Hi guys!

SWMBO & I moved to the Nice/Cannes/Saint-Raphaël area of France some 8 years ago (some of you will know this), but we have recently upped sticks and moved to a place around 60 km (as the crow flies) north-north-west of Toulouse.
A bit of a change in scenery …

Our new house is very recent and still has a lot of finishing-off to do.
It’s been nearly 25 years since I did any serious bricolage (DiY), which was on a house we had built near Clermont-Ferrand but with only the ground floor (of three) in a finished state.
My goodness, how things have moved on! With the new standards which have been introduced since, I hardly recognise – for example – the plumbing (plastic pipes instead of copper) and the electrics with trip fuses and standard socket fittings for lights (instead of the wires dangling down from the ceiling I was used to and expecting).
It’s a steep learning curve!

( As an aside, I used to do all the work on our (aged) cars around that time, but bashing things with a hammer no longer works and it seems you need a Masters in Electronic Engineering these days rather than mechanical skills. Most jobs are now beyond my comprehension!)

I suppose a lot of these building standards are EU-driven, but I just wondered if the same “progress” has been introduced in the UK. Anyone care to enlighten me?

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I’m on a house project too - it’s pretty much the same in the U.K. - it’s all plastic pipes, MCB’s and RCD’s - Aluminium windows and doors are the thing again - albeit dark grey is the colour to have

Tools have moved on a long way too - I bought a DeWalt 18v kit and the stuff is more powerful than my old mains powered kit

There are now a lot of regulations that need to be followed to when doing 'new' work. ( As opposed to "it was like that when we bought it" )


It also leads to a considerable amount of debate on the best manner to do things on forums ( diynot.com for example ).

The current standards and basics of most work is easy enough to follow based on guides and diy books, the trouble is that when you go through the proper planning and approval process, for formal completion you have to get the work carried out 'signed off' by a recognised/approved person. Which personally i find a pain in the hoop. i.e. I have a degree in electrical engineering and I'm not considered suitable to wire up a socket in the house !

As for plastic pipes ... I'm a fan in some areas, and not in others. For example, in my old house, I used single runs of plastic pipe from the central heating manifold to each radiator without any joins. Gave me great peace of mind in terms of not having the worry of joints leaking behind walls.

That being said, I prefer the strength and look of brass / copper plumbing. V8 or else ...

there is some confusion as to what can and can't be done diy. So long as a competent person will sign it off then you can do most stuff. in terms of electric, if you add a circuit then it needs signing off, but simply swapping face plates etc that is DIY.

I re did my kitchen last year, and I didn't re wire it but did move some things about a bit. and whip some face plates off etc. The building control officer was happy with what id done and as I wasn't adding to the house it wasn't a problem

similar with plumbing, though there are many actual regs to get your head around in terms of pipe rings and even waste systems, its all doable. Gas is the only really big No no to have a go at. You can install a boiler yourself, do all the pipework and connections, but it is not allowed to work on live gas so that bit needs doing by a competent gas safe person who can then check everything you have done and get it signed off and registered with gas safe.

our new builds are required to comply with all the latest regs obviously, but that doesn't mean that we can't get involved with things like first fix electrics and plumbing, we tend to use our labour alongside the electricians and plumbers to reduce costs while making sure that everything is done properly.

plumbing is now pretty much all plastic,
wiring is pretty straightforwards but I can't remember the last time bare wires would have been allowed.... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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" for formal completion you have to get the work carried out 'signed off' by a recognised/approved person. Which personally i find a pain in the hoop. i.e. I have a degree in electrical engineering and I'm not considered suitable to wire up a socket in the house ! "

Not true. Two avenues are open to anyone undertaking what is known as 'notifyable electrical work' i.e. new circuits, wet spaces such as bathrooms or kitchen etc... you either get it signed off and certified by a competent person who is a member of a recognised professional body OR you can get the local authority / building control surveyor to undertake checks as part of a formal building regulations application. Councils would rather you not know this. Most councils would rather you did not use them as they tend to know the square root of sod all when it comes to electrics and often have to employ their own consultants.

The current building regulations are a farse. I know I work with them all day. The Gov guidance known as approved documents are in the main over complicated and difficult to grasp. Approved Doc B deals with means of escape and fire spread - Grenfell need I say more. Yet again it will be changed as a reaction rather than a proactive move. Part F (ventilation) is complete mad. Part L deals with thermal insulation and you need a degree in physics to understand it. I could go on but I'm even boring myself now.

Laying foundations, building walls and putting a roof on are all just as simple as they were - as for the rest of the build - madness.  405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
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Northernmonkey, I’m afraid you’re incorrect regarding the gas.
Any gas carrying item, be it pipe work, boiler etc has to be installed by a competent (read Gas Safe registered) person.
You can’t diy this and get it signed off.
Any self respecting gas safe registered engineer would refuse to sign it off.
Yes I know, it’s crazy.