three amateur lighting questions

Dear Screwfix community sparks,

I have three questions which I presume are very simple, but as a complete amateur electric DIYer, I thought I would ask opinion on method and best practice!

They are all to do with changing ceiling lights on a very old house which I am volunteering to help redecorate and update. There is reasonable though not total access to the floorboards above in the first two cases.

1) Change of a light pendant.

First question is about a pendant which is a standard white plastic circular one screwed into a plate with a junction of wires on the ceiling. The box on the ceiling contains the contents of three cables entering it from the ceiling - (photos below 1-1 and 1-2).

The light fixture that has been bought to replace this pendant has a ceiling rose with no wiring box in it, and in addition, it is very shallow. Are there smaller wiring boxes that are available that might fit in the new rose, where I might replicate all previous connections ? Or is it practice to perhaps end all connections in a box that sits above the ceiling and between the joists, in which case, what kind of product would I need?

2) The kitchen light is currently a spot light which is fed by a single grey cable containing what looks like a red and black wire only. The intention is to remove the existing spot light, seal this location in the ceiling, and replace it with two pendants operated by the same switch which will be about 50cm each away from the original light. In the floor above this fixture, I can see where the grey cable enters the hole in the ceiling below, with the two new intended locations blocked by joists.

What is the correct method here? Would i be able to terminate the current grey cable in a junction box and run two new grey cables (1 mm two or three core?) to the new locations and feed them through new holes in the ceiling below? If so, what kind of junction box, and how do i get through the joists? Ive read about notching the joists - how would I go about doing that? Would I need to have small light fixture junction boxes in the two new roses? Finally, I dont need an earth since both the new fixtures will be plastic, but if I did, am I right in assuming the original grey cable ought to contain one? (photo 2)

3) finally, a builder did us a favour today, and put up a plasterboard repair to a small ceiling area which had been previously water damaged. Unfortunately, during this process, he dismantled the existing light fitting without any record or photo of what went where, taped up all open connections, and left after finishing the ceiling.

As a result I have a head of wires emerging from the ceiling - there are four grey cables, three of them contain red/black/yellow-green wires, and the fourth contains a red/yellow/yello-green (photo 3-1). I have the connection box they all fit into before, but dont know where all the wires go now! (photo 3-2).

I know I could arrange for an electrician to come by, but suspect these three problems are probably solvable easily, safely and properly with a little guidance, and it would save money for the old little couple that own the place.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

fair enough. thought that might be the case but figured i should check. thanks.

 

i didnt realise choc connectors were considered safe in light fixtures - i can easily do 1 and 3 now i know that, and crimp the cores that need to be kept together, but dont feel confident about 2 because of the joists. if i have to call someone in for that, might as well have them do all of them i suppose.