Rewiring upstairs lighting in a flat roofed house

Hmmmmm..not so sure about doing it that way Sen. On a job we did fitting downlighters..we found joist and whacked a hole through lathe and plaster and drilled requisite OD hole through the joist centre..made good afterwards and stuff. However when you think that the cables lay on the ceiling..well I don't know.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2476/3708804307_4a0f2a7416b.jpg

One of a few..

 

But the cables usually lay on the ceiling anyway JP! The only time they get fixed to the joists for any major part of their length is on new builds, certainly not on re-wires etc.The usual thinking is that if the cable is just laying on the plasterboard it will get pushed up out of the way if a nail or screw is put in. Thats the drawback with doing what we're saying, if the cable is running under a joist it's got nowhere to go!

 

drill big holes, stick an angle drill in the big holes and drill roof joists, run cables, stick the big holes back in with screws n battens fill the gaps

easy life

Sillys is becoming the top man on this forum lots of good advise latey. Thats my method of choice too.

I use one of these though, bit expensive initial outlay but last donkeys.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/26970/Drill-Bits/Holesaws/Multi-Construction/Multiconstruction-Holesaw-105mm

 

Know what you mean Sen..I think since wiring practices began that you would always have cables laying on the ceiling..sometimes not, but more then often yes they would lay on the ceiling.

Am I correct in saying that the ceiling can be classed as a compete zone?..I'm sure it is myself. I mean if you put something up on the ceiling then you always drill carefully and feel the drill as such, and then when the hole is made just poke the screwdriver up to see if there are any cables over the hole etc before plugging.

 

do you ever get straight forward jobs Up

 

Tip..don't use ordinary drills use masonry drills..if it does brush the cable less chance of damage to the sheath as opposed to a twist drill..

 

"I cannot for the life of me see a problem with clipping a cable to the underside of a ceiling joist in the depth of the ceiling board."

JP, you can't do this as its not a safe zone. Cables buried in wall correspond to acc's vertical and horizontal. You can correspond to a ceiling light like this.

What if some mad man does a lovely artex shell pattern on the ceiling in 5 years time and then come to his senses and it gets over boarded in another 5 years.

 

Thats a nice holesaw Adam..does it go through lathe and plaster ok? Ie..it doesn't catch and you get covered with bits of sooty lathe and plaster with an irregular hole left?

 

Domestic *at it's best! :^O

[Edited by: admin]

 

Cheers Jake..I dunno M8..

 

Using Reg 522.6.5 it's ok to wire it in FP100 cable. FP100 conforms to BS 7846.

Then you can run it where you like less than 50mm from ceiling (or floor) surface.

 

Safe zones don't actually incorporate the ceiling - only the wall below it (522.6.6 (v))

Have a look at 522.6.7 & 522.6.8 as well

 

Thats a nice holesaw Adam..does it go through lathe and plaster ok? Ie..it doesn't catch and you get covered with bits of sooty lathe and plaster with an irregular hole left?

To be honest JP I normally cut through the plaster and if its lathe I normally cut through the lathes with a fine padsaw. They are much better for cutting through MDF, which clogs up the teeth of normal holesaws with the fine dust.

 

Ah, but will you make any money out of it up. I make money out of some of mine but I also lose money on others

 

well done mr unphased ,may pay you to get a battery impact drill small one like,to fit in those 5in holes and some of these


http://www.screwfix.com/prods/33325/Drill-Bits/Wood-Drill-Bits/Aggressive-Wood-B

easy life

cheers

 

3 weeks to find you have got the job

thats a little worrying as obviously other electricians who came around could see the problems and priced accordingly

So how you planing to do these lights Roy ???

 

i cant wait to hear what goes wrong on this one