Can I Fit water and electric into a shed?

CL

OK, Basically what I want to do is get hot and cold water and electricity (socket and light) into my shed outside so I can put a washing machine and tumble dryer in there, is this a good Idea? would I be better to build a Shed from brick or would a normal wooden one do the job, also how much of a job would it be to plumb the water from the house into the shed? any ideas or comments?

fairenoughclough

Well, you can do it.

A wooden shed will be liable to damp, and hence your white goods are likely to rust.

It's best to go brickbuilt with a dampproof membrane fitted and install a low wattage space heater working off a thermostat to prevent frost damage.

[Deleted User]

Well we did this at work, whilst the house was under construction for additional buildings. Our laundry was out of service for 6 months. We had to make do with a shed for both washing machines and tumble dryer, albeit from May to November in the end. During the colder months the washing did get a tad damp if it rained when carrying it back indoors, but the electricity current was safe and we had lighting out there too.

As a temporary measure, yes, but as a permanent one, I don't know.

alanobrien

CL wrote:

OK, Basically what I want to do is get hot and cold water and electricity (socket and light) into my shed outside so I can put a washing machine and tumble dryer in there, is this a good Idea? would I be better to build a Shed from brick or would a normal wooden one do the job, also how much of a job would it be to plumb the water from the house into the shed? any ideas or comments?

I did this at my last place.

I considered 2 options a purpose built out house and a shed. The shed won as i was planning to move in the near future and the out house would be expensive. In the end we used the shed with washing machine etc in it for nearly 3 yrs.

I would not use a wooden one, wood + water + vibration
from the spin cycle = noise and wooden shed falling apart.
I thought about ways of isolating the machine from the wood floor but that got complicated.

In the end i used a metal shed (ugly but solid) and raised the floor inside of it above the outside by about 50 mm
using patio tiles. This was to ensure any rain etc stayed out.

I also wired it in properly with correct weather proof fittings, lighting, etc via an RCD.
Water was connected with non return valve and drainage
via a proper u bend into the waste pipe.

It all worked well and was a low cost option.
The new owner still uses it.

robowen

To my knowledge there is no law says you can't supply a shed with hot/cold/leccy.

however... there are laws on how the leccy and the plumbing must be done. i.e You cant dangle a cable out of the window for the supply.....(not that you would !!)

If you follow alans advice , you should be ok.

Water must be protected from frost and damage to pipework(obvious), preferably underground.

I would also advise a washing machine that only requires cold supply, i.e built in heater, no hot pipe = one less problem.
And a condensing tumble dryer which collects the water/condensation from the clothes to a container for emptying....less moisture in the shed.

CL

Thanks for all your input guys, I too am considering building a garage as another solution although this would be quite costly, anybody got any idea rough how much a garage would cost?

culpepper

you see the prefab type for sale in local papers sometimes with buyer dismantles and takes away written.
We begged ours from a demolition site and had to dismantle etc.We only took the wooden frame,roof panels and doors though as we were transporting it on top of our car ,bit by bit.

RedOnRed

robowen wrote:

To my knowledge there is no law says you can't supply a shed with hot/cold/leccy..

How about this one...

Electrical safety in dwellings

From 1st January 2005, any electrical work that involves adding new circuits to dwellings must either be:

-Completed by a person competent to do the work, and be notified to/inspected by the local authority building control (LABC).

-Completed by a Competent Person registered with a Part P self-certification scheme. The Competent Person must then notify the scheme provider.

Small jobs carried out in areas such as kitchens and bathrooms (e.g. replacing socket-outlets on existingcircuits), will also need to be notified to the LABC.

I should imagine all the above especially applies to new installations combining the volatile mixture of electrics and water.

robowen

You could just do the work, do it to last years regs, and if anyone asks, it was like that when you bought the house. or the work was done in december.

How is anyone going to tell the difference ??

RedOnRed

robowen wrote:

You could just do the work, do it to last years regs, and if anyone asks, it was like that when you bought the house. or the work was done in december.

How is anyone going to tell the difference ??

A sneakey cunning plan!

I suppose it is one of those things where you're unlikely to get rumbled...but then people do. Just look at all the hotels and places overseas that catch fire due to safety codes being breached. The owners end up getting in deep trouble. It's when something goes wrong you'll get it in the kneck.

It might be worth finding out what the penalties are first for getting caught out. If you're at risk of getting a fine in the 1000's then it's not exactly a calculated risk.

robowen

RedOnRed wrote:

A sneakey cunning plan!

I suppose it is one of those things where you're unlikely to get rumbled...but then people do. Just look at all the hotels and places overseas that catch fire due to safety codes being breached. The owners end up getting in deep trouble. It's when something goes wrong you'll get it in the kneck.

It might be worth finding out what the penalties are first for getting caught out. If you're at risk of getting a fine in the 1000's then it's not exactly a calculated risk.

I think you missed the point of this thread.

The question asked was : "OK, Basically what I want to do is get hot and cold water and electricity (socket and light) into my shed outside so I can put a washing machine and tumble dryer in there, is this a good Idea?"

Who does the work is irrelevant. "Is it a good idea" , was the question.