 

[telectrix]

lazy and cable saving. as long as there is only 1 unfused spur from each ring socket, then it complies, but not good practice IMO.

 

[Chris Ward]

How old is your house? I see it quite often in older houses. Seems it used to be the 'done thing'.

 

[IQ Electrical]

poor discrimination

I might be wrong but I doubt if they'll be fused spurs.

 

[Simon_]

Yeah it seems there is only one spur per ring socket. House is 1970's semi. It's a pain if I want to add any extra sockets downstairs as I'm going to have to find the relevant upstairs socket and stick in an FCU on the ring and then add the extra sockets after that on a fused spur.

 

[ian]

This used to be a common way of wiring houses in the 70’s and a way of saving cable. It wouldn’t not be wired this way now.

 

[ezzzekiel]

poor discrimination

with what?

 

[telectrix]

Yeah it seems there is only one spur per ring socket. House is 1970's semi. It's a pain if I want to add any extra sockets downstairs as I'm going to have to find the relevant upstairs socket and stick in an FCU on the ring and then add the extra sockets after that on a fused spur.

or.... split the ring into 2 radials, each on a 16A or 20A MCB, then you can add sockets at will.

 

[steve447]

My house was the oposite way round, the downstairs was on a ring, then one spur from the dining room up the wall into a JB under the floor of the 2nd bedroom then 3 cables coming off that jb each one feeding one single socket in each of the 3 bedrooms.

 

[telectrix]

My house was the oposite way round, the downstairs was on a ring, then one spur from the dining room up the wall into a JB under the floor of the 2nd bedroom then 3 cables coming off that jb each one feeding one single socket in each of the 3 bedrooms.

now that is bad practice. i would fit a FCU to feed the bedrooms

 

[steve447]

now that is bad practice. i would fit a FCU to feed the bedrooms

It got a complete rewire mate.
I found plenty more wrong too.
Shared neutrals, a spur off of the ring downstairs feeding a socket in the utility room, they couldnt be bothered to chase it in so snapped off the corner of the socket facia and ran the T&E into there after it came up through the floorboards. This spur then had another spur feeding a outside light with a Pir and also had a 4mm SWA terminated in that fed a CU in the garage with a light and 4 double sockets. Oh and the landing light rose seemed to have one too many cables in it, so when i traced it out it seemed to got to the switch, the live from the loop in the rose went to the switch but was just chopped off, no back box so was just sitting against the bits of wood that was used to screw the switch plate on, must have been that way for 20 odd years.
In fact no back boxes on any of the light switches in the entire house.