DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Electricians’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg. 132.12, 526.3, 526.3, 421.7, 526.5, 530.4.2, 522.6.1, 526.9, 514.3.1, 526.8.1, 416.2.1, 559.5.1, 559.6.2.2

After hosting the Advantis  Cowboy Of The Week award for the last few years I’ve come to a few conclusions. Conclusion one is that self certification isn’t working and was only a way of cutting back on council resources so that they could save money and two;  the bigger the builder the bigger the the chance of cowboy workmanship and screw ups! At this weeks property, which was a winner last year for sub-standard plumbing work that was causing leaks in the ceiling through four floors, we have now started to uncover sub-standard wiring issues too.

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While on site to check out a noisy boiler complaint we were also asked if we could look at a blown light in the top floor en-suite bathroom. No problem. Five minutes to dig out my ladder and change the bulb. Unfortunately no!

As it turned out the bulb was not the problem. Heat from the halogen light had heated the connector block on the fitting and melted the wire insulation. When we pulled the fitting down to strip the wires back we noticed that the fire hood was wedged so tight into the ceiling space that we couldn’t get any slack to undertake the repair. After a bit more investigation we managed to push the hood flat and gain access to the void. What we found can partially be seen in the photos.

The wiring from the 240 mains to the step down transformer were open to the void and connected loosely. Also, which can just be seen in the photo is a weather proof connection box which was not fastened to anything, had no cover and was completely non-accessible because it’s in a flat roof space that’s about six inches high with no access accept the hole that the light was installed in to.

It’s another example of the builders putting in all wiring before the drywall goes up. Everything is easy in a big empty room. But the electricians, plumbers and other first fix trades don’t put any consideration to the professionals that have to go in after them to undertake maintenance. Poor planning is the real problem and the big builders don’t care and don’t take responsibility after the fact.

This property is five years old and located in Manchester City Centre. It is an upscale property and we have found dangerous issues with the electrics, the central heating and the waste plumbing. The property has been damaged from poor central heating design and poor waste plumbing design and installation. The gas bill was WAY too high because the central heating system was not correctly hooked up from the first fix. Lights burn out on a very regular basis as the heat generated from the halogen bulbs cannot. The boiler and un-vented cylinder were incorrectly connected causing constant over pressure problems. The un-vented cylinder is sitting on top of the flow and return pipe from the boiler making it damn near impossible to service the domestic hot water motorised valve.

Take my advice and buy an old property. From where I sit a new property won’t be any guarantee of quality workmanship or a maintenance free future. Your experience may just be end in tears.

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