sockets on external wall

[dannysmith]

Hi everyone.
Can a domestic socket be located in for example a bedroom on the external wall.
My father was a spark back in the 60's and 70's and taught me his trade and I can distinctly remember him saying you never put a socket on the external wall. Now I'm planning a rewire of my house on paper and the ideal placement for the socket is external wall but I can find no reference to this requirement in any documents, part p or otherwise. Any help appreciated.

 

[Engineer54]

That's because there are none!! In fact most socket outlets were/are actually positioned on outside walls both during the time mentioned above and to the present day. Just think about Kitchens that almost, if not all have the main run of floor/wall cabinets running on a outside wall(s) along with the usual built-in floor appliances (washing machines, dishwashers, fridge/freezers etc etc).

Are you sure he wasn't referring to flush outside sockets with metal back boxes, as that i can relate too!! lol!!

 

[dannysmith]

Thanks for the reply. He was and is quite an arrogant man. I would be with him as he's walking round a job and he'd be saying "that shouldn't be there, who installed that" etc. His explanation for the above question was to do with damp problems causing shorting which I could understand on a single wall building if there was extreme conditions. None of the properties I have lived in (and there has been a few) have had them on external walls including the kitchen except 1 and to be honest that was a cowboy job (bare wires everywhere and hosepipe used as conduit).

 

[Engineer54]

You must have lived in some very strange houses then, because i've never seen a house, flat, or any other conventional brick built building that hasn't had socket outlets, wall switches, etc that hasn't had flush wall boxes in external walls.

 

[Pete999]

There was a train of thought in those days, when cables were routinely pulled in the external cavities that damp would traverse into the recessed boxes, I know we were never allowed to use the cavity, er hmmm

 

[Octopus]

Just bear in mind when you plan on paper the reality of where the cables can easily run may be a different place.

By all means have ideas of the amount per room but allow your sparks to offer ideas or you could simply be adding to the overall costs.

 

[Engineer54]

There was a train of thought in those days, when cables were routinely pulled in the external cavities that damp would traverse into the recessed boxes, I know we were never allowed to use the cavity, er hmmm

My parents house built in 1951, had two runs of 1.1/4'' joist holes (upstairs) close to back and front walls, and the majority of the sockets were positioned on those external walls. These were council built houses that in those days, were built to a higher standard than the private housing going up at the time. I know that the bricks used in the construction, were like bloody iron chopping back boxes into!! lol!

Those housing types went up all over the UK during the rebuilding after the war. i doubt if the electrical plans/drawings changed from area to area, so it must have been common practice even in those days, to position sockets on outside facing walls!!

As for using the wall cavity to run cables in, you'd be there all day trying to fish cables from one socket to another. The only time i have used a cavity was again in my parents house to run a loft aerial from the lounge to the loft. That was enough for me, took bloody ages to fish that aerial cable out... lol!!