DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

how much work can i carry out before the 1st fix inspection ?

am i allowed to connect anything up or is it just the placement of the wiring before i connect to the consumer unit ?

this is for a full house rewire i will be doing, the council want to come and inspect b4 the 1st fix then come again when finished to test and certify it.

thanks for any input :)

A first fix is normally considered the point where plasters take over, which would normally means nothing connected except the consumer unit, and a single temporary local socket for use by builders. I would think the LABC want to see how the cables are routed. So long as the cables are visible he could do his inspection but he is also responsible for health and safety on the site and if anything is powered up especially if there are no test results then he could get upset. I can’t understand how he can be responsible unless he pulls the fuse but he’s not allowed to do that. So only real way is to ask the responsible person i.e. ask building control. If he is testing and inspecting then there should be no power until he has completed his tests. I would be interested to know how you get on as being electricians and making out our own inspection and test certificates we never have that problem. They look at our test results and decide if they trust us or not then either sign off or re-test. Because we have tested we can turn power on. So only either a council inspector or a DIY’er is likely to be able to give a real answer.
Eric

well at the mo theres the aged consumer unit and from the mains connector box's between the meter and consumer theres 2 extra tails going to a RCD that ran the stair lift the previous owner had, so im going to use that to rig a couple of double sockets upstairs and downstairs so i have power.

im going to follow the old path as the beams under the floor boards are already cut to take the old rewire, but i wont be using spurs all over like they did before, i shall be running ring mains on the socket and light circuits.

so back box's in place along with grommits and wires hanging out with markings so i know whats what then give em a call :)

thanks ericmark

Be careful my friend you may fall foul of the council by re using the old notches. If you do use them you will have to provide adequate mechanical protection by putting some nail plates over the cable notches.

You can get them from most good electrical wholesalers/builders merchants they are called safe plates.

Nick

On the up-date to 17th Edition http://www.theiet.org/publishing/wiring ... /index.cfm they show how sockets can be connected to ring mains and radials. One problem is we have so many items with earth leakage due to filters in supply and the less sockets on each circuit to RCD the less these mount up. Using radials on B20 RCBO's has some advantages and consideration as to house size has to be made. I still use ring. Again big debate is documented on IET web site. Also lights are normally run as radials not rings no real need for ring as only 5 amp.
Good luck with what you are doing I hope it all goes well. What ever happens please let us know as our relationship with LABC is so different to yours. Normally they are helpful and I sometimes wonder why the way builders treat them.
Eric