Structural Changes

If you need to make any structural changes like knocking down partitions, complete that before you start laying the new tiles or painting.

Make sure that the walls to be brought down are partitions and not pillars or beams (load-bearing walls). It is easy to distinguish the two. The load-bearing walls are double brick walls. Hence, they are thicker than partitions.

Knocking down a load-bearing wall will weaken the structure and cause cracks.

Tip: Do not use a chisel and hammer on the face of the wall. It creates hairline cracks. It is better to use a power drill and work at an angle. This reduces vibrations.

Electricals

Safety

In most new buildings, builders provide earthing taking into account heavy load electronics.

But if the building is an old one, it would be advisable to get an ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker), which costs about Rs.1400. This safety feature ensures that in case of an overload, the wires do not burn. Also in case of a leakage the breaker only trips.

Tip: The first thing to do is to treat any leakages. If water enters the switchboard, it could result in electrocution.

Planning

Decide in advance where you are going to place electronic items like the television set, music system and so on.

Also ensure that you have a cable provision for the television in that room. Otherwise you will need to take the cable wire through the wall to the required place. If you are changing the flooring, you could have underground wiring.

According to the number of electronic items you can arrange for plug points.

Tip: It wouldn't hurt to have a few extra points, just in case.

Placement

The circuit breaker is ideally mounted onto a wall at the entrance of the house or in the passageway.

It is best to place switchboards near the doorway. This way you don't have to stumble in the dark searching for the light switches. You could include switches above the bed too for easy access.

If you have high wattage bulbs for chandeliers, make provision for a dimmer on the switchboard.

The most convenient height for plug points is between 3ft. and 6ft. except for things like the geyser, which have to be placed higher.

You could also include plug points just above the skirting. It is handy when using the vacuum cleaner.

A plug point next to the mirror is great when using a hair dryer or electric shaver.

Tip: If you have kids invest in shielded or childproof plug points and place them above 3ft.

Wiring

It is best to colour code the wiring in blue, yellow and red so that you know what wire belongs to what phase. This is useful especially if your electricity runs on three phases.

Connect specific rooms to each phase so that if one phase goes off you still have power in the rest of the house.

Lighting requires thinner wires than electrical appliances like the microwave, geyser or even the computer for that matter. This is because the load of lighting is much.

For heavy load electronics install miniature circuit breakers in addition to thick, good quality wires.

Tip: Buy entire lengths of wires to reduce the number of joints.

Concealed Wiring

Concealed wiring involves drilling at least one and a half inch into the wall to fit the wires. This makes it a tedious and messy process. Also, after the wires have been fitted in and sealed with cement the wall has to be levelled.

You must prepare a blueprint, which shows the route of the electrical wiring. It would be great if the blueprint shows what wires have been used too.

Tip: If you prefer concealed wiring but cannot afford the mess or time, invest in casing for the external wires. Just make sure you get a good electrician to fit the casing properly.