Self Wiring : New Build

househero

I have bought 2 unfinished houses & I need to wire them, no rush though, money is more valuable than my time.

The houses are at sealed shell stage, stud walls and floors in. Time for wiring.

How much work can I do myself & can i get it certified by a professional after?

Can anybody recommend a good DIY book or online resource so I make sure I comply with building regs.

Poor Uncle Tom

I can't see very many electrical contractors signing off on any novis's work on an entire house. I would imagine they would have to check every wire and connection in the house to be sure, and that would cost the same as them doing all the work to begin with.

pdiddy

you can get recci or essca out to certify the house it costs around 350 to do it.

just so you know cable and such is not to cheap any more and id advise you to get some professional help first.

you could definately run most of the cabling yourself especially for sockets and cooker points and shower points and you could do the chasing and install the conduits and boxes no problem,when it comes to lighting things can get a bit tricky though,if you ask the lads over in the electrical forum they will give you some great help.

just some handy cable sizes

sockets wired in 2.5 mm cable known as 2.5 twin and earth,
max ten socket points on circuit and protected by 20 amp rcbo or 20amp mcb + rcd

lights wired with 1.5mm cable known as 1.5 twin and earth,
theres rules about how many lights you can have per circuit it depends on the wattage and location Lighting circuits protected by 10 amp mcb also lights in a bathroom must be protected by 10 amp rcbo or mcb + rcd

househero

pdiddy wrote: »

you can get recci or essca out to certify the house it costs around 350 to do it.

just so you know cable and such is not to cheap any more and id advise you to get some professional help first.

you could definately run most of the cabling yourself especially for sockets and cooker points and shower points and you could do the chasing and install the conduits and boxes no problem,when it comes to lighting things can get a bit tricky though,if you ask the lads over in the electrical forum they will give you some great help.

just some handy cable sizes

sockets wired in 2.5 mm cable known as 2.5 twin and earth,
max ten socket points on circuit and protected by 20 amp rcbo or 20amp mcb + rcd

lights wired with 1.5mm cable known as 1.5 twin and earth,
theres rules about how many lights you can have per circuit it depends on the wattage and location Lighting circuits protected by 10 amp mcb also lights in a bathroom must be protected by 10 amp rcbo or mcb + rcd

Brilliant thank you.

Is there anywhere I can read up on the rules, such as the 17th edition in the UK?

My friend is a Sparky, thing is he is registered in the UK and prob can't sign off work here. He said he will help me on 1st house but I want to be as clued up as possible on Irish regs in case there are differences.

pdiddy

You can buy the book of regs through www.etci.ie its 97.50 and can be very confusing sometimes the way they word some of the rules

new height of distrubution board is 2.25mtrs to top of board

also some rules were brought in the last few years and i think but not sure the the wiring rules only apply to the year the house was built
for example if your house was built in 2008 you would only have to apply the rules up to 2008 and not any that came in after that date but not 100% on that


have a look here and any questions you have these lads will sort ya no problem,it could give you some good tips and info

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1018

muffler

pdiddy wrote: »

have a look here and any questions you have these lads will sort ya no problem,it could give you some good tips and info

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1018

Fine idea, I'll move it there

M cebee

get some quotes off registered contractors for the work
you cant do this yourself by the sound of it

maxfresh

+1 on this

if cables are left out or done wrong at the first fix stage it will be a nightmare to redo

leeomurchu

pdiddy wrote: »

you can get recci or essca out to certify the house it costs around 350 to do it

Recci won't test or certify the house as you have no public liability insurance.

I'm not even sure Ecssa will test it as an electrician is required to be on site when testing is being carried out and you'll have to have done all the relevant tests on the circuits yourself beforehand.

I think best get a couple of quotes off registered contractors by the sounds of it you don't really have much of an idea and it can be a head ache if faults start occurring after you've wired it.

Perhaps wire the sockets yourself and leave the lighting for a spark if you make a balls of things you're gonna be paying out for a spark to fault find it anyway.

You more than likely wont find a contractor to certify your wiring as it wouldn't be worth the risk.

rum and coke

You need to prove you are a qualified spark before reci or ecssa will certify it.
A registered spark in the Uk can't certify it here.
Why would you run the risk of doing it yourself.For all you will save it might come back to haunt you.

M cebee

rum and coke wrote: »

You need to prove you are a qualified spark before reci or ecssa will certify it.
A registered spark in the Uk can't certify it here.
Why would you run the risk of doing it yourself.For all you will save it might come back to haunt you.

he can't do it himself

it's a non-runner now with rules and certification

go back 15 or 20 yrs it might be possible

TPM

As said above get some quotes for the work.
My brother built recently and he got an electrician who was happy to have him do some of the work, chasing, conduits, put in some of the cables etc. which helped keep the cost down and because the electrician was involved in what my brother was doing there was no problems when he came to finishing it off.

It seemed like a good option to me

househero

TPM wrote: »

As said above get some quotes for the work.
My brother built recently and he got an electrician who was happy to have him do some of the work, chasing, conduits, put in some of the cables etc. which helped keep the cost down and because the electrician was involved in what my brother was doing there was no problems when he came to finishing it off.

It seemed like a good option to me

Yea thats what I was thinking and as there are 2 houses (and maybe more later), I thought it would be worth me doing the dogs body work of chasing and sinking sockets.

Any idea of the cost of the sparky on your bros job there TPM?


Thanks for all the help guys.

pdiddy

I should have made it a bit clearer that he could not test it himself i did say to get professional help.

I never said reci would do any testing i said they would certify it.

as for the liability insurance i didn't know that.

Of course he'd need a spark to do the testing for him and cover the regs with him.

TPM wrote: »

As said above get some quotes for the work.
My brother built recently and he got an electrician who was happy to have him do some of the work, chasing, conduits, put in some of the cables etc. which helped keep the cost down and because the electrician was involved in what my brother was doing there was no problems when he came to finishing it off.

It seemed like a good option to me

It seems a good way to go for someone on a budget to me to but find someone to do it this way could be the problem but its worth a try.
I still think if you could get an electrician to meet you and go through the house and advise where to put sockets, switches and things like that and offer to do all chasing, install boxs and conduits,drill joists where needed and all the donkey work for him. It might save some money.

If you had a set of plans that the spark could mark all the sockets on and talk you through how to pull the cables to these and what sockets to put on each circuit.

you would be in a way be working as an electricians helper but without the pay

pdiddy

leeomurchu wrote: »

Recci won't test or certify the house as you have no public liability insurance.

I'm not even sure Ecssa will test it as an electrician is required to be on site when testing is being carried out and you'll have to have done all the relevant tests on the circuits yourself beforehand.

I think best get a couple of quotes off registered contractors by the sounds of it you don't really have much of an idea and it can be a head ache if faults start occurring after you've wired it.

Perhaps wire the sockets yourself and leave the lighting for a spark if you make a balls of things you're gonna be paying out for a spark to fault find it anyway.

You more than likely wont find a contractor to certify your wiring as it wouldn't be worth the risk.

Where do i say Reci or Ecssa would do any testing.

Also is there a way for the UK spark to get his trade recognized here or does that only work for Irish sparks going to other countries

househero

pdiddy wrote: »

I should have made it a bit clearer that he could not test it himself i did say to get professional help.

I never said reci would do any testing i said they would certify it.

as for the liability insurance i didn't know that.

Of course he'd need a spark to do the testing for him and cover the regs with him.




I still think if you could get an electrician to meet you and go through the house and advise where to put sockets, switches and things like that and offer to do all chasing, install boxs and conduits,drill joists where needed and all the donkey work for him. It might save some money.

If you had a set of plans that the spark could mark all the sockets on and talk you through how to pull the cables to these and what sockets to put on each circuit.

you would be in a way be working as an electricians helper but without the pay

Yes that sounds like a plan.

We do have the full plans. We didnt build the house our selves. They were bought unfinished. We just need to put the work in to finish them and get a sparky willing to cert for building regs.

leeomurchu

pdiddy wrote: »

Where do i say Reci or Ecssa would do any testing.

Obviously you've never had a house certified before because Reci or ecssa have to test all the circuits and they have to match the figures you've submitted.

Electrical contractors are different in so far as they do not have to have a reci or Ecssa inspector on site to certify the house but they are subject to random tests to ensure the quality of their work.

Now to make it clearer to Reci will not certify this house for the op or for an electrician he knows as they require you to have public liability insurance for them to be willing to certify the installation.

Ecssa will test the house for a fee approx €300 but you will require all insualtion res,fault loop,earth tests etc to be done and submitted with your application for certification.

Ecssa will then in turn once all relevant documents have been submitted send out an inspector to TEST the house the exact same tests as were carried out by your ELECTRICIAN and he will ensure all results submitted with your application correspond with his, your ELECTRICIAN will be required on site for this as he will also have to sign the cert. If these results differ or there is a fault on any circuit they will not issue a cert and there will be a charge for them to return to complete the testing until results are correct. At this point a cert will be issued which you submit to the ESB and they will connect your supply.

Now Pdiddy do you want to continue with this as clearly you have no idea and are passing on incorrect information to the op.

pdiddy

leeomurchu wrote: »

Now Pdiddy do you want to continue with this as clearly you have no idea and are passing on incorrect information to the op.

Like i said earlier i didn't know about the insurance thing as last time i dealt with reci was about 5 or 6 years ago and was for a cert for a slatted house where they sent an inspector out who gave me the cert on the day. I've never had them do a house for me but thought it would be the same procedure, so i apologize for any incorrect information op,

Hence the reason i told him to post on this forum. I knew he'd be set straight

So is it possible to go the Ecssa route for the op once he gets a spark to do the no-power tests and comply with the regs or do they also need you to have insurance

Again im sorry for any wrong advice,

I suppose the insurance thing makes it a lot harder for unregistered sparks to take jobs off the registered lads

leeomurchu

pdiddy wrote: »

Like i said earlier i didn't know about the insurance thing as last time i dealt with reci was about 5 or 6 years ago and was for a cert for a slatted house where they sent an inspector out who gave me the cert on the day. I've never had them do a house for me but thought it would be the same procedure, so i apologize for any incorrect information op,

Hence the reason i told him to post on this forum. I knew he'd be set straight

So is it possible to go the Ecssa route for the op once he gets a spark to do the no-power tests and comply with the regs or do they also need you to have insurance

Again im sorry for any wrong advice,

I suppose the insurance thing makes it a lot harder for unregistered sparks to take jobs off the registered lads

Ecssa don't require you to have insurance but a qualified spark has to carry out all tests according to regs and he has to be present when the inspector is on site in order to sign off on the cert.

I'd say the insurance issue is a case of reci wanting to distance themselves from any liability the same as the ESB have done.

The inspector who certified your installation should have carried out relevant tests prior to issuing a cert. Were you the spark on site as you would've had to have signed off on the cert aswell.

The easiest solution is to hire a spark either a company or someone he knows who's qualified to Irish standards (Fetac). I can't see it being an issue saving money by doing all the donkey work such as drilling joists and clearing ways for cables but if they're new builds with stud walls there probably won't be any chasing or cutting out for boxes so you won't save a packet.

At the end of the day electrical wiring is not really something you want to have a go at. You pay the prices for a competent qualified electrician to carry out the work and ensure it meets all regs. This will provide the op with a safe and fully functioning installation. You pay peanuts you get monkeys.

pdiddy

leeomurchu wrote: »

Ecssa don't require you to have insurance but a qualified spark has to carry out all tests according to regs and he has to be present when the inspector is on site in order to sign off on the cert.

So Technically i was kinda right as i did say reci or ecssa

Thanks for the info on reci though you learn something new every day.

leeomurchu wrote: »

I'd say the insurance issue is a case of reci wanting to distance themselves from any liability the same as the ESB have done.

The inspector who certified your installation should have carried out relevant tests prior to issuing a cert. Were you the spark on site as you would've had to have signed off on the cert aswell.

Yes i was the spark it was for the aul man and needed the cert for the grant. Think i was only an apprentice at the time but not sure a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then:D.
He did all the tests and i was present with him and signed the cert as well with him.

well if he has two houses beside each other no doubt they would be identical in spec and layout like in an estate, so if the op had all conduits fitted holes drilled and so on it should in theory cut down the amount of time it would take the spark to complete the house's thus cheaper bill.