Full electrical rewire - anything missing?

anotherginger

Currently getting a couple of quotes for a full re-wire of a 1940s house. Some of the original wiring is still in use and there is some dodgy electrical DIY that has been done over the years. I've put together a specification - is there anything glaringly obvious that I've missed or any improvements that you can recommend?

Front Door - 2 outside pir lights
Foyer - 1x normal pendant/ceiling mouted light fitting
Understairs - New Consumer Unit (if necessary),1x Light Switch, 1x ceiling mounted light fitting, 1x double socket
Downstairs Toilet - 1x ceiling mounted light fitting, 1x pull cord
Hall - 1x ceiling mounted light fitting, 1x double light switch (linked to hall and landing lights), 1x double light switch (linked to foyer and front door lights)
Landing - x1 double light switch (linked to hall and landing lights), x1 smoke alarm, x1 ceiling mounted light fitting
Living Room - 6x double sockets (incl 4 double sockets or 3 triple sockets behind tv), 1x double light switch (linked to wall lights and pendant light), 1x pendant light, 2x wall lights, 1x smoke alarm
Dining Room - 3x double sockets, 1x light switch, 1x pendant light, 1x smoke alarm
Kitchen - 1x heat alarm (rewire of kitchen to be carried out at later date)
All Bedrooms - 3x double sockets, x1 light switch, x1 pendant light
Bathroom - 1 ceiling mounted light fitting, x1 pull cord, Wall unit – light and shaver wired in
Attic - 1x light switch in hatch, 1x double socket
Outside – check current lighting and make safe if necessary
Any necessary bonding

I haven't put in any phone points. We have virgin media and the phone is beside the TV in the living room. As with most people these days, our mobiles are in use more than the house phone.

Happy-Days_3

3 plug sockets per bedroom just ain't enough in my opinion. You are gettin it done, spend another few hundred and at least 4-5 per room. Saves all the extension cords and cursing later on.

I owuld also put a socket on the external wall out the back of your house (assuming you have a garden that uses lawn mower or other electrical appliances).

If you are re-doing the bathroom and have a tiled floor, get some elec underfloor. Not worth riping a bathroom out to put it in, but I think it is well worth it if a bathroom is going in the near future anyway. Just get a point run and leave it disconnected for now.

Virgin - you want that in more than 1 room? Maybe get some cables run to put a point in the kitchen and bedroom too? Even if you don't plan on it atm, can't add it in later.

One I forgot on ours - Carbon Monoxide alarm - Though only applicable if you have any gas appliances.

Re-wire is something on which it isn't worth debating over that extra plug socket or extra TV extension in my opinion. Probably only gets done on a house every 30 or 40 years. You can't add anything later. So for once, it is better to spend a bit more and waste it, then get 12 months down the line and curse yourself for not having that extra socket or TV aerial.

macman

Full testing, report and certification after install?
I agree, minimum 4-6 sockets (3 doubles per room).

Bigmoney2

Extraction fan in bathroom wired into light socket

Door bell wired into mains or if using a wireless one a socket (or 2) in hall to plug bell into.

Electric sockets in hall and on landing are useful for hoovering /lamps / plug in air fresheners.

May be worth a socket or two near the phone point, you may need them for cordless phone, or router .

hc25036

Agree about hall/foyer sockets as ours are vital for hoovering. Are you computer users? If so, running network cables while the rewiring is being done could be useful and help when selling the house in the future.

Tony_

pull-cord in bedrooms? (over beds)

LEJC

We have just had an elecrtical rewire and one light that we had put in has transformed our stair area....if you have a hallway/stairs landing senario with quite a drop from the ceiling as you look down the stairs you might want to consider a spotlight direcly above....they light up the area brilliantly and actually give a much better light than either of the 2 pendants that we had fitted in the hallway and the one at the top of the stairs


Also we had 2 wired in smoke detectors...one downstairs in the hallway and one upstairs

I would certainly suggest plenty of sockets in the lounge at least 4 doubles with more around the area of your tv...

Each bedroom we opted for 4 doubles

certainly agree about sockets in the hallway for vacuum and possibly one near the front door if you have an outside area ie need to cut grass or as we do vacuum the car after we clean it.

baldelectrician

I would suggest at least 2 smoke detectors and if you get spots above stairs make sure it is easy to replace the lamp when it goes

Think about tv ariels and wired network points as well

phill99

Tony_ wrote: »

pull-cord in bedrooms? (over beds)

Heavens above, NO!

As other posters have said.

Extra sockets in all rooms. Socket in hallway and landing, external socket to rear.

If you ave large rooms with more than one door, put a 2 way switch near each door so you can put on the lights regardless of which doorway you enter through.

anotherginger

Thanks, all food for thought!

I've included smoke/heat detectors in all downstairs rooms and the landing already. I'll check to see if there are any that also function as CO alarms.

What type of cable should I be asking for to run Virgin to other rooms? We don't have a tv aerial.

In terms of internet, it would be great to have it wired to all rooms. The barrier is time and costs, and know-how! Is this something simple for an electrician to do? Everything I have read up on it sounds like there would be work for me to do afterwards with putting face plates on and getting the wires sorted in a central 'hub'. Should I just ask the electrician to run a cat5 cable to each room and putting a blank plate on it until we have some time on our hands? I assume I would also need to run a connection from the router to the 'hub'? (It would make most sense for the central location to be under the stairs which is also where the fuse box will be).

rustyboy21

All I can say is that when we had ours done, the elctrician said I had asked for enough sockets in the house to fill 2 4 bed houses ! I even had them put in the floor behind the TV in the bay, so I wouldn't have any trailing wires.

And you know what? I don't have one extension lead or socket in use in the whole house. I even had surge protector sockets put in for the computer/tv etc.

I would suggest more sockets in the kitchen over the worktops. You are not bound to distance then for using kitchen appliances.