ideas for hiding electric box ?

ELIZA_D

I live in an old Victorian terraced house.
My boxes for electric and trip switches have always been hidden in an ugly box in the bay window which comes out about a foot and a bit ,think the previous owners tried to make a window seat, badly.
I want to cut it out to show the bay window and make more space but don`t know what to do about the boxes. A guy came round yesterday and quoted me £200 quid ( Cut out the wall,plaster move plug points) but his idea to " hide " the boxes was to use a radiator style cover but just in the one area (to the left).. not happy but am clueless as to what i can do ?
Any ideas ?

olias

What about paying an electrician to relocate them into the hallway?

Olias

bryanb

olias wrote: »

What about paying an electrician to relocate them into the hallway?

Olias

The meter is usually with the fusebox/consumer unit. Moving it would increase the cost considerably.

olias

I wouldn't have thought it would cost any more than the £200 OP has been quoted to box them in

Olias

bryanb

Moving the meter would probably mean lengthening the incoming cables, which would involve the energy supplier, You can't just add on a bit as I'm sure you know. I agree that the cabling on the consumer's side could be reasonable.

olias

If indeed the meter is present as well as the consumer unit, then OP describes it as being on an outside wall. Meter could therefore be relocated outside and consumer unit relocated to hall, therefore no need to lengthen incoming cable.

Olias

Doozergirl

You have to use the energy company to move the meter. Even a very short way. An electrician shouldn't touch it.

I would build a proper window seat with storage inside or I'd pay to have the meter moved if it was bugging me that much. Not very moneysaving perhaps.

ELIZA_D

the guy is an electrician and did not suggest that moving them was a possibility ? Will talk to him about this................:beer:

dwarvenassassin

1 - He is either an electrician or a builder - please clarify which.
2 - £200 seems very low for what you describe.
3 - olias, between distributors connection and consumer unit is a maximum of 2.5 metres OF CABLE not distance. Make the hall pretty much out of reach. Add to this the cost of the re-wire to relocate all the circuits to the hall etc. It's not as simple as you imagine.

olias

I had it done in my last property and the sparky charged £1500 all in (that included in addition to the consumer unit being moved from rear to front of house, a fair bit of rewiring of the house, some new ring mains and lighting circuits, wiring two electric boilers and more - consumer unit was only about 20% of the job). The electricity board moved my meter from rear to front of my house by running a new supply up the wall over the roof and down the other wall and supplied and fitted a new meter and box and did not charge me anything!

Olias

dougk_2

My suggestion would be to get someone in to make a window seat properly. Iif it'is sectioned off into smaller pieces internally , you could potentially have three cupboards, one for the electrics and two for storage (always valuable!). You could even get it shapped to go around the bay rather than straight across.