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We've just had our house (renovation project) re-wired with a first fix. There are two ring circuits for the sockets - one for the front room and one for the rest of the house and a lighting circuit.

Unfortunately, we do not have the time or the money to decorate all of the rooms in one go. We're going to try and do up one room at a time. Is there anyway we can restore electricity to individual rooms that are part of a larger circuit?

Example: The main bedroom has 4 sockets and a light fitting. Can we attach all of the fittings in this room and turn on the upstairs circuit, simply temporarily taping over the exposed wires for the rest of that circuit (we'll turn the power off again when we go to decorate the other rooms).

In essence, we are renovating on a room by room basis, but one circuit covers several rooms of the house at once. Can we restore electricity to one refurbished room whilst still having several rooms with just 'first fixed'.

Thanks!

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Is it possible to pull a few new circuits? Many older homes were wired similar to yours. Breaking out the bathrooms and kitchen electrical to there own circuit is one of the things I used to do when remodeling. If I understand your question you want to remove the outlets and light fixtures. Then use tape to protect the exposed wires. This may work depending on how the outlets are wired. If the outlets are pig tailed so only one set of wires go to the outlets or fixture your plan will work fine. If there are multiple sets of wires going to the outlets or fixture these will need to be combined using a wire nut or splicing device legal in your area. By adding 1 short piece of wire to the splice re-connecting the outlets will be easier and a piece of tape on the end of the short wire will work the same on your new pig tail to protect the live wire.

Added from comment as requested:You can do 1 room at a time. The "ring circuits" this means one outlet feeds another. These will need to be pig tailed as described above so all the circuits will work then the order you do the rooms wont matter. If you start at the first room with power make sure to tape all the Hot wires because when you energize the first room the wires going to the second will be live. but both methods will work.

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  • Sorry I should have been clearer, we have had entirely new circuits already put in. We do not currently have any outlets or light fittings, only the wires out from the back boxes and holes in the ceiling ect. I'm now looking at attaching my fittings but wondering if I can do it one room at a time.
    – Sam Williams
    Aug 17, 2016 at 15:26
  • You can do 1 room at a time. The "ring circuits" this means one outlet feeds another. These will need to be pig tailed as described above so all the circuits will work then the order you do the rooms wont matter. If you start at the first room with power make sure to tape all the Hot wires because when you energize the first room the wires going to the second will be live. but both methods will work.
    – Ed Beal
    Aug 17, 2016 at 16:11
  • Ed, you should update your answer with this.
    – isherwood
    Sep 16, 2016 at 17:49
  • Depending on whether you have children around and how long you're planning to leave the unfinished wires, it might be safer to use chocblocks + tape, or Wago connectors, rather than just taping the ends. Sometimes the wires can poke through the tape.
    – Carl
    Oct 19, 2016 at 8:29

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