Do you have enough plug sockets?

[TheEmpressofBlandings]

If you do, how many do you have?
Just been asked how many we want for a house rewire, not a clue.
I'm counting up our electrical items but how many extra should we allow for things like plugging the Hoover in? How many tv points, how many phone points? Argh!
We don't have a huge number of electrical things, no TVs upstairs for example but guess we should allow
For that in future maybe?

There is no such thing as too many plug sockets. Got our living room rewired last year and put in 14 double sockets. it's a double reception in a Victorian terrace. TBH could have done with a few more.

Thing about seasonal things like plug sockets for Christmas tree lights or a fan.

Right, am increasing the number! Can't decide whether to go for a gazillion or bazillion though.
Electrician has suggested 4 doubles in each bedroom, think that's probably ott in the single one but ok for the others but make sure at least one is a USB socket.
In lounge he suggested 4 doubles but I will double that (is that enough?) and make some of those USB too. At the moment we have 8 plugs in use in the lounge.
Kitchen, maybe 8 doubles again? There's a utility so half the appliances will be in there.

I have USB socket envy - those definitely cut down the need for ordinary sockets. Is your single bedroom likely to turn into an office/study any time? If so 4 doubles in there wouldn't go amiss.

There are 7 doubles in my kitchen, plus the d/w socket in a cupboard, & my washer & dryer are elsewhere too. But generally only about 10 are in permanent use - fridge, trailer from socket behind fridge, microwave, under-cabinet lights (bad planning early on ), toaster, food processor, kettle, radio, 1-2 phones. Also have slow cooker, stick blender & hand mixer used occasionally. So your 8 sound ok (but I'd add at least one USB socket there too).

We have 3 doubles in living room but there is a 6-gang trailer, full, by the TV conglomerate, so you def need more than 4 though 8 might be a bit OTT

Do not overlook hall & landing

& don't forget Christmas lights. we always need a trailer for those & in some years we've had 3 sets

No, there's a separate office downstairs so bedroom will stay a bedroom.
Hallway is sort of split into two levels so a double on each level should be ok I would think, same for the landing. In the current house the phone socket is in the hallway (nowhere near any plug sockets!) but that will be in the lounge in the new house so will really only need the Hoover plugging in in the hallway/landing. And Christmas lights!

We had the house rewired about two years ago, double sockets x 4 in each room in the corners. 2 years later we use most of them! Saves on adapters that are fire hazards, also w charge use so much stuff! Not many sockets when we got here but we thought rewiring only happens infrequently so make the most of it!

Kitchen we didn't do as it is being redone this year, lots and lots and lots of sockets including in cupboards etc for charging!

We have a 4 landing stairway, double plug sockets at each for the hoover and phone, plus an extra in the shoe cupboard for the router!

oh yes, I've got a double in the understairs cupboard which has been used for rechargeable screwdriver (now dead), GTech sweeper thing & dehumidifier (cupboard is a bit damp)

We totally rewired our house about 5 years ago and now have between 6 and 8 double sockets in each room! When we were planning them, we counted how many we tight we needed, and then doubled it. We never use them all at the same time, but it means there is almost always one where we need it.

Having said that, there is still one place where I wish we had one, but we don't.

I have 12 double sockets in a 3 bed house

Can't wait until next year when we renovate/rewire!

I have 28 in a 3 bed terrace inhabited by one adult and three children.

I have 8 in the kitchen, 2 of which do the hoover and phone but are midway up a wall. 1 does the fridge freezer and cooker (gas so just clock needed) via an adapter. 1 does the toaster, microwave and breadmaker which have to be unplugged each time. A double is very accessible and does the kettle, phone charger, fairy lights (), food processor and any random thing, another, npt so avcessible, does the washing machine, tumble drier and radio.

Dining room has 4, 2 of which do the computer and printer with an extension and 2 of which are unusable as are at the back of an alcove behind a bookcase.

Living room has 6 which is woefully inadequate. A double does lights, another double which does TV etc, and a third double which does everything else using an 8 and 4 socket extension. One double is halfway up a large wall, which just looks stupid.

Upstairs there is a single socket on the landing, doubles in 2 bedrooms and two doubles in my room, two of which are inaccessible as a wardrobe covers them. Each room has bedside lights and a clock radio, and stuff has to be unplugged if kids want to charge phones etc.

I could probably do with 2 doubles in each bedroom and another 8-10 downstairs.

Have plenty of sockets but in stupid places. Only one end of the living room has them and one side of the kitchen - really need to do something about that.

No I don't, not in the slightest! Recently moved out of a very modern flat, with 12 sockets in the kitchen alone, into a 1950's semi with 3 in the kitchen. None below work surface level, so all appliances are run on extensions. No plug socket anywhere near the only phone socket either, which is a pain with the router plugged in as it needs a power supply. Its on my list of jobs to do!

I am so on the fence about USB sockets. On the one hand yes they would be handy right now- though I'm not sure about having them at floor level as surely then they risk being behind furniture or else having to have some sort of shelf so your stuff isn't all on the ground while charging.

Also- given the endless change in the tech world, my worry is that it will date. I guess not that big a deal given that it's just sockets, but it just seems unlikely that USB will still be the standard in 10/15 years- at which point there's a ton of uselessness installed in walls that becomes one of those 'must remove' items when you're selling/buying a house.

But is long term uselessness ok against short term gain? I really don't know.

where you have sockets stuck behind furniture like wardrobes (assuming freestanding not built-in) if you plug in a long trailing socket you can still use them.

Most trailers have short leads, but there are longer ones, & as long as they're not running across somewhere people have to walk they're perfectly safe with limited power loads

I'm purposely bumping this zombie thread as just as you can never have too many sockets, you also can never have too many socket discussion threads!
I've done the electrical plan for new kitchen and the extended living room, but I keep adding ones!
Thanks to this thread, I'm now thinking of the Christmas tree lights.

New kitchen has a tall broom cupboard (currently ironing board and floor brush and mop live behind the door), and I've thought about having a plug in there in case I end up getting a wee rechargeable stick vacuum in the future.

I know @PigletJohn isn't keen on sockets inside cupboards so I might get told off!

In the kitchen, have a lot. If you have a double socket every 1m in a row 150mm/200mm above the worktop, it is easy and quick to install, and there will always be one handy for your kettle, mixer, toaster, coffeemaker, juicer, radio, phone, microwave, tin opener, curling tongs etc.

In the same row, have switches for all the below-worktop appliances that you have, or might one day want, and for the above-worktop outlets like your extractor, boiler, TV, under-cabinet lights, wall-mounted microwave and espresso. Appliances are often 600mm wide so try to space the outlets evenly. You will also need cooker outlets, usually 30A dedicated circuits. I have one on each side of the kitchen to allow for repositioning at whim. You might also consider a dedicated freezer circuit on an RCBO so the freezer does not go off if there is a trip, for example if the kettle falls in the sink or the puppy chews through a flex.

For your appliance switches, you can buy them with or without neons, and, if you wish, engraved with the appliance name, ssuch as freezer/dryer/cooker hood/boiler.

You can have anonymous switches hidden inside cabinets behind piles of cornflake packets and ironing boards if you want to, but the day your tumble-drier or chip-fryer overheats and starts to smoulder, you will wish they were readily visible and their purpose obvious. Remember the person dealing with the flaming appliance might not know where you have hidden the switch.

In other rooms, start with a double in each corner of the room, and along walls at least every two metres. The one near a door should be behind the door so there will be no need to trip over a flex. Halls and landings, at least one at each end and one half-way along, but not so near the stairs that you will fall down them when you trip.

One near the loft hatch so you can take a drill and a lamp up there, unless you are providing loft sockets and lighting.

Above desks and workbenches, numerous outlets. You can have them fitted in a sort of dado rail that you will have seen in hospitals, that has isolated chambers for phone or LAN cables, which must be separated from mains voltage cables.

You will know that modern standards are to have sockets and switches at least 450mm above the floor. if you grew up in an old house you will be disappointed that you are no longer able to crack sockets by banging them with the hoover, but anyone under 80 will become accustomed to these heights and will think that low ones look strange. If you are planning ever to become old, fat, pregnant, disabled or to have a bad back or knees, you will find low sockets a burden.

Living room - 9
Hallway - 2
Kitchen- 16
Utility room - 4
Landing - 4
Bedroom 1 - 10
Bedroom 2 - 6
Bedroom 3 - 4

We will be having extra ones put in some rooms at some point within the next year.

ideal kitchen wall (enlarge it)

We have a decent number but still end up with multiple extensions on the go.

Our living room has 12 (6 doubles) but plugged in at the moment we have:
-wifi router
-virgin box
-xbox
-tv
-printer
-photo frame
baby monitor
Nas drive
Phone charger
Lamp
2 laptops (often 3 or 4)
Ethernet switch
Monitor
Cat water fountain
Electric fire
Landline phone

Kitchen has 3 doubles above worktop which is fine - boiler, cooker, dishwasher etc all wires in

Bedroom has a double either side of bed and one by dressing table. That could comfortably be doubled tbh - lamp, plug in mirror, straighteners, hair dryer, tongs, two phones each...multi usb adaptors help but we might replace some sockets with built in usb ones.

Watch out for random corners. There's a corner in our hall which would be perfect for a floor lamp but no socket on either adjacent wall

That's me told!
Seriously PigletJohn, I appreciate your input.

Our house is only 20 years old and ignoring the fuse spurs dedicated to built in appliances, our decent size kitchen has only 3 double sockets, plus an extra one at the table end.
I will tear up my electrical plan and replace it with John's Wall of Sockets!