Home DIY

No, it was made from scratch from a lot of lengths of timber

Right so all my ceilings have some moody artex effect and have since noticed that it's started to crack where to floor joists are. I've also noticed now that it's been repaired before.

What do you do to patch it up?

If I had the money I'd have it skimmed but I don't so I won't.

Can you stick up 3mm board and staple it into the joists and paint over it. Remember to cut a hole for the light fittings if you've a pendent?

Much cheaper and with a bit of filler to cover the tiny joins in the boards you should have a smooth flat ceiling?

I need a conduit bender (Galvanised Rigid Conduit/GRC), and a conduit die would be handy also.

Remote chance I know, but anyone got one in the garage?

Also- can anyone recommend a good supplier of GRC, junction boxes etc?

I'm going to surface mount my wiring, as the original wiring is run through very small gauge tubes that were cast into the concrete frame.

I've never bent or threaded conduit before, but I re-plumbed the whole house from never having bent/cut/soldered copper before, so I am sure I can cope with conduit.

20 or 25mm- I don't know, what's the advice here?

I'm going to run on the underside of the concrete ceiling of the hallway, then dip under the beams (reinforced concrete) to go into each room, then again run diagonally across the rooms ceiling, hanging the light fixtures from junction boxes.

I'll run down the walls to the sockets.

I looked into GRC for my cellar lighting. Surprisingly expensive and relatively hard to get hold off. Just went with plastic in the end - the walls are white so it blends in anyway and got my builders to run some quite long lengths in the wall to hide it away. I could have looked into it harder though, because my builder was prepared to fit the plastic stuff and do the wiring for free whereas GRC would have meant more wages to pay too.

I do like the look of it though. I hope you're not going to paint it?

I'm going to run the mains electrical wiring in there as well, in fact the lighting circuits will probably only share space in the conduit where it runs across the ceiling inside the rooms as the lighting circuits appear to be ok.

Fox- no, it's not going to be painted. Silver pipework, brass screws and bushings, polished concrete ceiling and bright white walls with varnished oak woodwork.

One question about the original conduit, do you have round access points in the ceilings?

Only for the lighting circuits, and only where the lamps are.

Are all the rooms off the main hallway?

Yep

Fox- no, it's not going to be painted. Silver pipework, brass screws and bushings, polished concrete ceiling and bright white walls with varnished oak woodwork.

Sounds good! I probably would have paid the extra for GRC if it was in our living space, the cellar was/is a budget project so a bit different...

Just wondering if would be easier to run metal trunking along the hall way ceiling and to spur the conduit off that in to each room.

I'd thought about it but it wouldn't fit with the look I am trying to achieve

I got outbid on that conduit bender- I suspect some shil bidding is going on there.

I've got this bender: http://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-bender-15-22mm/88794

Would it be too wimpy to cope with 20mm GRC?

Yes too wimpy, that's a plumbing bender for light gauge copper.

I know what look you want to achieve, but it needs space to carry it off; you're going to have a lot of saddles, bends and coupler boxes, something that may look too cumbersome in a small flat.

I think black iron would look better than galv. a mate did a warehouse in wapping where they stripped the black off then polished with beeswax, looked the bees knees.

also, as it's an electrical installation it'll have to meet BS7671. that means correct sizing of tubes for circuits, correct bonding, and certification. I'd say you'd be better off using an industrial electrician to do it.

Most electrical wholesalers keep galv. tube. Newey and Eyre just off the OK Rd carry good stocks and I've always manage to nag a decent discount there. We used to have a bender too but it passed away after falling 3 floors down a lift shaft. Never replaced it as we now sub all the electrical work out.

Not sure if surface mounting tube in a domestic situation is going to help when you come to sell.

I had a sparky in to have a look, he quoted £6,000 to do the whole lot, or £600 if I ran the conduit and wire, and he put the consumer unit on the wall, tested all circuits and then certified the whole thing.

I'll have a look at BS7671, presumably for a domestic installation 20mm conduit would be suitable? (I will check, but just in case you know off the top of your head..)

no, 20mm cannot be assumed as being suitable, the size must be calculated from the loads and number of circuits installed.

Not sure if surface mounting tube in a domestic situation is going to help when you come to sell.

I've got a fairly clear picture in my minds eye of how I think it'll look.

You may of course be correct when you say that it'll look a bit busy in a smaller space- I'm perfectly willing to adapt the design if that is the case.

I think it's one of those situations where you have to really commit to something- doing it half arsed will look crap, but I think (hope!) that making it a feature will work out well.

It's a 2 bedroom flat with a study/box room, it'd be marketed at "young prof's, no kids yet", so hopefully the target market will be receptive to a bit of thinking having been put into the design.

no, 20mm cannot be assumed as being suitable, the size must be calculated from the loads and number of circuits installed.

Bugger. I'll get reading.

Because I am a glutton for punishment I was going to run one ring per room, so I can have "living room, sockets", "kitchen, sockets" in the CU.

Madness?

in conduit, in that flat, yes, madness.

I'd guess one cooker spur, one shower spur, one socket ring, perhaps two lighting circuits

Lighting I'm leaving as is- the only thing I'll change is where the lamps are/add some lamps.

The cooker is 7Kw, so needs it's own spur, the shower is fed by the boiler.

(I really liked the idea of separate circuits for each rooms sockets)

there's nothing preventing it, it's your flat

plan and sketch out locations and where the containment would run, and where the circuits would be shared in the tubes - that's a start

It's a whole lot of conduit, mind.

what are your internal and external walls made of?

Cinderblock