electrics

Electrical first fix completed!

We have now had the electrical first fix completed. (First fix refers to the stage of installing cables and back-boxes but no actual switches, sockets or controls.)

This has been fairly straightforward for two reasons: the service cavity space around the external walls allows the cables to be easily routed around the building perimeter, for instance up and over doorways; secondly the lowered ceiling / service zone in the inner box allows cables to pass across the plan without the need for inter-weaving with the intermediate floor insulation.

One of the potential issues with acoustic systems is their disruption by services which tend to be installed by different trades (with different priorities!) at different times. The inclusion in the design at an early stage of distinct 'rising' points in the plan, as well as routes in section, allows the control of the service routes and therefore better continuity of the acoustic insulation.

It is important to achieve as close to the designed level of acoustic performance as possible, bearing in mind that the design level is a lab tested value so in reality the performance is often a few decibels less.

All of the cabling (power, lighting, smoke detection, speakers, data; communications, etc.) is run via the service cavity... Sometimes this space can get a bit 'full' in places making it difficult to fix the sheeting afterwards!

Data cables running in the office below the desk area... All of the CAT 6 connects back to a central hub to create a fully interconnected home network. You can see the vertical rising point from the ground floor to the left hand side.

Some cables in an internal partition: we used the small space left between the acoustic insulation and the sheeting rather than burying them within the insulation as this can lead to over-heating if the cables aren't sized correctly for their particular installation situation.

These last two photos show us utilising the lowered ceiling / service zone in the inner box for MVHR ducts, sprinkler pipework, cables and the solar thermal pipework - a bit messy but will always be hidden!