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Electrical work at home:guide, advice, financing and costs

Do you want to carry out electrical work in your home? Redo or renovate your electrical installation? It is not always easy to know what work to do, how to do it to have a safe and reliable installation while respecting the standards. Here are some tips to help you.

Perform the necessary checks

Whatever your motivations for carrying out electrical work in your home, some preliminary checks are necessary.

Check your entire electrical installation

Make sure that your electrical installation is equipped with a general cut-off circuit breaker, that you have a panel that groups together the protection fuses and that your socket outlets are equipped with an earth pin. Otherwise, your installation may represent a hazard and could trigger a domestic accident or fire.

Observe your catches and note their general condition. If the wires are visible or if the socket tends to heat up when used for a long time or intensively, replace it to avoid complications. In the bathroom or kitchen, make sure that electrical outlets and heaters are more than 60 cm from a water point. If not, turn them off or move them.

It is best to have your electrical installation checked by a professional electrician. His intervention will make it possible to control all of your electrical equipment to ensure that they comply with the NF C15-100 standard. If this is not the case, he can advise you on the modifications or work to be carried out in order to avoid the risk of an accident, or even carry them out for you if you wish.

For information, the NF C15-100 electrical standard governs all new electrical installations in a home in order to ensure the safety of the occupants of a home. This standard establishes the necessary presence of several points:

  • differential protection for any outgoing circuit,
  • breakers for each circuit,
  • an earth connection,
  • a modular panel that brings together all the devices,
  • an electrical meter and panel,
  • compliance with special obligations for high-risk rooms such as the kitchen or bathroom.

Assess your needs

Assessing your needs consists of listing all the electrical equipment in your current or future home. List equipment that consumes a lot of electricity, such as hotplates, electric ovens or hot water tanks. Observe your heating mode and define if it is electric heating, central type, as well as its power mode. Finally, evaluate the method of producing hot water, namely a solar tank, an accumulator tank or a heating tank.

This assessment will allow you to present the condition of your home to a professional electrician or your electricity supplier so that they can advise you.

To gain efficiency in the context of your diagnosis or the preparation of your work, draw up an architectural plan. No need to invest in expensive software, just take the measurements of your rooms and make a plan by hand, respecting the scales as much as possible. On your plan, draw each electrical device in the place where you plan or where you can place it. Do the same for each of the sockets, each switch and each lighting point. If you can, trace the adjoining circuits in order to group them more easily when you make your electrical panel.

This first diagnosis is essential to better assess the existing installation in terms of operation, possible risks and work to be planned.

Identify your needs

Before starting your work, define the type of installation you intend to put in place for your electrical installation.

  • The exposed installation is the fastest and most economical solution. The electrical circuits are distributed by means of PCV moldings in which the wires are hidden. The moldings being visible, this method is not the most aesthetic, but it will save you from major breakthrough and embellishment work.
  • Recessed installation is more aesthetic because it hides the wires. This is the most frequently used method, in particular because it offers more fitting possibilities. The circuits are placed in sheaths, themselves embedded in the walls by means of grooves. This solution requires you to drill the walls and fill them in, which generates rubble and dust and subsequently requires embellishment work to hide the bleeding.
  • Semi-recessed or mixed installation mix the two previous solutions. The boxes intended to receive the equipment are recessed while the circuits are distributed by means of visible link moldings.

A few tips before you start

It is advisable to have your work to bring the electrical installation of your home up to standard and to be carried out by a professional electrician. Of course, the cost may be high, but your safety is at stake. In addition, if a claim occurs to you, your insurer may refuse to compensate you if your electrical installation was carried out by you and not by a professional.

Make several quotes with professional craftsmen to find the one that meets your expectations and who is able to do quality work.

Action!

If you do it yourself, turn off the power and carefully remove the old installation. Help yourself to your plan and draw the boxes, the bleeding and the junction boxes before drilling your walls. Insert the ducts into the walls and place the electrical wires in the ducts.

Distribute the circuits from the panel to the junction boxes and from the boxes to the equipment. Replace the electrical panel making all the necessary connections. Fill the protrusions.

Finally, put the installation into service to check that the whole circuit is working properly.

How much does an electrical installation cost?

Depending on the state of your electrical network and the potential risks it presents, it will be necessary to operate for a partial or complete renovation. The partial renovation includes the replacement of the electrical panel and the modifications to be made according to the conformity of the system. The total renovation consists of replacing the device with another that is more efficient and meets current standards.

In 2018, the rates charged are as follows:

  • For an electrical renovation: count between 500 and 1,800 euros for labor, nearly 1,000 euros for bringing the electrical panel up to standard and between 70 and 150 euros for the installation of an electrical outlet.
  • For a new electrical installation: count approximately 9,000 euros for labor for 100 m² of work, 80 euros to install an electrical panel and 50 euros for the installation of an electrical outlet.

Have several quotes produced, each of which must include the details of the amounts invoiced per service, the materials used, the labor, as well as a precise description of the work envisaged.

Financial aid

Under certain conditions, you can obtain financial aid for carrying out your electrical renovation work:

  • VAT can be reduced to 10% if the work is carried out by a professional.
  • The home improvement bonus may be awarded by the Departmental Equipment Directorate if your home has been completed for more than 20 years.