DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

I'm installing a new ring main in the downstairs part of the house at the moment as all the current sockets are spurs taken from the current ring which is entirely upstairs.

I'm aware of the regulations and that all the work needs to be PAT tested and signed off by a qualified electrician and I'm purely doing all the cabling, chasing and fitting sockets. I'll be having a new consumer unit fitted shortly and the new ring will be wired into this once it's been tested.

Is there any restrictions on how the cable is laid - such as through the joists under the floorboards, behind skirting, chased into the wall etc?

Hi, if you are aware of the 'regs' you will know you can't install a new circuit yourself & then expect some other [poor sap] registered leckie to connect it up and sign to say the installation complies with building regs!
Also the wiring must conform to IEE regs, both of which have requirements as to cable size, routing, protection, and have an Installation Certificate issued (nothing to do with Portable Appliance Testing).
If you intend to do any of this yourself you need to pay a fee to Local Authority Building Control FIRST or get a registered leckie in NOW,
this is law!!!
regards SPARX

Hi Buzzard,
Sparx is right,
you should have contacted building controls or got an electrician right from the start.
New circiuts need to have an intial verification done on them,
so you need EIC and schedules of inspection and test.
If you are going to use an electrician to test your circuit and issue documents, i'd expect them to at least oversee your work at both first and second fix. AS would building controls.
The answer to your question ; is of course there are restriction!
Cable routing, permitted zones, containment, mechanical protection, basic protection, fault protection, cable calulation, diversity, volt drop, disconnection times and correction factors all could play a part in the design and installation of this circuit.
There are common rules, I would as I have said before not knock anyone for trying out DIY. I really don't think electrical installation comes under that banner anymore though.
If you want to carry out this work yourself and have an electrician certify it at the end get one involved from the start.
KB