Home DIY

Just finished decorating the loft room so my teenage daughter could move up there. Hadn't really touched the room in the 6 years we've been here. Seemed to take an age to do anything as everything that had been previously done had been done to a shoddy standard. Previously had no heating up there however sorted that out last year when the boiler was replaced.
Everything including the doors had been painted blue previously.
Took many coats for the blue to become white.
Downlights replaced with LED ones, switches and sockets swapped out for Gira ones. Not a bad place to study for GCSEs.
On the plus side, my sanding, caulking, filling and painting skills have definitely improved.

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I'd replace that with something rated for your current draw and with appropriate cable retention.

Eg

Nice transformation

Crumbscrikey! The thanks I need is a pic of the job when it’s finished.

It has taken significantly longer than I expected it to to get this lining in straight.

Now to trim 1cm off the base of the door and stick it in the hole.

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After putting a few more bits of packing and fixtures into the lining, plus some structural foam.

Did you do anything to keep the lining straight while fitting it? Couple of pieces of scrap helped when I was doing it

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Hah, I did - but then discovered that I'd measured to the higher side, and had to take it back out and redo it.

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Any idea what kind of insulation this is?

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Afghan Hounds?

Anyone with a good link to a tutorial to build a cabinet to hide the electric meter inside by the front door?

It at least doesn’t look like any of the stuff in any of the asbestos training I’ve done recently. But it also doesn’t look like any other insulation I’ve seen before.

Did any of them look just like straw? Was surprised to find that lurking below the modern stuff in my loft yesterday. Assumed it was actual straw, probably as old as the house, if not... It's been nice knowing you.

Surely if in any doubt whatsoever, assume ACM and get it tested to confirm

Can i ask where your house numbers are from?!

We’ll be out of there by the time we get results, and having had asbestos training it doesn’t look like anything you get warned about.
The joys of occupational hazards.

Maybe send the pic to these guys?
https://inspectapedia.com/insulation/Insulation-Identification-Guide.php

Neutra - fonthaus Sheffield - available via eBay

Annoying electrician has struck again. Questions for the more knowledgeable folks.

Has put two new sockets in the bedroom at 450mm above the floor, when all other sockets are a more "reasonable" height. He just said "regulation", and I couldn't be fucked to talk to him anymore. Reading Part M, 450mm is only a requirement for new homes or where the rest of the home is already Part M compliant. As my house is definitely not, and we do not have accessibility issues, my argument is there was no need to mount them at a low earth orbit level. Am I wrong?

He has also said that the upstairs socket rings are on 20A and should be on 32A. The CU was only replaced recently so it's my guess/understanding that the electrician that did the CU install, because it wasn't a full re-wire, used 20A as he couldn't confirm the current carrying capacity of the existing wiring well enough or see if it ran through insulation, to be able to fit 32A MCBs. So leaving them at 20A is the sensible thing to do. Current (pun intended) annoying spark is saying they have to be 32A. Again, am I wrong?

If you aren't changing the circuit then it doesn't need changing. Also 20A safer than 32A so unless it trips, leave it.

No idea on the height. Our kitchen/lounge were recently done and sockets were a mix of 230,380mm to bottom of socket. I usually fit myself to whatever height I want.

Also 20A safer than 32A so unless it trips, leave it.

This was my thought, not like I'll be boiling a kettle or fitting a stove in the spare room...

No, they don’t need to be at 450mm because it’s not a new build or part of a substantial enough extension. I have my guide to part P somewhere that has the exact stipulations, but unless something has changed, perfectly fine to install at normal height. Might just be used to doing them at 450 as that is the new standard tho.
It might be on a 20a because you have a broken ring so it’s essentially 2x 2.5mm radial circuits. 2.5mm as a radial can only take 20A, while set up as a ring can take 32A, it’s a very common thing to do when you can’t get ring readings. You’d need to do end to end continuity of the conductors to confirm either way.
Absolutely no problem having a ring on a 20A breaker. Ib ≤ In ≤ Iz - ib Load, must be less than in breaker rating, which must be less than what the cable is rated for.
Unless you’re planning on having a very heavy load on the circuit, 20A is perfectly fine.

Thanks. I think this guy has just riled me up enough already that I'm sensitive to anything he says. And because so much of my job is consuming and regurgitating technical specifications in a way that others can understand, I hate it when someone just says, "because regs" without explaining why. Makes me think they don't actually understand the regs themselves if they can't explain them or know where they might not apply.

Or they are fresh out of training and have no actual real world experience yet.

This sounds like most of them, just pull random information from nowhere without explanation or comprehension of the facts.

2007 we had a full house rewire after we'd basically rebuilt it from the ground up. Guy who wired it came recommended by many folk, once he was gone and fixed some of his issues, building controller was in to sign a few things off (major job), got stuck into wiring and locations of things and basically threw a hissy fit. Rightly so as it turned out, the electrician was on his last year of work before retiring and just seemed to deliberately fuck everything up to spite everyone. Most of the issues were wrong sized cabling, incomplete earths in various places, the consumer unit was out of date/ undersized and one other thing, too long ago to rememeber. But had trusted him as good rep + seemed to know the facts*

*Maybe from a few decades prior, but not current knowledge anymore.