Cometh the Electrician

Week of 6-13 May 2023

I know, I can’t believe it either.

After having spent more than a morning finding and pricing electrical fittings, switches, sockets etc he, The Electrician is doing it after all.

Before and after the bank holiday I’d suggested that I pay for his senior lad to spend an hour here ironing out the last questions – what needed to be changed on the list to include the dimmers we wanted – and to answer other simple technical questions that he, The Electrician, would otherwise have to answer.

We had planned to use the same screwless, super-low-profile fittings as our neighbours, but The Electrician’s lack of communication was making this (everything) very slow and difficult. Neither Tash nor I actually object to the Hager fittings in the workshop – cheaper and reasonably sleek, so we’ll go with those.

To my surprise, on Tuesday evening The Electrician answered one of my many emails, saying he had most of the Hager fittings in stock and “would it be easier if his boys came over with them on Thursday to start fitting?” I wanted to say “no”, just to be awkward, but I want to finish the house more. I said yes, then focused on doing whatever would make the electricians’ visit most productive.

A hole for a socket was still needed in the scullery wall, where the cable had to be threaded down, inside the wall, from the other side, and in the bathroom a hole was needed for the shaver socket. In the scullery I cut the hole where I wanted it and threaded a draw-cord so the cable could be pulled through from the plant room. In the bathroom I’d worked out the only place a shaver socket could go and still be far enough from the basin and the sink; I cut the hole.

Both electric towel rails needed to be hung, a fairly straight forward task, made simpler by the walls being lined with thick plywood; robust screw fixings could be made anywhere.

The screws supplied in the towel rail kit were a bit long. I was concerned that in the bathroom they might stick too far into the wall and scratch the sliding door (when it was opened and closed) and in the shower room they might pierce a power cable, so I cut them all off short with the angle grinder.

I’ve bought the forty three downlighters we need along with their separate bezels and LED lamps – The Electrician would have fitted lights with integral bulbs where the entire unit would become scrap once the bulb went; convenience and price versus the environment. As well as reducing waste our choice gives us the option of experimenting with ‘smart’ bulbs, such as Philips ‘Hue’ or similar. If we feel the urge…

Finding a round, flattish light with a motion sensor for the porch ceiling has been particularly time consuming. It makes sense for it to have a sensor, so when you arrive at the front door you can see to put your key in the lock, but how bright should the light be and can the sensor be over-ridden? I’ve ended up buying a light requiring two bulbs, so as well as avoiding throw-away culture I can vary the wattage to adjust the illumination.

Before knowing the electricians were coming I made the most of a sunny, non-midgy day to complete the soil pipe vents. That’s two fewer pipes now lying in the garden. One vent is full height, with a simple cap and a joggle at the base so the pipe avoids the shower room fan’s outlet…

and the other is a stub with an air admittance valve, this avoiding six metres of black plastic pipe strapped to the side of the house.

As usual there was faffing. The brackets need to be held out from the larch cladding so that the pipe misses the slight overhang of the roof verge – so I made plastic washers/spacers and, as on one side the long screws miss the front board, I cut further pieces of plastic to bridge the gap, reducing strain on the long screws.

Thursday. Two electricians arrived before nine, introduced themselves and spent the day making better progress than they’d expected. A gentle tap on the front door heralded the unexpected arrival of a large box from TLC, the electrical suppliers – all my down-lighters, bezels and lamps.

I spent several hours out side, sawing, planing and sanding a long piece of larch, to make edging for the surfaces in the scullery and the bathroom. I left it cut into the various lengths needed. It felt good to be working outdoors again in pleasant weather with birds singing while not making further mess in the house.

Having got the bit between their teeth the electric boys hoped to return on Friday. But clearly Iain had other plans. I checked yesterday’s delivery of lights (all present and correct), then oiled and later fitted the larch edging.

The kitchen peninsular unit awaits its larch worktop and shelves/cupboard on the dining room side, but there’s a cable in a flexible conduit to be built in. So the electricians could make sense of it and fix a socket I cut a sheet of thin ply to fit in the back of the end unit, stiff enough to carry the socket, then cut and drilled the necessary holes to get the cable up to where it needed to be.

The intention is that the cable will be inside a cupboard where phones, i-pads and other devices can be charged, out of the way and out of sight. Or will we just forget them there?

I remembered to connect the two wires for the bathroom mirror, hidden under the new shelf…

Get away: the weekend weather looked pretty good, low winds and no local coronations, so we took the kayaks twenty miles down to Tayinloan on the Kintyre peninsular, opposite the isle if Gigha. It felt good to be packing the boats again, even for just one night. Trying to remember where everything goes. The prospect of being on the sea, carrying all you need satisfies like little else. We launched in the early afternoon paddled across the two miles over to Gigha and camped round the corner on the north end. A group of three or four great northern divers swam about the bay, one of them calling repeatedly. The beach is part of a tombolo and on its twin we collected firewood and noted a small patch of turf for a future camp. Tash also found enough cockles for a starter. Behind the beaches the sandy soil was packed with red campion, a flush of bluebells and fleshy rosettes of foxglove leaves, a new shoot rising from each. The show is going to be striking.

This last week I’ve been in Sutherland, chasing trout with my old friend Roger (Troutquest).

I return on Monday via Glasgow where I’ll collect the custom-made shower screen, six panes of glass, an oddly shaped mirror to reflect the bathroom’s clerestorey windows, various pendant and spotlights from Ikea and Screwfix and tiling supplies from Tile Giant.