having complete rewire and got a few questions

jaxxy00

We are having a complete rewire which starts next Monday 13th and i have a few questions.

Currently we have 2 double sockets in our front room (18' x 12) and 1 double socket in each of our bedrooms (12'x10, 8'x10', 8'x6' approx) and have been told we must have doubles in each of our bedrooms and 4 doubles in our front room (kitchen already has plenty). What i would like to know is how do you decide where best to put the sockets as i dont want to have them put in then realise we should have had them elsewhere?

I was thinking maybe with the frontroom it would be best to have a double within each corner of the room, do you agree? Maybe similar with the bedrooms. I know we may need more than 2 sockets in some areas but then we could just use an extension with four sockets instead of having a corner with no sockets and having to trail leads all around. What do you think?

Another thing is light fittings. They will put in our own fittings (housing association property) so i am thinking of getting ceiling fans but wondered if the lights on these are dimmable? This one im looking at has GU10 halogen bulbs fitted and the other golf ball BC bulb also R50 SES reflector bulbs.
I need one for my front room and then others for the bedrooms. Which would be dimmable and most suitable, also are they expensive bulbs to buy as we have bulbs blow quite often although im assuming that we a rewire this shouldnt happen afterwards.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4321273.htm

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4309415.htm

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4312732.htm

Wish us luck as with what they are asking us to do we may as well be moving which i couldnt bear the thought of :eek: Im a bit of a hoarder!! Our loft has to be totally emptied (everyone keeps telling us something different :mad: ) all bedroom stuff packed away and moved into middle of rooms, kitchen units taken down and contents packed away. Theres not much room to move in these bedrooms now!! All laminate flooring for whole of upstairs needs to be taken up. All this stuff needs packing and stacking somewhere. Tonight i emptied one of my bookcases and this filled 5 boxes.

I can see them coming to start the work and then refusing because they cant work around the boxes. I think the most annoying thing is that they want access to all areas at the same time. We have been warned that the houses in our area have been found to have woodworm so we may need floorboards replacing which isnt too bad, but our plaster sounds very hollow in our front room and weve been told that it may all need replastering which we will not know until they start channeling in. If so the whole room has to be emptied. :eek:

laird

The presence of boxes would not be too bad but have you considered the amount of dust that is created in channelling a wall, it is certainly the most unpleasant process i have ever undergone on a house. Perhaps it might be best for both the electrician and you to move the house contents to storage.

Sockets in the corners are quite common, the answer to where you place them is really a personal choice based on how you plan to use the room.

Let the electrician install the standard fittings, when they are installing the ones in the rooms where you are considering dimmers and fans, ask whether the system installed is appropriate for what you propose and whether the ceiling is likely to be able to support the weight.

Ceiling fans are rather old fashioned have you considered asking for a socket at which you can connect your air conditioner?

Nobleck

For the lounge i would think about how many appliances you use with the television eg TV, SKY BOX, DVD PLAYER, GAMES CONSOLE (2 TWIN SOCKETS SIDE BY SIDE HERE) then look at where you phone point is (does it need power for the base station? if so have a socket near the phone point.
Also where would be the easiest place to plug in a vacuum cleaner? put one there.
Does the room have a dark corner? put a socket there for a standard lamp.
Then where will the stereo go? put a socket there.
To be honest you can never have enough sockets and if you are going to have an upheaval then you might as well have plenty installed.
Bedrooms, a socket near the door for the vacuum cleaner, a couple of sockets either side of the bed for alarm clocks and desk lamps, maybe a socket at high level for a wall mounted television.
Use the same principle as the Lounge for thinking about how many sockets to have for a computer e.g (scanner, printer, monitor, pc tower, speakers, modem)personally here i would have at least 3 twin sockets.
With regards to fan lights, if you want to dim these tell the Electrician because the wiring will need to be adjusted slightly (using a switch line and neutral and earth will not only dim the lights but also slow the fan speed down as well)
I hope this helps, this is how i work out socket locations for my clients.

jaxxy00

Thanks for your comments.

Laird i have to agree somewhat that the ceiling fans are old fashioned so it will have to be a case of picking an ok ish one from what i can find. Have found another one though from homebase that i will be getting for the front room. Hubby doesnt want ceiling fan but its a practical choice to give more floor space so he has to agree

Nobleck i will mention to the electrician that i will be using a ceiling fan so he can do what he needs to do with the wiring.

Update on the bookcase emptying:- both bookcases are partially emptied (one has double doors on the bottom half which is yet to be emptied and the other has 1 1/2 shelves of books still to pack) and so far i have filled 12 boxes :eek: These are all full size boxes (almost crisp box size) except for 2 of them and are all full. I keep looking at the pile of boxes and wonder how on earth they all fitted on the bookcases

It took me about 1 1/2 hours this morning to find my egg boxes and carefully pack all my eggs. Farberge type eggs in case youre wondering !!
Omg i dread the thought of ever having to move if this is anything to go by:eek:

ianeverton

I have to agree totally with Nobleck, the price per point (socket) is very little compared to the amount of time you will ahve the use of them considering the upheaval you will suffer during the rewire. You dont want to go through that and feel as though you only have half a job done.

Also it is in the regulations that in a lounge where the entertainment system (TV etc) will be you must have two double sockets and a socket by the incoming phone point.

Another major consideration is the kitchen, same again the more the merrier.

With regards to the boxes in the middle of the rooms, this will probably be okay as the spark will use long pieces of plastic strip to "fish" cables under the floorboards. Only thing is sometimes you hit the noggins in between the joists and have to get other boards up.

Best of luck and i hope it is worth it for you.

jaxxy00

Well im still on here and in 6 hours they will be here to start the work :eek:

I just dont really fancy going and sleeping on the floor in the front room, dont think im going to get much sleep. IN case youre wondering why were sleeping on the floor its because it easier for our room to be packed and ready for them now than in the morning. Our bed is wrapped and stood up and theres no way im having them pulll that about or move it cos it cost a lot (£1000) and im not having it messed up. If the mattress gets folded or bent it will mess all the pocket springs up. THey will probably think im a moaning old so and so but i dont care. Youngest daughter is in bed and oldest is round friends.

I was going to put the ceiling fans up myself until i got the papers out on fitting and saw where it says it must be connected to earth. When i looked we only have black and red wires coming out the light fittings instead of brown/blue and earth. So will have to wait and see if they will put them up or not.

This is going to be the happy house tomorrow!! Will be tired from not much comfy sleep on the floor, up at 6am and all grumpy and moany then when they come and start work we have got to live outside under the gazebo with the parrot and dog. Great :eek:

Im dreading t

patwa_2

All the best with the rewiring. Just keep in mind the benefits and how life will be easier when it's all done. You could even use the opportunity of having everything packed to do a bit of furniture re-arranging later - give the place a bit of a new look.

I can sympathise with you having boxes everywhere, Our top floor is a bit like a ware house as everything from my room has been packed to give floor space for the construction of a new bed. How on earth all that stuff ever fit in here I'll never know. and how on earth it's going to fit back in when I change from a single to a double bed I'll have to figure out somehow.

H.

Nobleck

Don't worry about the colours of the lighting cables, because the rewire should include the lighting circuit as well (assuming you have asked for a total rewire that is). Goodluck

Baldwin_2

I'm due to have house rewired very soon. Absolutely necessary (no earths in lights, complete botch job previously done, some rooms without any sockets etc) and I am now VERY worried about it.

We are going to stay with my parents while it is done so at least that is one thing (although that is a challenge in itself) but what on earth do you do with all your stuff? Do I literally have to pack everything up as if we were moving or is putting everything away in drawers and cupboards sufficient? Will I need to cover all furniture?

Thanks

debbie42

You will inevitably have some dust (and rubble) from the channels they have to cut out.

It depends on your electrician, to a degree, so I'd ask them. Ours were used to refurbing pubs and the like and made a right mess. A friend had it done soon after, and it was brilliantly tidy. Different electricians though.

If I was doing it again, I'd make sure I had a personal recommendation (rather than rely on my builder!), tidy away as much as possible, and be there on-site, or drop in regularly to check up on progress.

It shouldn't be necessary to empty a house, and you can't dust sheet everything, but the care and attention of the workers will make all the difference.

Hope it goes well.

ritesh

Hi All

We recently had our whole house re-wired (plus new extension + complete strip and re-plumb with system condensing boiler and megaflow).

We inevitably had to pack all our belongings in boxes and store them in our garage. At the time it seemed like a lot of effort in doing this but looking back I would say that it is the best way as it allows every one to work in the house with out tripping over, moving furniture around. Our house was lacking in sockets and those it did have were in strange places. So, as the above threads read, we had pleny of double sockets added in all the rooms thinking primarily of all the electrical equipment that would be in each of the rooms.

Also, do not forget the hall ways as it is very convenient to have double sockets here as well (plus arial and phone sockets in the bedrooms)

The mess from chasing out the walls to house the conduits was suprising even when the electrician used a hover attachment to his chaser. It is amazing how particulate dust manages to get in to every nook and cranny even when they are wrapped up.

We have just recently dumped all our clothing with the dry cleaners now that the project is over.

We are very pleased with the end result and it was definitely worth the several months of inconvenience.