Hi again, another question:

My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!

Laurie

On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 08:32:54 +0100, "Laurie"
wrote:

Hi again, another question:

My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!

Laurie


Yes.

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/grou...reg_600517.pdf

has the details
..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

The reason is to make them easy to reach from a wheelchair.

--

Laurie wrote:

Hi again, another question:

My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!


Yes, he is correct.

This is so people in wheelchairs can plug in their SDS drills and rewire
their houses.

Starngely, they haven't required us to put teh light fittings at 120mm
or less, so they wheelchair bound can change their lightbulbs.

And now of course, with wires streched tight on vacuum cleaners not at
floor level, but just below knee height, the chances of the frail and
elderly tripping over them is vastly increased.

In general building regulations are sane and wekll thougfht out - this
one comes straight from teh 'one size fits all' politically correcft
diabled lobby, and is, in my opinion a complete load of ********.

My wheelchair/crutch bound friend knows that he esssentially has to make
over any place he lives in to get things where he can reach them -
irrespective of where the sockets start, they always seem to be moved to
suit him.

My buildiing inspector muttered that all the money spent on making each
and every house 'disabled friendly' would be better as a tax on new
builds, to go into a pot to be distributed as payments to the disabled
to make their houses suit their particular disability.


It is now illegal for eaxmple to make a house with steps up to the front
door and steps down to the back, At least one entrance HAS to be
suitable for wheelchair access. Never mind that any wheelchair user is
going to simply not buy that house in the first place if it has stupid
access suitable only for the able bodied.

flame off

But it is so effin stupid.









Laurie

From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere, The Natural Philosopher
wrote on Sat, 23 Aug 2003 10:50:56 +0100:

My wheelchair/crutch bound friend knows that he esssentially has to make
over any place he lives in to get things where he can reach them -
irrespective of where the sockets start, they always seem to be moved to
suit him.

The requirements aren't there for the owners of the house; they are
designed to allow people in wheelchairs and the infirm to be more able
to visit people in their own homes.
--
Hugo Nebula
"You know, I'd rather see this on TV,
Tones it down" - Laurie Anderson

Hugo Nebula wrote:

From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere, The Natural Philosopher
wrote on Sat, 23 Aug 2003 10:50:56 +0100:


My wheelchair/crutch bound friend knows that he esssentially has to make
over any place he lives in to get things where he can reach them -
irrespective of where the sockets start, they always seem to be moved to
suit him.


The requirements aren't there for the owners of the house; they are
designed to allow people in wheelchairs and the infirm to be more able
to visit people in their own homes.


mmm. I have spent many hours lifting disabled people in and out of their
wheelchairs.....its no big deal to carry em up a short step or two.

Its ********. I stand by my original posiition.

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Hugo Nebula wrote:

From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere, The Natural Philosopher
wrote on Sat, 23 Aug 2003 10:50:56 +0100:


My wheelchair/crutch bound friend knows that he esssentially has to make
over any place he lives in to get things where he can reach them -
irrespective of where the sockets start, they always seem to be moved to
suit him.


The requirements aren't there for the owners of the house; they are
designed to allow people in wheelchairs and the infirm to be more able
to visit people in their own homes.


mmm. I have spent many hours lifting disabled people in and out of their
wheelchairs.....its no big deal to carry em up a short step or two.

Its ********. I stand by my original posiition.

It think it is fantastic.


---
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Version: 6.0.507 / Virus Database: 304 - Release Date: 04/08/2003

In article ,
Hugo Nebula Send-My-Spam-To: abuse@localhost wrote:
The requirements aren't there for the owners of the house; they are
designed to allow people in wheelchairs and the infirm to be more able
to visit people in their own homes.

I'm not quite sure what business a visitor would have with my sockets? And
if I had a disabled guest, the light and socket positions would be the
least of their problems - the guest bedroom is on the first floor, and the
bathroom on a half landing.

--
*A fool and his money can throw one hell of a party.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Hugo Nebula Send-My-Spam-To: abuse@localhost wrote:
The requirements aren't there for the owners of the house; they are
designed to allow people in wheelchairs and the infirm to be more able
to visit people in their own homes.

I'm not quite sure what business a visitor would have with my sockets? And
if I had a disabled guest, the light and socket positions would be the
least of their problems - the guest bedroom is on the first floor, and the
bathroom on a half landing.


And I bet your bathroom door is the incorrect size and you probably have a
step to your front door not a slope.

Adam

In article ,
ARWadsworth wrote:
I'm not quite sure what business a visitor would have with my sockets?
And if I had a disabled guest, the light and socket positions would be
the least of their problems - the guest bedroom is on the first floor,
and the bathroom on a half landing.


And I bet your bathroom door is the incorrect size and you probably have
a step to your front door not a slope.

The door would be ok - they're double - but yes, three steps and a
threshold bar, then a step down.

--
*What hair colour do they put on the driver's license of a bald man? *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

I'm not quite sure what business a visitor would have with my sockets?

That's the bit I don't understand. Light switches maybe, but sockets? Are
these visitors here to do house work or rearrange the stereo and TV?

and the bathroom on a half landing.

Then this wouldn't be allowed either, probably. A friend of mine had a
building notice knocked back when he wanted to combine the old
kitchen/scullery/outside toilet into one large kitchen. Apparently, they
won't allow him to remove the ground floor toilet, even if he has one
upstairs. He now has a toilet cubicle in the corner of his kitchen.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:

I'm not quite sure what business a visitor would have with my sockets?


That's the bit I don't understand. Light switches maybe, but sockets? Are
these visitors here to do house work or rearrange the stereo and TV?


and the bathroom on a half landing.


Then this wouldn't be allowed either, probably. A friend of mine had a
building notice knocked back when he wanted to combine the old
kitchen/scullery/outside toilet into one large kitchen. Apparently, they
won't allow him to remove the ground floor toilet, even if he has one
upstairs. He now has a toilet cubicle in the corner of his kitchen.


Thats illegal too, without a double door between it and the kitchen.



Christian.

The Natural Philosopher wrote in message ...
Laurie wrote:

My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!


Yes, he is correct.

This is so people in wheelchairs can plug in their SDS drills and rewire
their houses.

Starngely, they haven't required us to put teh light fittings at 120mm
or less, so they wheelchair bound can change their lightbulbs.

snip

But it is so effin stupid.

LOL. I'd never heard about this and my immediate thought was yes,
it's the PC brigade gone mad again; but then I thought - with regard
to light switches at least, what's wrong with positioning them at 1m
height? It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
to post a good reason!). So why not?

David

David wrote:
It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
to post a good reason!). So why not?

Well, one thing that springs to mind is that it stops children, possibly
with wet hands, playing with them.

"parish" wrote
| David wrote:
| It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
| shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
| to post a good reason!). So why not?
| Well, one thing that springs to mind is that it stops children, possibly
| with wet hands, playing with them.

And if you've got both hands full a shoulder height switch is easier to
press with your nose.

Owain

Owain wrote:

"parish" wrote
| David wrote:
| It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
| shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
| to post a good reason!). So why not?
| Well, one thing that springs to mind is that it stops children, possibly
| with wet hands, playing with them.

And if you've got both hands full a shoulder height switch is easier to
press with your nose.

Owain


And if you have an erection, you can always press a lower switch.

This could go on forever..

On 23 Aug 2003 08:09:52 -0700, (David)
wrote:

height? It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
to post a good reason!). So why not?

You enter a dark room and are forced to find the light switch by hand.
Your starter for 10 is that the switch will be just inside the doorway
on the wall opposite the door hinges.

Dang, where's that light switch......

Andrew

http://www.handymac.co.uk

David wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote in message ...

Laurie wrote:


My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!


Yes, he is correct.

This is so people in wheelchairs can plug in their SDS drills and rewire
their houses.

Starngely, they haven't required us to put teh light fittings at 120mm
or less, so they wheelchair bound can change their lightbulbs.


snip

But it is so effin stupid.


LOL. I'd never heard about this and my immediate thought was yes,
it's the PC brigade gone mad again; but then I thought - with regard
to light switches at least, what's wrong with positioning them at 1m
height? It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
to post a good reason!). So why not?


Funnily enough we were discussing this last night with me mates old dad,
and he DOES find high sockets useful - he can hobble around on severely
arthritic knees etc, but bending is a tad hard.

As far as switches go, again its no big deal to put em lower down where
kids can reach them..

But the high electrical sockets do have a downside - cables no longer
lie along the floor. This may constitute a hazard in its own right.

Philosophically, I am concerned at the amount of money being spent on
generalised rules - things like this, speed humps, speed cameras - when
rough bacl of teh envelope calculations suggest that if the hidden costs
of all this normalisation of society to a 'one size fits all' were taken
into account, it would become pretty obvious that its cheaper to give
every elderly or disabled person a re-wire grant. And pay a few
policemen to catch flagrant dangerous drivers, rather than providing
jobs for magistrates courts, a steady income for the manufacturers od
GATSOS and replacement tryes, shock abosrbers and car exhausts.

The phrase 'being strangled by legislation' has been arournd a long time
as the cry of the sof tory business voter and frankly I had always heard
it as 'wolf'...but now, as an ordinary citizen, it is beginning to make
a terrifying sort of sense.

When compliance with regulations and achievement of arbitrary targets
becomes the raison d'etre of huge swathes of management in schools,
hospitals and every area of public life, rather than the achievement of
good medical care, education, or whatever the departments function is,
we are already in trouble.

When the way the average citizen is treated is more or less tantamount
to implying that they cannot, without enforcement of strict legislation,
be trusted to use their judgement in anything - EXCEPT OF COURSE VOTING
IN TEFLON TONE - one stumbles on a deeply cynical double standard that
seems to be at the heart of everything the current government does.

If you trust your electorate so little, what does that imply about the
government they have elected?

/rant




David

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 10:09:12 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

But the high electrical sockets do have a downside - cables no longer
lie along the floor. This may constitute a hazard in its own right.

I deliberately put my garage sockets high on the basis that when
working in the garage I don't want to bend down to plug and unplug
power tools. I'd rather have the socket at eye height so that once
I've finished drilling or cutting I can get straight to the socket to
take the power off the device.

Not that I've seen that many garages equipped with sockets at the
normal level of a house of course

Andrew

http://www.handymac.co.uk

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote in message
...

Laurie wrote:


My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from
the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!


Yes, he is correct.

This is so people in wheelchairs can plug in their SDS drills and rewire
their houses.

Starngely, they haven't required us to put teh light fittings at 120mm
or less, so they wheelchair bound can change their lightbulbs.


snip

But it is so effin stupid.


LOL. I'd never heard about this and my immediate thought was yes,
it's the PC brigade gone mad again; but then I thought - with regard
to light switches at least, what's wrong with positioning them at 1m
height? It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
to post a good reason!). So why not?


Funnily enough we were discussing this last night with me mates old dad,
and he DOES find high sockets useful - he can hobble around on severely
arthritic knees etc, but bending is a tad hard.

As far as switches go, again its no big deal to put em lower down where
kids can reach them..

But the high electrical sockets do have a downside - cables no longer
lie along the floor. This may constitute a hazard in its own right.

Nonsense. I have Part M sockets. No problems at all. Brilliant for all
people.

The phrase 'being strangled by legislation' has been arournd a long time
as the cry of the sof tory business voter and frankly I had always heard
it as 'wolf'...but now, as an ordinary citizen, it is beginning to make
a terrifying sort of sense.

Well introduce LVT and get rid of the 1947 T&C planning act. Very simple.




---
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Version: 6.0.507 / Virus Database: 304 - Release Date: 04/08/2003

David wrote:

LOL. I'd never heard about this and my immediate thought was yes,
it's the PC brigade gone mad again; but then I thought - with regard
to light switches at least, what's wrong with positioning them at 1m
height? It's just that we're conditioned to light switches being at
shoulder height, for no good reason that I can see (cue for somebody
to post a good reason!). So why not?

Means you can't put anything taller than a metre against that bit
of wall.

"Laurie" wrote in message
...
Hi again, another question:

My builder is telling me that building regs now states that socket and
switch heights should be greater than 450mm and less than 1200mm from the
finished floor level.

Is this true? the switches look so low!

Laurie

Yes Part M, for disabled access. Ground floor doors also have to be wider
and front access without steps.



---
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Version: 6.0.507 / Virus Database: 304 - Release Date: 04/08/2003