Rewire completed but Electrician has left the Garage off new circuit

Peronihull

Hiya,

Just wanting some advice as I am a bit puzzled. I have recently bought a new house which we are in the process of modernising. http://fixingupcoltash.com/home/ We've pretty much finished the first wave of works and are now getting ready to decorate and move back in...

As part of this first wave we have had a fully electrical re wired and a new consumer unit added. Generally, all is working fine and is as we expected apart from the power we previously had into our garage is now no longer working. This is because the spark, has cut all the wires into the old unit to connect the new one up and he didn't realise we had a garage power point.

I've messaged him about it, as i'd like to have power restored, and am waiting to hear, but I just wondered if you had any opinions?

1) Should we have specifically said, don't cut the power to the garage off? - We weren't this explicit, but assumed (probably to our cost now!) that they would as part of the re wire, do exactly that - re wire all sockets / plugs both internal and external.

2) If it wasn;t included, and we have to "add it on" how much are we talking? The garage is in a different building so not connected to the house at all, so we'd have to run cables under ground for a few feet, is this likely to be a big job / expense?

Thks in advance!

phoenix_w

Sounds like they've cocked up, to be honest. If they found a ring/radial they couldn't account for during the CU swap over, they should have asked you.

The only thing that muddies the waters a bit is you also mention you've had the property rewired - if they didn't put new cable to the garage and an outbuilding CU, and they didn't suggest this then there has been a communication breakdown somewhere.

I'd get on the blower and talk to them about it sharpish.

martinsurrey

In my experience you'll find the old garage bodge was run off the downstairs sockets.

As such when the rewire happened he cut all the downstairs wires and re wired everything he could see, so all the sockets, and didnt see the spur going outside to the garage.

If you didnt tell him there was power in the garage, or that you wanted it, I would be hard pressed to blame him.

depending on the run from where you can get power to the garage it could be pretty expensive (if there are pipes in the way, or other blockages, or it could be really cheap if you do the digging!

min I would say is a days electrician, £190, plus cable £30, plus the cost to dig (how longs a piece of string)

you'll need a seperate circute

SailorSam

To put power out into our garage what i did was take a cable leading from a socket in the loft out into the garage. It was a bit like a high up washing line. What i'd done was put a strong steel cable berween the two buildings and then hung the electric cable to it using plastic straps about 1' apart.
When we were getting a rewire the electrician told me that may have been the way it was done in years gone by, but it's not legal now, the cable needs to be in conduit and buried. He told me i had to unplug it in the loft before he could carry on. He then said if i chose to plug it back in the new socket in the loft it was nothing to do with him once he'd gone.

Peronihull

Hi thanks for the updates so far.

All the garages in the street seem to have power, it was part of the design, so I don't think it was "unofficial" to start with. Its labelled on the old fuse board and there's a big switch as well so I am surprised he missed it.

Both the rewire and the new consumer unit were done by the same electrician, so I have already asked him to come back and look at it...

Its the first time I have done build like this (learning so much along the way!!) so its probably one of things to chalk up to experience...

The only thing stopping me digging up the drive right now to get the cable laid is the fact we might do an extension at some point... so am wondering if I can live without it until then...

SailorSam

Peronihull wrote: »

The only thing stopping me digging up the drive right now to get the cable laid is the fact we might do an extension at some point... so am wondering if I can live without it until then...

For the time being if you could manage with a long extension lead each time you go out there.
I wanted to put water out in the garage and now the electrician has told me about the power, i thought if i dig up the garden to bury a water pipe i'll do the electric at the same time.
That's on the 'to do' list.

brightontraveller

martinsurrey wrote: »

In my experience you'll find the old garage bodge was run off the downstairs sockets.

As such when the rewire happened he cut all the downstairs wires and re wired everything he could see, so all the sockets, and didnt see the spur going outside to the garage.

If you didnt tell him there was power in the garage, or that you wanted it, I would be hard pressed to blame him.

depending on the run from where you can get power to the garage it could be pretty expensive (if there are pipes in the way, or other blockages, or it could be really cheap if you do the digging!

min I would say is a days electrician, £190, plus cable £30, plus the cost to dig (how longs a piece of string)

you'll need a seperate circute

Rewire "everything he could see" :rotfl: is that what you think people put on estimates/quotese..... Also "cable £ 30" what they connecting that too air? Do they grab hold of it to power items ditto for lighting??? Underground in trench then it should have layers of shingle/sand,. Min depth. identifiers possibly ducting etc etc more hassle than most want to pay most would opt for swa surface/clipped, catenary wire etc ....


If its complete rewire either it was included in the estimate/quote or it wasn’t read the what they gave you?

[FONT=&quot]If not depends on load, spare ways in existing board, cable type/ routing , installation method etc most would use separate feed from house board on individual rcbo to garage. new board in garage, sockets, lighting, switches, possible earth stake[FONT=&quot], [/FONT]cable , clips etc min £400 – £600[/FONT] but they could well bodge it for less ...

brightontraveller

SailorSam wrote: »

When we were getting a rewire the electrician told me that may have been the way it was done in years gone by, but it's not legal now, the cable needs to be in conduit and buried. He told me i had to unplug it in the loft before he could carry on. He then said if i chose to plug it back in the new socket in the loft it was nothing to do with him once he'd gone.

He lied to you cable doesn't have to be buried or in conduit there are plenty of other options...

martinsurrey

brightontraveller wrote: »

Rewire "everything he could see" :rotfl: is that what you think people put on estimates/quotese.....

no but I know from experience that old houses have layers upon layers of wiring, and to follow every wire from source to final would take months, so often the wiring isnt followed and is done on an outlest basis, so an old random cable found going out of a socket wont be traced.

brightontraveller wrote: »

Also "cable £ 30" what they connecting that too air? Do they grab hold of it to power items ditto for lighting??? Underground in trench then it should have layers of shingle/sand,. Min depth. identifiers possibly ducting etc etc more hassle than most want to pay most would opt for swa surface/clipped, catenary wire etc ....

http://www.screwfix.com/p/prysmian-lv-armoured-6943x-3-core-cable-6mm-x-50m-black/36123

£30 for 10m and electricians can get it cheaper, and I did say just for cable, other bits and bobs wont be much.

brightontraveller wrote: »

If its complete rewire either it was included in the estimate/quote or it wasn’t read the what they gave you?

This i agree with

brightontraveller wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]If not depends on load, spare ways in existing board, cable type/ routing , installation method etc most would use separate feed from house board on individual rcbo to garage. new board in garage, sockets, lighting, switches, possible earth stake[FONT=&quot], [/FONT]cable , clips etc min £400 – £600[/FONT] but they could well bodge it for less ...

the electrician element of both of ours isnt too far different, I've got a full day of electrician time, plus the ground works (which no one can guess how much it'll be, it could be lawn or 2' of concrete he's going through), considering a grarage will have surface mounted everything, it shouldnt take a spark more than a day total.

Peronihull

Thanks for more replies. As noted in my OP. We didn't explicitly ask for the garage circuit to be rewired, but then we didn't specifically ask for an "enclosed light" in the bathroom or wired in smoke alarms. These were added as we did a walk around the house. I'm just annoyed I didn't think about this sooner... but when you are dealing with the vendors from hell... stuff gets missed.

As an update I've spoken to the electrician and we have a plan to rectify... (doesn't involve digging) so my dreams of a chest freezer are back on. So posted really to help others... the devil's in the detail!

brightontraveller

martinsurrey wrote: »

no but I know from experience that old houses have layers upon layers of wiring, and to follow every wire from source to final would take months, so often the wiring isnt followed and is done on an outlest basis, so an old random cable found going out of a socket wont be traced.

Electricians don’t trace feeds etc on a rewire….? You simply ask Clients “any specific requirements” switching, socket locations fittings types, styles etc “yes” or “no” if “yes” specify. Even when client says no you always ask and verify … so nothing in loft /outside etc

martinsurrey wrote: »

http://www.screwfix.com/p/prysmian-lv-armoured-6943x-3-core-cable-6mm-x-50m-black/36123

£30 for 10m and electricians can get it cheaper, and I did say just for cable, other bits and bobs

The other "bits and bobs wont be much." try 5 x to 10x the amount of the cable all in...?

martinsurrey wrote: »

the electrician element of both of ours isnt too far different, I've got a full day of electrician time, plus the ground works (which no one can guess how much it'll be, it could be lawn or 2' of concrete he's going through), considering a grarage will have surface mounted everything, it shouldnt take a spark more than a day total.

Yes you can guess they won't be going in the ground the regs don't require it .Neither does the client want to pay for it or electrician want to do it 99% of the time its simply not required ... and installation methods depends on location requirements regs etc many garages would be in conduit or trunking with metal clad outlets ip rated lights etc etc its a rewire by an electrician not a DIYer