Socket and switch heights: the numbers I repeat to every electrician
The list of heights from the notes on my phone: switches, sockets by the bed, above the worktop, behind the TV and in the bathroom. No claim to be a standard, with an explanation of why.
This is the list that lives in the notes on my phone and that I show every electrician at our first meeting. Published so I can link to it. All heights are from finished floor to the centre of the fitting unless stated otherwise.
- Switches at the entrance to a room: 90 cm. Not 100 or 110 as many are used to: 90 is the height of an adult's lowered hand and reachable for a child from about seven.
- General sockets in living rooms: 30 cm. At the bedhead: 70 cm, two on each side, plus one switch for the general light, also at 70.
- Sockets above the kitchen worktop: 110 cm with a 90 worktop. If the worktop is 86 to 88, then 105. Blocks of two or three, no fewer than three blocks per three metres of run.
- Socket for the extractor: inside the casing or at 200 cm, depending on the model. For built-in appliances, in the neighbouring cabinet, not behind the appliance itself.
- TV: sockets and outlets at 120 cm for a screen centre at 110 to 120, behind the screen, offset 20 to 25 cm from the centre to one side.
- Washing machine: 100 cm, to the side of the machine, not above it. Dishwasher: in the neighbouring cabinet, 30 cm.
- Bathroom: socket by the mirror at 110 to 120, no closer than 60 cm to the edge of the bath or shower. Electric towel rail: its own circuit, positioned to suit.
- Desk: 30 cm below the desk and 75 to 80 above it, for a 75 desk. Don't economise on quantity: five per workplace.
Two rules on top. First: any height is overridden by the dimensions of the actual furniture or appliance, and it's better to have all the data sheets before the wiring goes in, not after. Second: on site, every one of these points must be marked on the walls with masking tape and walked through with the owners, hands on the wall, before any chasing. Half an hour that saves a week.