Everyday electrics
Replacing what is already there: a broken socket, a pendant to hang, a blown spotlight, a smoke alarm to fit.
The scope, stated plainly
This family covers replacing accessories on an existing installation in good order: sockets, one-way and two-way switches, faceplates, pendants, ceiling lights, wall lights, recessed spots, batten fittings. Added to that are stand-alone smoke alarms — compulsory in every French home — and changing bulbs that sit out of reach, on a stairwell or a vaulted ceiling, when nobody in the household fancies the ladder.
What falls outside is just as clear: anything involving the consumer unit, adding a circuit, running cable inside walls, earthing, or the compliance of an ageing installation. That work belongs to an electrician insured for it, and I say so on the phone rather than once I am standing in your hallway.
Every job starts by switching off the relevant breaker and checking that the circuit is dead. If the installation shows a visible fault — bare conductors in a junction box, an old bathroom socket with no earth, scorched accessories — work stops there and you receive the finding in writing. Fitting a new faceplate over a hidden fault would serve nobody.
Electrics: the limits
Can you add a socket where there is none?
No. Creating a supply point means running a cable from the consumer unit, protecting it with its own breaker and taking responsibility for the compliance of the whole. That is an electrician's job. Replacing an existing socket with a double one in the same position is possible, though, if the back box allows it.
Can a heavy pendant go on the ceiling?
It depends on the existing fixing point. A standard ceiling rose carries a few kilos, no more. Beyond that a mechanical fixing into the slab or a joist is needed, separate from the electrical cable. The weight given by the manufacturer settles the question in advance, and it is worth checking together beforehand.
Can a smoke alarm go anywhere?
It goes on the ceiling, in the middle of the hallway serving the bedrooms, away from wall corners and air vents that disturb detection. Kitchens and bathrooms are to be avoided: steam sets off false alarms. Fitting includes testing the signal and writing the commissioning date on the unit.
One photo of the fitting is enough
Send a picture of the socket, the light or the ceiling concerned: I will tell you straight away whether it is within scope.