Finally - (partial) Electrical Rewire!

[ThornhillMike]

I'm not planning any additional lighting - I reckon 24 bulbs will be enough. I'm thinking about including a dimmer switch and it would be cool to have a single dimmer control while still being able to flick the lights on and off with switches. Haven't figured out the system for that yet.

I know nothing about lighting. In the adjoining room there is a dark spot (actually the whole ground floor has been a bit dark since I removed the wiring). I'm thinking one ceiling light and one or two wall lights in there.

In the main room the two lower mouldings are picture rails and I'm avoiding wall lights so I have somewhere to hang all the Picassos.

Dimmer plus on/off switches are straightforward. We have what is apparently a 5 amp lighting circuit. Basically you have a series of table lamps that are all operated by one switch, hence my curiosity on how people have found ceiling versus mood lighting.

 

[LadyArowana]

Now the second one is in. Are they too far apart? I'm not planning any wall lights and the chandeliers are positioned at 1/4 and 3/4 of the room length.

Oooh they look brilliant, so glad they found a home, we didn’t want to just chuck them but not the sort of thing you can keep hanging around ‘in case they’re useful’ and the local Freecycle route only resulted in timewasters. Difficult to tell on the distance, the shape of the ceiling may be deceiving in a photo, and reducing by 2 ft they could end up looking a bit too close. Well done on progress so far, the place is really coming together.

 

[Stevers]

A big upvote for table and standard lamps switched from the wall! In our living room I installed a couple of 3A round pin sockets that are switched individually from the wall, and wish I'd added a third. They are on a lighting circuit, and currently one of them has a standard lamp and the other a table lamp, otherwise we just have a centre pendant light that we hardly use. Being able to move the standard lamp around as our needs have changed has been a boon, and I still get a kick out of being able to switch the 'mood' lights that we use all the time from the wall.

 

[a twig]

I’ve always done same as Stevers, lighting sockets or wall lights around the corners and then a central ceiling fixture for the odd times more light is required.

You can achieve the same effect nowadays with smart plugs in your usual sockets and a piezo switch stuck to the wall so no need to chase and wire in a whole new lighting circuit any longer

 

[malcolm]

The chandeliers look closer together when they are lit. I wired them to an extension lead and the lighting looks even so I'll not move them. Though I do have 110,000 lumens in there at the moment for my 80W which also makes the next room and even the street look well lit.

I'll include a dimmer for the more intimate moments but for now it's really good to see the main room not being dark and gloomy.

 

[Zebra]

I agree. I think they look the right distance apart when you look across the room with them lit.

 

[RBailey]

View attachment 10774

The window looks good too.

 

[LadyArowana]

The chandeliers look closer together when they are lit. I wired them to an extension lead and the lighting looks even so I'll not move them. Though I do have 110,000 lumens in there at the moment for my 80W which also makes the next room and even the street look well lit.

I'll include a dimmer for the more intimate moments but for now it's really good to see the main room not being dark and gloomy.

They look right distance apart, and absolutely lovely lit up. I’m going to show my builder the picture if you don’t mind, because he took the original one down and carefully moved it from room to room on site in hopes it would find a use. Posting about it here was its last chance to avoid the skip!

 

[Cubist]

The First Lady often laments our acquisition of this old place as chandelier lighting is just not practical. Personally I have mixed feelings; aesthetically I much admire these lighting systems but do not miss the visits to A&E for noggin repairs. Such events are now wholly limited to those days when I put on the wrong shoes and walk under the door frame I use as a gauge for visits to the barber.

 

[Toby Newell]

they are probably slightly more efficient further apart as there is greater reflection from the corners.

 

[LadyArowana]

The First Lady often laments our acquisition of this old place as chandelier lighting is just not practical. Personally I have mixed feelings; aesthetically I much admire these lighting systems but do not miss the visits to A&E for noggin repairs. Such events are now wholly limited to those days when I put on the wrong shoes and walk under the door frame I use as a gauge for visits to the barber.

Be thankful she didn't make you buy a whole extra house just so she could have chandeliers.

 

[Cubist]

Be thankful she didn't make you buy a whole extra house just so she could have chandeliers.

Shush, please. Pretty please???

 

[malcolm]

I went away for a week and then struggled to get going again after I arrived home. Half of that was due to a complete lack of any plan. I hit upon a brilliant method of making a plan - taping life sized representations of switches and sockets to the walls. You soon figure out if they are in the wrong spot once you can see them on the walls.



I'm well into chasing the walls for sockets and cables. I now understand why the electricians didn't want to do it - I've got non-standard construction! The brick walls in the photo were easy apart from the alcove where the plaster looked like lime but was stronger than concrete.

Another couple of walls were plastered in concrete applied to wire mesh on batons over wattle and daub and timber frame. I don't want to make any more holes in that so the skirting will be spaced out on one wall and I'll run the wires behind that.

One of the cable runs went under a bathroom floor and I spilt water removing the toilet. Thank goodness the ceiling below is lime and is used to the occasional flood. And hasn't been decorated yet.

 

[a twig]

Depending how much chasing you have to do, investing in a power wall chaser with dust extraction can be a god send. They tend to hold their value on eBay afterwards when you are done as well.

I’ve only used the deWalt one but the Screwfix Titan one is very affordable and while not trade levels of bullet proof will more than cope with a house re-wire as it comes with two blades

 

[malcolm]

I probably should have bought a chaser. Though I have wire mesh which would be inconvenient. The downstairs walls are skimmed with gypsum that has only a tenuous connection to the cement underneath and keeps chipping off in huge chunks. (Sockets are low enough to be in my new lime plaster which is still nice and soft.) I had the same trouble with the gypsum skim removing wallpaper. Only two more chases to do downstairs. Upstairs is lime plastered and should be easy.

 

[Zebra]

I probably should have bought a chaser. Though I have wire mesh which would be inconvenient. The downstairs walls are skimmed with gypsum that has only a tenuous connection to the cement underneath and keeps chipping off in huge chunks. (Sockets are low enough to be in my new lime plaster which is still nice and soft.) I had the same trouble with the gypsum skim removing wallpaper. Only two more chases to do downstairs. Upstairs is lime plastered and should be easy.

I have a chaser you can use if you want. It makes a hell of a mess!

 

[malcolm]

I have a chaser you can use if you want. It makes a hell of a mess!

Thanks, I've finished the chasing now. It was OK until the last wall where the cement they used must have been left over from a nuclear bunker. I gave in and used an angle grinder.

 

[Toby Newell]

Thanks, I've finished the chasing now. It was OK until the last wall where the cement they used must have been left over from a nuclear bunker. I gave in and used an angle grinder.

My first job at 15, along with my Grandfather was work experience with a friend of the family who was an electrician. He employed me on tbrough the holidays, cycling fromCrouch End to Rotherhithe on my Raleigh Bomber with a rolly toolpack on my back. Had to chase concrete ceilings for the lights.

I always call it 'engineering concrete' it come off in small sparking splinters, my hands blistered and bled. You tend to find with fire hearths its either soft mixed with Tennants cans, fag packets, and wallpaper strippings and breaks up with a sharp stare, or the other stuff. I had to do a whole kitchen once, I bailed early and hired a large Hilti.

 

[malcolm]

I've finished first fix and can't believe how long it took. Partly that's because I got fed up with it and did other things for a while, but a lot of it was making many mistakes like not correctly counting the number of wires I would need and having to start chasing stuff out again. I think learning how to do everything took half the time.

While I'm plastering up the chasing I can finish off the walls that had dangling wires passing through them and should be able to get the final coat of paint on the walls before installing the new switches and sockets.

 

[steveb]

"Alexa, dim lights 1,3,7 and 16 to 24% on the main candelabra and set everything else to romance mode"

Much easier than chasing cables, although it does remove some of the charm. Especially when the damned kids start shouting contradictory instructions.