Home DIY

Future owners will thank you for installing a switch that appears to be off in both positions. Building regs require that every house in the UK has one.

That's where I'm at at the moment - only with 4 switches. Can't find the right combo of 'double' and 2 gang to find out if what I want doesn't exist or if I can't find it. We've just moved in and no interner at the moment so searching through mobile versions of sites at the moment is more hassle than I can be bothered with.

Use this stuff to build your own.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical/grid-wiring/c802
You'll end up with one blank but at least it's not a confusing switch.

There was no plastering included in the quote. Spoke to the boss, who explained that there is a deafening layer of hardwood+ rubble/ash/dirt between lath and plaster ceiling and upstairs floorboards. His explanation was that it would be a much longer, dirtier job if they came from above, having to lift a lot of floorboards to clear it all out and repeatedly cut through to fish the cabling though.

I think that replastering sections of a ceiling is probably preferential to having to replace a load of broken floor boards, which we would quite like to have exposed.

I'm putting a lot of this down to lack of experience in what to expect with having works done. But on the other hand trying to not allow it be taken advantage of.

Can you get a blank one and cut your own slots?

If the garage power is already a spur then you are not supposed to take another spur off of that spur.

A lot depends on budget and the use case for the garage. If you are planning on a decent well used workshop type garage and you have the money to set one up then you are probably going to get a professional electrician to do it for you.

If like most people you are not going to get enough time to spend in the garage on your household projects or fill your garage with light industrial tools like lathes etc. then you could stick with the current setup and add an extension from the house which is a simple 13 amp plug socket with standard extension cord, as long as it's not fixed wiring it doesn't come under the regulations.

Anyone installed a smart switch? Am not bothered about having the smartest home in the world, just after replacing the porch switch (on the inside next to the front door) to a smart switch so can Alexa/IFTTT for a timer or link to motion detectors on a camera. Simplest answer would be a smart bulb but inevitably the switch will get turned off killing the whole thing.

Various chat on that here https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/260435

I would love proper smart switches, but I don't think there are any that really meet my needs currently, but two options are;

Lightwave 2 (true smart switches, but very pricy!)
Hue bulbs with the dimmer switch which you can mount over the switch

I'm looking to put wooden flooring throughout my new place, I'd ideally have some lovely original Victorian parquet but is waaay out of my price range and installation skills.

I've been looking at engineered wood (I've dreams of some electric underfloor heating) but all the samples I've seen so far look a little shit. Can anyone recommend a decent supplier?

Where are you based?

Edit: electric underfloor heating can be pricey to run.

I'm in Leyton. Have had a look at the underfloor heating costs - going to try to get it installed sparingly!

What kind of under floor heating? Electric or water?

Its not exactly local to you but flooring trade sales in Denham are very good. I've used them a lot in the past they have a fantastic range (some of it very pricey) but it usually comes in considerably less than the equivalent from a central London "designer" flooring supplier.

Edit Also if you're after the parquet look you can get engineered t&g parquet style flooring.

Electric, probably only in the front room - I'm knocking though two reception rooms and not sure the radiators will be enough

Excellent, thanks will get over for a look this weekend

If the garage power is already a spur then you are not supposed to take another spur off of that spur.

You can spur off a spur but you need to put a 13A fuse between them. You are effectively doing the same thing when you plug in a 4 way extension lead.

It's not ideal though and extending the ring is a safer and better idea.

I'm not sure they count as a "decent supplier" but I bought kitchen tiles from B&Q and while I was in the flooring aisle I was looking at their solid wood and engineered flooring and some of it looked quite impressive. They had some kind of herringbone parquet there as well.

It was this: https://www.diy.com/departments/goodhome-skara-natural-oak-solid-wood-flooring-0-86m-pack/3663602537403_BQ.prd

Even cowboy me would run anything but the bare minimum in the garage.

Maybe run cable back to the start of the spur to make it part of the ring main, but then..... How far is the fuse board from the garage?

I don't like the look of surface mount, it looks cheap and jobs don on the cheap. Then I have seen (in France) some surface mount conduit that looks like skirting board and that I do like as it is unseen.

Just being nosey I don't know much, last time I looked in to it the idea of underfloor heating was looking at heat pump to heat the water to run underfloor heating but that was for a possible self build. Doing that to an older house would need an increase in insulation. When I looked at the electric ones the running costs were higher but initial out lay cost lower, then was the idea of adding solar cells on the roof to offset the cost.

I've discovered the main arseache with skirting surface mount boxes since we just moved in: modern plugs with integrated strain relief and bulkier adapters won't fit because they foul on the floor.

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right but are you saying the two main options are:

A: do it properly via a qualified electrician

B: run a temporary extension cable from the house when I want to do work?

Why couldn't I just run an extension out of the single socket already in the garage?

The french ones are just for the cables you still run the cable up to the socket on the wall. Those type remind me of an IT room with the cables and sockets at waist height.

I've got round that by fitting the sockets upside down.

Depends what you are using in the garage.

Edit swaping socket for something like this https://www.qvsdirect.com/13a-30ma-rcd-protected-white-single-double-pole-switched-socket

Or using something like this - https://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-rcd-adaptor/63731?tc=CA2&ds_kid=92700038959852098&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1249401&ds_rl=1245250&gclsrc=ds