Indeed. I have a nephew who’s a well-qualified electrician in the UK. He would have liked to help us but doesn’t want to work here as I believe his qualifications aren’t recognised in France.
There’s a different approach in France (no ring main for example) that requires a local understanding. Plumbing is different too, as are probably many other things I’ve not had to recognise yet.
I think he can take a “course” (whatever) to refresh/retrain here re the French ways…
If he wants to work in France it might be worth his whle to enquire.
(someone on the forum might well have details of this sort of thing)
I didn’t know that.
In the case of the nephew, he’s firmly based in the UK but would have come on a working holiday if it wasn’t complicated.
He sounds lovely. It would depend on what he does.. as , if there is a problem (like a fire) at a later date… electrics will come under suspicion and if a Brit has done 'em…
you’d need to prove they met French normes.
EDIT: what needs doing???
Nothing at the moment. ![]()
It’s not really, he would have covered industrial wiring radial circuits which is how France does it. Single conductors and earth is the same diameter as the other cables. Consumer units are different as they use double pole breakers so disconnecting both phase and neutral. There is an electrical guide book which a competent spark could follow , with the number and size of conductors allowed in the conduits (Gaines) used extensively.
I have a cellar with a concrete floor and a large adjoining barn with concrete floor, new roof, so no infiltration, but humidity definitely finds its way into any books or paintings I’ve stored there over the years. If these things are sentimental or valuable, it’s better to keep them in a heated indoor space.
Our old concrete floor, before my insulated version went down was terrible in summer. Due to it being laid on earth without a DPM the warm air of summer would condense on the concrete and looked like a water leak had occurred. That has now stopped. Insulation and DPM are key to a dryer space.
Allowing buildings to breathe is key. Previous moron owner of our now house dumped concrete everywhere, so damp just moved. We are now removing all concrete and starting again.
It will be building specific, there is a big gap between dumping concrete onto ground as I mentioned before our old concrete floor would be a wash with water when the outside weather was warm/hot. Keeping humidity down with ventilation is also important. Buildings breathing is one thing but if that means it’s evaporating into the living space it’s not helpful either. Part of the reason there has been such an issue in the UK retrofit insulation debacle is sealing up the building without installing MVHR systems.
My brother has been over several times to help me with electrics. Usually just a few days at a time. He’s an experienced electrician and we have a copy of the guide to the regulations, which we have followed assiduously. So, if anything was inspected, it will conform to current regulations.
You will need to plan your layouts in advance to avoid reworking later. The knowledge and the guide will be needed to make the connections and organise the breaker circuits (tableau de bord), but running cables, in gaine or tube, you should be able to do yourself. Though having one person at each end of a long run does speed things up considerably.
Thanks for all these helpful suggestions, now I just have to sell my UK home