Apartment wiring during a renovation: how to accept electrical work before plastering

Where electrical work sits in the route

In the app route, “Electrical” comes after partitions and plumbing, followed by air conditioning and ventilation. All lines in the walls are laid and accepted before plastering: the last item of the stage says exactly this - plaster only after the wiring and all lines in the walls, air conditioning and ventilation, have been accepted.

Step 1. The plan and marking out

1. The wiring plan - sockets, switches, lighting and dedicated lines - is approved against the furniture layout: a socket behind a wardrobe is useless.
2. Marking out the points. Heights are measured from the finished floor level. Before the first chase, walk through the marking with the contractor, together with the owner or designer, and photograph it.

Master Kistya's tip: before chasing, mark the outlines of the kitchen, bed, bedside tables and wardrobes on the walls with masking tape - you'll see right away which sockets end up behind furniture. For the oven, dishwasher and other built-in appliances, check the connection zone recommended by the manufacturer in advance: the plug mustn't stop the appliance sitting in place.

What the norms say about heights:

• the code doesn't set socket heights in apartments; the 1.8 m requirement applies to schools and kindergartens (SP 256.1325800.2016, cl. 15.36) - the height is chosen for convenience and the furniture;
• switches are recommended on the door-handle side at a height of up to 1 m (cl. 15.34) - a recommendation, not a ban;
• sockets with shutters are recommended in living rooms and children's rooms (cl. 15.35).

Step 2. Cable routes and chases

• Load-bearing walls must not be chased horizontally - so the route says. What's allowed in your building is decided by the design; load-bearing structures aren't touched without a structural designer.
• Cables across the floor are laid before the screed, across the ceiling - before the ceilings.
• Low-voltage lines (internet, TV, intercom) run separately from power lines.
• In walls made of non-combustible materials, wiring may be embedded under plaster - as copper-core cable in a protective sheath (cl. 15.5). Such wiring can't be replaced, so the routes must be photographed before plastering.

Step 3. The panel, lines and protection

Check against the plan and by eye:

• The panel is assembled, breakers and RCDs labelled by room and appliance: not “sockets 1”, but “bedroom sockets”, “oven”, “air conditioner”. Photograph the panel diagram - you'll need it for any fault.
• Dedicated lines. An apartment has separate lines for room sockets, for lighting and for kitchen and hallway sockets (cl. 10.2). The hob, oven, washing machine and other powerful appliances get their own lines, as per the kitchen design.
• RCDs. Circuits feeding household sockets are protected by a residual current device of no more than 30 mA (cl. 10.13).
• Lighting lines. Main, decorative and night lighting, two-way and master switches need their own lines - decided before chasing.
• Accent lighting, smart home, backup power, air conditioners - lines as per the design; a separate line to each indoor air conditioning unit, also before plastering.

Step 4. The bathroom

• If the bathroom has a socket, an RCD of up to 30 mA is provided for it (SP 256.1325800.2016, cl. 10.2).
• Switches for the bathroom and toilet are installed outside these rooms (cl. 15.34).
• The marking-out item in the app route adds: bathroom sockets no closer than 0.6 m to the shower.
• Equipotential bonding: a box in the bathroom is connected to the pipes, the bath and the drain. This protects against electric shock; photograph the box and conductors before they're covered.

Step 5. Continuity and insulation testing

Before acceptance, the electrician checks the lines for open and short circuits and measures the insulation resistance with a megohmmeter. A continuity test doesn't show damaged insulation - only a megohmmeter does. The route item gives a threshold of at least 0.5 MΩ. Ask for a photo of the meter reading for every line, or for the readings in a test report.

Step 6. Photos before plastering

This is the main thing you'll keep after the renovation. How to photograph:

• every wall in full, corner to corner, then close-ups of the junctions;
• a tape measure from the floor or corner in the shot: with a photo like this the cable can be found years later;
• label the room and the wall;
• separately - the panel, the equipotential bonding box, the back boxes.

The contractor takes the photos before plastering, the owner or designer checks them. More in Photos of hidden work.

Electrical acceptance checklist

• Points are placed per the approved plan and furniture layout.
• Back boxes are flush and level.
• The panel is assembled, circuits labelled, the panel diagram photographed.
• Dedicated lines for powerful appliances are in place, sockets are on RCDs.
• In the bathroom: an RCD, switches outside, equipotential bonding.
• Lines tested, insulation measured, readings saved.
• Every wall with cables photographed with a tape measure.
• Air conditioning lines and ventilation ducts accepted too.

These are Russian norms; other countries have their own wiring rules.

How to track it in the Doma app

The “Electrical” stage on the “Stages” tab: the items go in the order above; the contractor attaches photos to the items “Record the result” and “Test the circuits and the insulation” and sends the stage for review. You look at the photos and accept the work or write remarks. The “Master Kistya advises” block on the stage screen has tips on wiring. How acceptance works: How to accept a crew's work stage by stage; what comes next: Rough finishing.