Preparing your Plot for Services
When preparing to bring in services for electricity, gas, water and drainage, there are a hundred ways of getting it wrong and only one way of getting it right! Time spent discussing these aspects with your architect is an investment you will not regret. Make sure you understand what groundwork is involved and the appropriate materials to use. It is not possible for us to detail the various methods and materials here, as they are simply too vast, and entirely dependent on the style of individual construction, the nature of your plot's soil structure, and the mandatory criteria of the specific service provider.
Bringing in or Diverting Services
During the design stage and whilst creating plans for your property, you and your architect will have considered the issue of energy consumption and meters and their location inside or outside the dwelling. Service providers' individual connection arrangements vary and it is wise to contact them at the earliest opportunity to acquire instructions and guidance. Most will give consent for all mains services to be provided via a single trench, and supply information about the minimum distance they must be from one another.
Electricity
Examine your approved plans and identify where the first electrical intake point should be located. This will be at the foot of the wall on which the electrical distribution board will eventually be positioned. A service trench needs to be dug out from the plot boundary where the mains service is located (without interfering in any way with the mains service itself), to the foundation entry point of the dwelling. Take advice from your architect or deal direct with the service provider about the size, depth and preparation required for this trench.
Position the appropriate ducting into the dwelling, bringing it in below the finished ground level, and raise in a slow bend upwards, above the concrete slab or sub-slab. Once the floor slab is cast, a secure and waterproof temporary housing can be constructed for the electrical supply, and it is at this stage that you can ask the electricity authority to lay their armour-clad cable from outside your property boundary. The cable will drop into the open trench, through the ducting into the building, and connect into an electricity meter installed by the provider. Two double sockets inside the temporary meter cupboard should be sufficient to run the innumerable items of equipment and tools you will need over the coming months.
Water
The second most important service to bring onto the site is the water supply. Most providers now require water to be metered and they will deliver and install water to a meter position just within the boundary of your plot. The remaining sections of installation are your responsibility. It is best to undertake your part of the work involved first, then the water provider can make the connection to both sides of the water meter.
The usual entry location for mains water into a dwelling is at the kitchen sink and it is customary to terminate the supply pipe at this point. Builders' merchants sell blue 'alkathene' pipe with a range of compression joints, and this should be laid in the same service trench as other utility ducting, running up to the foot of the dwelling (providing all service providers agree to this arrangement). Always aim to install the longest possible sections with the fewest number of joints.
At this stage, it is useful to consider the exterior facilities you might want to install in your garden and then lay water supply pipes ready for them. For example:
- concealed sprinkler system might be ideal, if you plan to have vast areas of lawn;
- water features and fountains are good focal points for a garden and these will need an independent water and electrical supply;
- a large greenhouse might benefit from a built-in watering or misting system, as might rows of exterior hanging-baskets, tubs and containers.
At the very least, you will probably need an outside tap for convenience when washing the car or watering plants and, of course, initially you will require a builder's tap for mixing cement and mortar, rinsing off boots and washing hands. To accommodate this, take a 'T' junction off the blue alkathene pipe to a convenient position away from the actual construction. Bring the pipe up a short timber post and connect a temporary tap. Insulate the pipework above ground level and build a secure housing around it.
The entry point to the kitchen sink will also require a duct with a gradual bend in it, to allow the supply pipe to curve up into the building. Terminate the blue supply pipe half a metre above the intended finished floor level with the relevant compression cap. Future connections can be made with internal copper or plastic pipes as required.
Care must be taken to bring all the service ducts into the 'footprint' of the building, above the top surface of the foundation. Install a lintel for protection where the ducts penetrate the brickwork below ground. The arrangement must be appropriate, to prevent any pressure on the ducts or the service pipes inside. Traditionally, even gas pipes were brought in this way, but it is now preferred and much safer for the mains gas feed and meter to be installed externally.
Gas
The choice of housing for the gas meter is likely to be limited because the service provider will insist on it being wall-mounted, recessed into a wall or partially recessed into the paving. From a design point of view, it needs to be unobtrusive, but it should also be easy to access by meter-readers and conveniently located for connection out of the dwelling and into the back of the meter box. The easiest arrangement is usually to have the housing for the meter backing onto an external wall of the dwelling.
Unlike the provisions required for water and electricity, there is no need to prepare an actual entry point into the dwelling for mains gas installation. All you need at this stage is a suitable open trench and a gas meter box positioned appropriately. As before, you will need to discuss the relevant specifications with the service provider, to ensure your groundwork complies with their policies.
Telephone & Cable
While you have an open trench, most telephone and cable television companies will provide you with link-up sectional duct piping to install in it. These should run from the boundary of your plot and terminate in a slow-bend rising against the dwelling's exterior wall. A robust (the rather disconcerting term used is 'rat-proof') pull-cord needs inserting through each section of the duct as you progress. This will enable the companies to pull their wires and optic cables through, once the property is complete.
With all the mains pipes, cables and wires in place, the trench(es) can be backfilled to ground level. Remember to leave the boundary end open so that final connections can be made. It is also important to protect the surface of the trench from heavy vehicle traffic, which might otherwise disturb or damage the duct piping underground.
Careful planning enables these crucial services to be available to you and those you employ right at the very start of construction. They will improve the building process considerably and make it easier and more rewarding to work on the site. Caution should be applied where service trenches are likely to conflict with excavation lines for drainage or areas where the operation of heavy machinery is expected. In these situations, it is better to delay the installations rather than risk damaging them.
