Bakerman

Yo, moved into a house 12months ago that was rebuilt as a development project in 2002. Recently we have had a few issues with the lighting, the whole house has around 80 low voltage dimmable downlights but having got an electrician to look at them it seems some are dangerously close to overloading the transformers and are sighted on the joists and are starting to burn the joists (some already have burn marks) Also, none of them in the bathrooms or kitchen have firehoods (again).

Now I don't know jack about law nor electrics but a middle survey was done by the Nationwide in June last year but given that the whole house was rewired around 3 years ago surely somebody is responsible. I feel like I should either get Nationwide to pay (as I feel they should have spotted the dodgy sitting of the lights) or get a solictor to go after the guy we bought the house from - he is a local tradesman currently developing another local house.

The sparky is talking about pulling up all the upstairs floors to resite the lights away from the joists and we are already into 4 figures for what we thought was a new modern development.

Any thoughts ?

simo

first port of call would be to dig out your survey. If you only had the basic 'it's worth what we are lending you' one then I recon that you might struggle with claiming from you lender but as you had the middle one have a good look at the report / small print. It's probulary worth a letter to the seller via your solicitor thou as if he is doing an other one it might encourage him to help you out?

Big Den

If the house was rewired shouldn't it have an IEEE certificate or similar as in, work carried out by a certified electrician or work checked to the standard by electricity board after work completed?

Any Sparkies able to comment?

(edited to say) - solicitor should have probably sussed this out as part of the legal process/searches etc,

Again any legal eagles able to comment?

Den

Chrisgr31

I think that you will struggle as how is a surveyor to see the lights are fitted in the wrong place? The only way of telling is to either remove the light fittings and look through the resultant hole, or lift the floorboards above. Both of which are outside the remit of most surveys.

Whilst current regulations may require firehoods isn't this a new requirement? And may not have been in force at the time?

I have a similar problem in my bathroom where the lights have been installed too close tot he joists and have scorched them. I have justinstalled some firehoods, and adapted them so that the firehood protects the joist.

You could try going against previous owner but I think that will be more trouble than it is worth as well.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

IIRC firehood is a more recent requirement (if any - I think they may have only been stipulated in certain situations..i.e lagged roof space etc).

Rather than fork out the cost of resiting lights how about replacing them with non-halogen lights or non-flush lighting?

Overloaded tranformers should cut out when they overheat...have you had any lights turn off on their own, and then turn back on 10mins later?

I'm no household sparky, so I'm guessing here, but it looks like the sparky maybe making a mountain out of molehill. So I would suggest getting a 2nd opinion.

Adrian F

Many down lighters get situated up against joists as the person in charge wants a specific pattern and the position of the joists is never of interest when this is designed. I would say that although the joists are scorched are they likely to catch fire? Worth checking before getting all stressed the lights have been there how many years? Is there any rubbish near them like wood shavings from holes in joists that could be removed to reduce the risk?

As to fire hoods they are required I believe if the ceiling is fire rated, some manufacturers actually make lights that are fire rated and don’t need hoods though I haven’t seen this in a down lighter personally I am aware that they should be on the market.

Missing fire hoods is a very common feature and I would say that the majority of down light installations in situ at the moment have no fire hoods. To install them is extremely difficult unless done from above and in alot of situations down lighters are installed from beneath only hence small transformers which go through the hole in the ceiling. The hoods may be there but rarely are they actual sitting over the light so as to prevent the spread of fire as when the light is pushed back up in the ceiling it moves or topples the hood!

As to testing the installation the Nationwide survey probably says to get a separate test by a NICEIC or ECA registrared electrical contracting company which I guess you didn’t do. even if you did they probably didn’t spot this as they only do a sample test and try not to disturb the decor by lifting floor boards, or pulling down lighters down more than at one point per circuit as the paint finish on the ceiling flakes and frequently the ceilings break up round the hole and then the light doesn’t go back neatly and the house holder gets the hump . if you did get a separate electrical test (always strongly recommended) go back to the companies trade body and ask if what you found should be covered by the test and then see if the company will do the repairs at a reduced rate. I suspect that the answer will be no but worth a try.

As to overloaded Transformers this isn’t unusual and the transformers don’t last long anyway unless you get good quality and why would any body put those in when the house was built to a price? Most house bashing is done down to a price rather than up to a standard as price is king.

When/if you do get any work done make sure that you get a certificate upon completion of the work!

CrisPDuk

It didn't need to be certified by anyone before the beginning of this year, IIRCthe transformers should be alright even if the sum of the bulbs wattage adds up to around 90% of the transformer's capability.