Is there an ‘amazing electrical/rewiring advice’ thread??

[Iheartgeraniums]

If yes: please send me too it!

If no: hit me with ALL your learnings from rewiring your house. Builder has just made my head explode with the amount of things I need to think about.

i mean stuff like: light switch positioning, socket positioning, interesting extra things I haven’t even considered, what type of spots etc.

Haven’t seen one but having done a reword, I’d suggest the following:

1. Walk round your house outside and note everything electrical and think about anything else you might want. Doorbell? Ring doorbell? Security light? Outdoor lighting?

2. Move inside and walk round each room, one at a time, including every space such as the hall/porch/walk-in and under stairs cupboards.

Light fittings? Are they to your taste and in the right place? Do you want to add any?

Wall lights?

Anywhere that doesn’t have a light, like a porch or walk-in cupboard?

Light switches: are they also go your taste and in the right place? Now is the time to move any.

Plug sockets: do you need more?

Do you want/need USB ports?

3. Do you have extractor fans in loos and bathrooms? Or utility if you dry washing there? Shaver points in bathrooms? (May require re-tiling.)

4. Do you have any lights you’d like to be able to turn off from elsewhere? Eg for us, it’s very useful to be able to turn the light on/off in the hall from the landing and vice versa. Turning off outside lights from inside, etc.

5. Smoke detectors. Now is the time to think about mains wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

This is how we did it and we added in a doorbell, a wall light, lots of extra sockets, an extractor fan, a security light, and new light fittings/switches in some parts. And mains wired smoke detectors.

Reword? Rewire!

Put double sockets in every corner of every room as a minimum.

Make sure you have sockets in weird bits of wall which are islanded by doorframes.

Think about lighting schemes for rooms. Task lighting, mood lighting etc. You can have each type on a different switch.

Don't forget to think about outdoor sockets and lighting too.

have a switch on the landing game changer for hoovering a large house without a cordless

Mark out where you want sockets/switches and then check they've been put in before the electrician leaves! Our electrician forgot several sockets and we didn't realise until a month or so later, because there was so much rubbish piled up in front of where the sockets were meant to go. 😓Now have to pay someone else to add one in.

Be incredibly clear where you want dimmers, I wasn't and was really peeved for a long time we only had an on off in the bedrooms!

Go and get a bunch of catalogues from your local electrical trades supplier - decide on switch/socket style and if unusual or "on trend" get a few extra ones at the same time. It is much cheaper to buy direct, you get to see all sorts of god lighting ideas and you will get lots of good advice.

You always need more sockets in your kitchen than you think you do (worktop and floor level), also pick a spot where phones etc congregate and use usb combo sockets there. If you want tvs on the walls do you want sockets there behind the tv, will you also want wifi extender, games console etc? Do you want laptop hook ups by the kitchen table?

Think about where shelving is going, you don't want to drill through wiring by accident later.

Do you want somewhere to plug in Christmas lights outdoors, or the hoover if you are cleaning the car?

Do you want a bathroom cabinet or mirror with lights/heatpad?

Do you want vanity mirror lights in bedrooms?

Does the extraxtor fan come on with the light switch or it's own switch?

Can you easily reach a mirror with hair dryer etc plugged in?

Do you want shelving lights?

Lights in cupboards are my big tip, doesn't cost much if other stuff happening anyway and you will be glad you did it every time you have to find something in a messy cupboard.

Holy shibizzle this is great but overwhelming.

House is a total refurb but costs are sky-high already.

Going to sleep on this and then return!!

Make sure they put a big enough supply for the kitchen if you plan to have things like induction hobs, etc. And lots of power points.
I hate wiring in cupboards, I simply will not tolerate it. I consider it to be dangerous, and it is VERY inconvenient if you need to move kitchen units. And they now put box switches in the cupboards for isolating appliances (to my mind a stupid place as always hard to get to and get in the way).
When I tackled the electrician about this he had a great suggestion- we had individual supplies put in for white goods that ran back to a panel on the wall with isolating switches on it labelled neatly for each one. The wiring to the appliance had a long tail with a sort of socket on the end that the appliance was directly wired to, making it somewhat flexible where the appliance could be. Much neater, much safer, and made fitting the kitchen a doddle.

We planned a "Charging station" in our kitchen refurb.
We have some display shelves and one has a multi USB plug.. There is a sectioned box where all the different charging cables live and a handy place to charge phones, tablets and watches

Agree with the poster that said think about inside and outside your house. Outside think about if you want an alarm, cctv, lights, christmas light / heater sockets, etc.

Inside we went through each room and marked on the plans where we wanted plugs / switches and then added extras on the plug front to accommodate any future furniture swaps we wanted to make.

Agree a standard height with the electrician for plugs / switches and then just note if anything is to be non standard.

Also remember shaving / toothbrush charger plugs in bathrooms as well as any underfloor thermostats/dual fuel radiators and electric skylight power.

Depending upon your house you might want to also consider data cabling at the same time.

Work out how many power points you need, then double it! We make lots of use of the USB charging points because the adaptors can heat up and be a fire hazard. More appliances now are USB charging. Gather up your old adaptors and keep them for when you go on holiday.