First of the First Fix Electrics - UK vs. EU Wiring - Portugal Property Renovation

We're pressing on with our Portugal property renovation and it's time to bring in the pros (or at least one) to help us out with the electrics fix fix.

Today we welcome Mark the Spark – a DJ and professional electrician – to the show. He'll work with us for a couple of days to show us how to install first fix electrics so we can continue on under our own steam. We'll bring him back for some of the more technical work like installing and wiring the consumer unit but that's quite a long way off for now.

The order of the day is knocking a bunch of holes in the stone walls and running lots of cable and conduit. Stay tuned to see how we get on.

[ankiking]

Suggestion: make a simple plan drawing with walls numbered or named, take photos of each wall and match file name to the wall. That way you can look back at the wiring if you need later. Learning a lot from you! Thanks!

[SwimCoach]

Love seeing the method in other countries. An electrician gave me this tip quite some time ago. In your conduit, where your running Cat6 or any conduit that may need a wire added. When you pull your conductor through, tape a pull line to it. That way, if you decide you need another Cat6 wire or conductor going to a fixture, there is a pull line already living comfortably inside your conduit runs. Many moons ago I put a structured media box in my home. All cable tv lines, phone lines and Cat5/Cat6 lines run to the box in conduit. I left pull lines in each conduit. As my gamer boys reached high school age they decided we needed more Cat6 outlets and cables. They popped to cover off the media box and pulled Cat6 line to every telephone point in the house and added duplex covers to the boxes. (phone/Cat6) The pull strings/lines waiting inside the conduit made this job a snap. They pulled new strings through as they informed us they would some day upgrade the house to fiber optic cables. We informed them, we were not made of money and Cat6 cable would be fine. Thanks again and hold onto that electrician....worth his weight in gold!!!

[DerDummePunkt]

Been waiting for this one. Mark the Spark (fantastic name by the way) does really well on camera, that was a fun watch.

Safety Zones for cable installation definitely vary from country to country within the EU. Here in Germany, there are DIN norms for this purpose (of course there are, there are DIN norms for absolutely everything), same principal as in the UK, go vertically or horizontally out of sockets, switches and boxes, keep 90° angles, keep a certain distance from the floor, ceilings, corners, doors, windows, etc., non of that diagonal funny business. To me they just seem like common sense.

Personally, I'd go with Cat6A for the networking stuff, 10gig is going to be a thing, prices are falling rather quickly, CAT6 can do that too of course, 6A simply gives you a bit more wiggle room in terms of lengths of the runs and the level of perfectionism when patching, but hey, use what you got :D

One thing I would strongly recommend though, especially around the TV/Lounge/media area: Put in additional, empty conduit, multiple if possible, let them terminate in empty boxes.
You'll be so glad you did that when in 5 years time the next connector/cable/whatever standard comes along and you need to run cables for it.
Cutting new slits for more runs into walls like that is no fun. Well maybe it is, if you're masochistic, some Aussies I know are into some weird stuff, no judgement here :D

[jamesrivis]

Great to see some professional installations in such teachable moments. Very interesting.

[johnvanhal]

Didn't know they made lime out of NHL players. Makes sense though 🤣
Don't know the rules here in the Netherlands, but that UK system with safe zones would be the way I would do it, if building my own house, shed or whatever. Because it's very logical. Like the cable tie solution, too.

[ScottAndJen]

The guts are going in!! Would be interested in the contact details of the very helpful man in the video as we will potentially starting our own renovation here in Portugal soon. Thanks guys. It's getting there

[ennykraft]

There being no mandatory safe zone has got nothing to do with the EU. It's a Portuguese thing. My brother is an electrician and he would have a fit if anyone wanted to do a diagonal electric cable.. What the Brits didn't understand when they voted to leave the EU is that very are tons of regulations that are done by the EU and which each country can decide on their own.

[markgayle]

You don’t even need the plug, if you bend the cable tie about a screw & half length & push it in the wall ( it will be like a u shape ) that will act as the wall plug, far quicker & just as secure.

[uytteb]

Mark is really good at speaking to camera. Does he have any experience presenting? Or did he use to teach perhaps?

[GeneLinetsky-GAL]

Two suggestions:
1. I'd agree with the earlier comment that more CAT6 could be needed. It'd be a lot easier to string CAT6 to all the places where you plan to have your RJ45 wall outlets *now* rather than later. Given the IT skills of you two, I'd assume that some rooms will need more than one RJ45 outlet locations. In my house, I'd run along a duplicate CAT6 cable to all of my room RJ45 outlets -- for redundancy and to have more than outlet in a given location. The incremental cost of such cables/conduits is minimal yet it would save you tons of time/aggro in the future. Even though WiFi has gotten so much faster and reliable, there is nothing as speedy, universally compatible and rock-stable as your Ethernet (pardon for stating the obvious).
2. You should decide ASAP where you want to stick your large-panel LCD screens and put in the conduits with the unconnected HDMI 2.0 (2.1) cables and behind-the-screen power feeds. Do make an accurate estimate of the cable length you need -- too long is as bad as too short as you can't cut HDMI off and stick a new plug on...I had an M&E (mechanical and electrical) floorplan drawings done for all of my floors well in advance of my first fix -- a life saver.
Loyally yours....

PS It would be nice to find out the contact details of your local Mark the Spark guy.

[RosaFelix]

Hello there! I don't know if anyone else asked previously but what are the plans for the house, each room, floors? Kitchen and living room in the first floor and bedrooms on the top floor?
I'm enjoying your videos and your sense of humour very much and the farm is beautiful!

[LifebyLiving]

Very interesting video 👍🏼 I’ve got some electrics planned for next year, so it’s great to hear about Portuguese/European wiring first hand from someone qualified.

[Lucia-ynso]

Portuguese-Canadian Citizen from Ontario, Canada, enjoying the journey, the educational moments and good laughs. Can't wait to see it all done. No pressure!!!

[tinanieborg]

great job guys, the most important things in a house are hidden behind te walls. greetings from Holland

[Lordosvk]

Actualy in eu in new buildings all the cables are in cement floor or in ceiling with isolation.

[andreabartsch]

I suggest to take a picture of all the walls before plastering it.
You will this way get a record for the future where your wirings run.

[paddybrennan]

It would be so much easier to take a diamond blade angle grinder to cut channel’s using a shop vac
Cuts way down on dust and plastering
Just a thought

[naturalcombinations]

You guys are doing great stuff on every single video, your brilliantly planning out every detail and your house is amazing in your hands!!

[gaynor]

I'm excited to seeing the electrics going in. Nice guy is Mark. Great progress Kylie and Guy xx

[sharol]

So enjoyed watch a professional work at his craft and be willing to teach you as well