Understanding Electricity

Electricity is dangerous – there are no two ways about it – but if you insist on working with electricity, here are our tips.

Before we start, we fully understand that homeowners will carry out DIY electrical work in their own home, however we would always strongly recommend hiring a registered electrician…

In an attempt to save money and time hiring a tradesperson, and amid fears of rogue traders taking advantage, more and more homeowners have chosen to take matters into their own hands. It is estimated that around 30% of people play around with their electrics each year, risking their life and their family’s life every year in the UK.

DIY electrics could include anything from changing your socket covers, to installing a new light, to extending a circuit, to even rewiring a house. However, only 5% of the public say they would attempt a full rewire.

With no real regulations in place to stop homeowners from carrying out small electrical work in their own home, they continue to do it. Nearly six out of ten DIY projects are relatively safe and successful, even with homeowners lacking necessary skills some jobs require. Almost a quarter of DIY jobs have gone so wrong that a tradesperson has had to be called in to fix.

Ironically, the motivation to carry out DIY electrical work in your home is to save money, but it ends up costing millions of rand each year to fix those DIY faults. People have confessed to cutting through power leads, attempting to repair electrical items that were still switched on and even drilling into wiring buried in the walls. It’s important to remember, some types of work you should not carry out, due to the work needing to be safety tested, prior building application approval, and a certificate of electrical conformity.