Hi all

Just thought I'd share.............

My neighbour is having an extension built and, being an interested DIYer
(read nosey neighbour), I have been following the construction and generally
snooping at peripheral bits and pieces.

So far on the existing property I have noticed:

1. Outside lights wired with T & E and standard internal junction boxes
clagged on the side of the house.
2. An existing extension with a second damp proof course added 2' above the
first to reduce damp caused by earth etc against wall lower down bridging
the first dpc.
3. T & E sticking out of the ground either side of the front drive. On one
side of the drive there is also SWA cable sticking out of the ground. All
these have bare ends and the SWA was found to be plugged in to a socket in
the garage and switched on.
4. An insulated pipe teed off the outside tap which goes (sort of)
vertically down then below ground to come up inside the existing extension
and feed a shower.
5. T & E laid across the hall under the carpet immediately inside the front
door as a spur from a socket to an understairs cupboard for an alarm feed.

I know that the current owners haven't done any of this.
It may turn out to be a blessing that their son set fire to the first floor
of the place which kick started the renovation work in the first place.
Fortunately the builder doing the re-furb work is the responsible type and
likely to rectify as he goes along.

And I thought my place was bad!

Phil

When I bought my previous bungalow, amongst the many gems, the t&e
wiring to the security lights was routed inside - yes inside - the
rainwater guttering around 2 sides of the building.

On 19 Sep, 14:48, " wrote:
When I bought my previous bungalow, amongst the many gems, the t&e
wiring to the security lights was routed inside - yes inside - the
rainwater guttering around 2 sides of the building.

When we arrived at our house, we noticed a T&E cable coming from a
socket in the wall and disappearing outside into the garden. This was
quickly removed by us as there was nothing powered in the garden.

Subsequently we've dug some bits of the garden over to discover that
it was mains power to supply a defunct fountain, the cable for which
was standard T&E, buried about 5cm under ground and "protected" by a
white plastic tube, about 15mm in diameter, in varying sections to
allow it to curve an artistic route around the lawn!

Glad I didn't do any digging before we moved the cable.

Matt

On 2007-09-19 15:14:58 +0100, said:

On 19 Sep, 14:48, " wrote:
When I bought my previous bungalow, amongst the many gems, the t&e
wiring to the security lights was routed inside - yes inside - the
rainwater guttering around 2 sides of the building.

When we arrived at our house, we noticed a T&E cable coming from a
socket in the wall and disappearing outside into the garden. This was
quickly removed by us as there was nothing powered in the garden.

Subsequently we've dug some bits of the garden over to discover that
it was mains power to supply a defunct fountain, the cable for which
was standard T&E, buried about 5cm under ground and "protected" by a
white plastic tube, about 15mm in diameter, in varying sections to
allow it to curve an artistic route around the lawn!

Glad I didn't do any digging before we moved the cable.

Matt

This is BSB stuff

British Standard Bodging.

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-09-19 15:14:58 +0100, said:

On 19 Sep, 14:48, " wrote:
When I bought my previous bungalow, amongst the many gems, the
t&e
wiring to the security lights was routed inside - yes inside -
the
rainwater guttering around 2 sides of the building.

When we arrived at our house, we noticed a T&E cable coming from a
socket in the wall and disappearing outside into the garden. This
was
quickly removed by us as there was nothing powered in the garden.

Subsequently we've dug some bits of the garden over to discover
that
it was mains power to supply a defunct fountain, the cable for
which
was standard T&E, buried about 5cm under ground and "protected" by
a
white plastic tube, about 15mm in diameter, in varying sections to
allow it to curve an artistic route around the lawn!

Glad I didn't do any digging before we moved the cable.

Matt

This is BSB stuff

British Standard Bodging.



I picked up an eBay win the other day from a house that had a normal
13a twin socket mounted on the outside wall by the kitchen door. The
socket was in a metal box of the type intended to be flush mounted but
this one was surface mounted!!! I tried to explain tactfully to the
seller that it was not a good idea, but his English wasn't up to it,
and I am not skilled in the languages of the Indian sub continent G.

AWEM

wrote:
When I bought my previous bungalow, amongst the many gems, the t&e
wiring to the security lights was routed inside - yes inside - the
rainwater guttering around 2 sides of the building.

Well, it's tidy in there. You don't have any unsightly wires, right! Our
first house, 1920's end terrace, all power sockets upstairs were spurs
made of kettle flexes and similar on chocky blocks from a feed from the
box terminating under the landing stairs.

Our first Christmas in the new house was spent wiring ring mains!

On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:19:20 +0100, "TheScullster"
wrote:

So far on the existing property I have noticed:

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/phot...057325,00.html

Quite a stunningly badly-done website, but some interesting photos.

Tthere are two levels of gallery navigation, one on invisible tiny
buttons by the picture, then a photo bar down at the bottom.

--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.