A Truro homeowner had several electrical jobs that needed addressing - from replacing light fittings across the hallways and kitchen, to sorting a faulty dimmer switch in the bathroom and installing a new statement pendant above the staircase. We took care of the lot in a single visit, including hiring a stairway access platform to safely reach the height needed for the over-stairs fitting.
Sometimes a home just needs a bit of an electrical refresh – not a full rewire or a major installation, but a handful of smaller jobs that have been on the list for a while. That was the case with this property in Truro, where several light fittings needed swapping out, a bathroom dimmer switch had stopped working properly, and the homeowner wanted a new decorative pendant hanging above the stairwell.
The client had already chosen all the new light fittings themselves and arranged for delivery ahead of our visit, so our job was to remove the existing units and connect the new ones to the existing lighting circuits. This is a straightforward enough task when everything is accessible, though it does require checking that the existing wiring is in a safe and serviceable condition before making any connections – something we do on every job regardless of how routine it seems.
Three fittings were replaced in total on the ground floor – one in the front hallway, one in the rear hallway, and the kitchen spotlight strip. Each was disconnected, removed, and the new unit wired in and secured. With client-supplied fittings, we always make sure the connections are correct and the fitting is properly supported before leaving, even though any product-specific issues fall outside our scope once the electrical side is done.
The bathroom had two separate issues to deal with. The dimmer switch had become unreliable – a common enough fault with dimmer modules, which can degrade over time. The switch was a decorative plate style, so rather than replace the whole assembly we swapped out just the dimmer module inside it, which brought the switch back into full working order while keeping the existing plate intact. The wall light fitting in the same room had been flagged as loose, but when we got to it, it turned out to simply need tightening rather than any adhesive repair – a good outcome and one less job to do.
Also in the bathroom, the existing shaver outlet was being decommissioned. The supply cabling was disconnected and safely terminated behind a new PVC blanking plate, which sits flush with the wall and leaves no exposed wiring.
The most involved part of the day was the over-stairs pendant. The client had chosen a decorative fitting weighing around 10kg – not unusual for a statement piece, but heavier than a standard light fitting and positioned above a staircase, which creates an obvious access challenge. Working at height over stairs isn’t something you can safely do from a standard stepladder, so we hired a stairway access platform specifically for the job. These platforms are designed to give a stable, level working surface across the angled steps of a staircase, which makes safe working at the ceiling height achievable without improvising.
The existing fitting above the stairs was removed first, and the new pendant was then assembled and connected. With a fitting of that weight, it’s worth taking a moment to confirm the ceiling rose and backplate are properly fixed before hanging the full load – which they were. The platform hire was included in the quote as a line item, so there were no surprises on the day.
All in all, a varied job covering lighting, switch repairs, and a bit of decommissioning – the kind of day where you work through a list methodically and hand the property back with everything working as it should.
