aAsk a Tradesman

I have just had my downlights installed in my living room on a 4 gang dimmer switch with 4 low volts lights on each switch, but the switch buzzes a lot when ever any of the lights is switched on. Is there anything that can be done to stop the buzzing. The switch was bought in screw fix (LAP 250W Dimmer)

Kind Regards
Anita

Hi

We are in the process of purchasing a 1930's three bed, three reception house that will require a rewire. We are intending to do it before we move in, so there will be no furniture (except fitted kitchen etc). As we will need to stay with family and we have a 2 yr old, the quicker we can be in the better.

So my question is, can you rewire a house like this in under a week, with say 4-6 double sockets in every room (some to replace old, some to be new altogether), new downlights in the kitchen (there are some already there but they need to be replaced), extractor fan in bathroom, extractor hood in kitchen. Lighting in all the other rooms are okay, but i assume they would need rewiring to the same location? There is pendant and wall lights in all three receptions. All wiring to be in the walls and made good.

It looks as though the consumer unit was changed but the wiring wasn't.

Also, there is a detached garage on the property that currently has a power cable running to it from the house, can that be made a bit safer by going underground or is the overhanging wire normal?

Is it possible?

Is there anything else we should mention when we get to the stage of posting for quotes?

Thank you
Elaine

Hi,
My electrician has earthed our property by means of sticking a long metal rod in one of the flower beds in the garden. Is this the right and safest thing to do?

Thanks to all those who have responded thus far...appreciate your reassurance and yes the electrician has advised that he is certified.....

Thanks electrical Safety Services!! this is exactly what he has done... I was thinking about it being accidently damaged which is why I posed the question.. The job is not finished yet and he has to come back at second fix so I do not have a certificate yet. I will point this out to him and see what happens. Thx again for your sound advice..

I just want to make sure as a homeowner/landlord that electrician i hire will have all qualifications,Certified,Registered to government legislated governing bodies
or what i should ask electrician??? Please advice.

Do i have to notify Council or what first steps i should do before doing that job? Or qualified/registered electrician will do that as a proffesional? So at the end i have to ask for Periodic Inspection Report?

Thank you all for your advice

In order to satisfy my home insurance company, I recently had a NICEIC inspection on my recently purchased house (that I will be living in, not rented) which concluded that the condition of the installation was ‘Unsatisfactory’. The insurance company requires it to be ‘Satisfactory’. The property is an old house which I will be restoring over the next 2 years, and will include a full re-wire once all alterations and plastering, etc have been completed. I can understand most of the points that were highlighted in the inspection report and have no issue with most of them, except for 2 (which happen to be the most expensive to resolve!).

First, both upstairs and downstairs wiring circuits were noted to have no earth wire (it is an old house...) and the quote from the contractor which carried out the inspection included provision to re-wire, specifically “to rewire lighting circuitry (point for point as found) in order to provide earthing conductor as needed by the IEE regulations”, at a cost of £1k. My question is whether this is necessary; is there not an option to fit plastic light fittings and switches, or Class 2 fittings, throughout? There are no metal backboxes. It seems to me a waste to rewire now and then to replace in the next 2 years…

Secondly, there is a comment in Section K that not all circuits are RCD protected. The house has a relatively modern consumer unit that (I believe) was installed in 2002 (10 x MCBs, a main contactor, and an RCCB). The 80A 30mA RCCB, fitted within the consumer unit, covers the upstairs and downstairs socket ring mains. The contractor’s estimate quotes the following work: “To supply, fit and reconnect to existing circuitry as found new 17th Edition RCD/MCB consumer unit as required, complete with re-testing electrical installation, including new computer produced certification detail as required by the current edition of the IEE regulations”. I was under the impression that the IEE regulations were not retrospective and that the consumer unit needed only to be replaced if the installation was being altered. Is this correct, or do I need a new unit? Again, I would prefer to install a new unit when I re-wire!

Grateful for any advice as to whether I’m being ‘taken for a ride’!

Addition in response to queries: Sorry, I wasn't clear... The house will be extended, the ceilings will come down to be replaced, and a number of the partition walls will be moved; only then will plastering be done, so any equivalent to 1st fix work will have to be redone. So any chasing of wires done in a rewire will be useful for only a short period of time, etc. Wasn't planning to plaster/decorate then rewire :-)

So, in sum, plastic/class 2 fittings mean 'satisfactory' but undesirable?

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to reply; all very helpful.

My intent was always to get it ispected by a qualified electrician, anyway, but it was very useful to understand for non-electrical preparation.

My consumer unit does have RCD, and I have
had a new boiler installed relatively
recently. However, presumably it would
not do any harm to have additional
cross-bonding in the bathroom, anyway ?

Many thanks again.

requirements which create work. Why do many workers have the freedom to charge what they wish to do work. Should we not expect a standard scale of
costs for each job? Why do some tradesman feel they can charge £100.00 per hour for
their work. Most people with a qualification such as a University degree are barely
paid £25.00 per hour.

I am wanting to replace a bathroom extractor fan (on the wall) with a kitchen extractor fan, as they have much better air flow through them. This would be about 1m from the shower.

Is it possible? Are they the same size? Do I need to look out for a kitchen fan with a specific IP rating? Will a timer version be available?

Thanks!!

We bought a house a few months back with 3 low voltage fire protection downlights in the bathroom ceiling. One was already not working when we moved in, one went a couple of weeks later after winking and waning a lot. The third has just stopped working. We have no idea how to change these. The bulb seems entirely encased in the light fitting. The front bit doesn't seem to detach. Would we actually need an electrician to change these bulbs? (seems ridiculous!) I have attached a photo which I hope shows the kind of lights they are. Any help appreciated.

http://pburns1.posterous.com/bathroom-downlight