Which way to go?

[billy-w]

Hi, first time posting but have read quite a a bit,there's a fantastic amount of knowledge here.Ok here's the situation, I was a leccy mate upto a couple of months ago [aswell as tea-boy,finder of cheap cafes,and had honours in sweeping and tiding]now things are a bit different and very slow,anyway to earn my keep i've been asked to rewire the house. I'm going through building control but would like to know if on there first visit will they want to see plans for the rewire , the rewire will be done over some time as the house is decorated [building control have told me 1 fee even doing it this way and coming out 3-4 times]now this were i need knowledge, there is a wylex fuse box,1 ring for up stairs and down,1 hall-landing lighting,1 for upstairs lighting and 1 for down lighting, do i change the circuits first before the fuse box or check the circuits fix any problems then change the fuse box to a cu and then do the circuits.Hope this makes sense.

 

[Eggster71]

You're best off putting the new board in at the start, don't forget that your work MUST comply to 17edition!
As you rewire a circuit, or part of it you can then move that over from the original board as required. To be blunt, though, doing a rewire in this method is going to be difficult!
Earthing and bonding will have to be done before you can add the new board, so that's potentially half the floors up already. On top of this instead of having, say, the upstairs boards up and rewiring that ring and the lights below in one hit you could be having the floors up half a dozen times, carpets will disintegrate, the boards will fall apart, you'll waste HOURS and hours each visit!
You also run the risk of having to go back and alter what you've done, or missed in a freshly decorated room, risking damage and again, more grief, especially as new carpet/ laninate etc might have been laid!

 

[billy-w]

Hi Egg,it's in a relative's house where i'm living at the mo[and i'm helping to decorate...oh deep joy]this is why i thought i could do it this way,down stairs floor is concrete and was hoping not to have to chisel walls downstairs until nearer time to decorate there,the bathroom is downstairs as well so it's only the tanks,rads upstairs which i will earth at same time as running wires through.So maybe the best way to go is check wiring circuits now,hope everything is ok,change over cu then start running new circuits.By the way does anyone know if EDF put isolation switches in before the comsumer unit[free].

 

[Jason Smith]

Hi Mate,
You say you were a lecky mate until recently, you will of acquired a lot of knowledge and who knows where that will take you, good luck. BC will certainly want to see your work, that also means cable runs, etc, i.e under the floor boards, wire runs, you will have to leave a lot exposed untill he/ she gets there. So it may not be as easy to plan as you wish. How about one of your old lecky mates casts an eye then does the certificate and test for you, you may be able to do this yourself of course, but a Fuke 1652 can cost well over £700 on its own. Supervision has to be proportional to the ability of the person being supervised, your old lecky mates may be comfortable with no supervision ,or may need to look in on you at an appropriate level, this is worth considering as it may be considerably cheaper than BC. Just an idea for you mate Good luck.