A garden games room built from scratch, wired from the base up. Getting involved before the floor goes down is the difference between a clean installation and one that is visibly an afterthought — the supply cable was run through the sub-base while it was still open, so there is no cable clipped along a fence and nothing to trip over or dig through later.
Supply and protection
Armoured cable was brought up inside the timber wall build and terminated at a consumer unit mounted in the panelling, giving the building its own board, its own RCD protection and the ability to be isolated on its own. Sizing the supply against what the room was actually going to run — lighting, sockets, heating and AV — meant it was specified once and correctly rather than upgraded a year later.
Lighting inside and out
Interior lighting was installed at first fix so the fittings sit where the room works rather than where the joists fell. Outside, the veranda soffit was lit so the deck is usable after dark, and weatherproof external sockets were fitted to the side of the building for garden tools and outdoor equipment.
The finished room stands as its own installation — properly supplied, properly protected, tested and certified. It is also a good illustration of why it pays to have the electrician on site early: almost everything here would have been harder, more visible and more expensive to do after the building was closed up.
