DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

i have built an office in my garden (glorified shed), which is fairly close to the house. max 10m away. i have an existing external grade socket, which is fitted with a breaker. i do not know, while typing this, whether this socket is on a ring main or is a spur off the main ring etc...(i am also not sure whether that last sentence makes sence!). can i spur off this external socket with armoured cable to run under ground into the office to a consumer unit and then run another ring main from the consumer unit for switches and a lighting circuit with two-way switching. with the building being used as an office, i will probably want to install at least 6 double sockets and then a small lighting circuit. is this possible? do not panic, i will not be doing the works, i will be getting a qualified electrician to connect up and approved inspectors will definately make an appearance somewhere.

many thanks in advance for your advise.

regards

lloyd

Short answer is NO! even if the socket is on a ring, which is very unlikely but easy to check, (only 1 cable = spur), you can' loop off it to do what you want, don't forget the 'breaker?' RCD? only protects that socket outlet & if looping on from it the rest of the circuit would not be covered by RCD.
Be prepared for your Part P leckie to want to run new supply (probably 6/10mm cable ) from mains to shed to a so called 'garage unit' which is a small RCD controlled 2 gang consumer unit with 32A mcb for sockets plus 6A mcb for lights, regards SPARX