What constitutes one?
I am paying a visit to our son's new house (old building) to assess how to add new sockets into his kitchen before it is re-furbed.
I fear that some of the wiring may be under the bedroom flooring. Is this considered accessible for the meaning of accessibility?
Dave
IMHO yes if there's a trapdoor and carpet.
No if there's no trap, or laminate.
Owain
Under floor boards generally counts as accessible. (even though in reality getting under some floor boards can cause more hassle that getting to "non accessible" connections buried in plaster).
"Dave" wrote
All in accordance with Part P etc?????
Any wiring is accessible. Its juts a question of taking enough of the house apart.
And wiring that is practically inaccessible can't be inspected to see if its up to standards can it?
If you are thinking of lifting a floorboard to put in a junction box, well just make sure its all screwed up tight.
I won't tell if you don't. ;-)
I am always puzzled by this obsesion with accesibility of screwed connections. If the terminal is tightened properly then it isn't going to come loose, at least not until the mice take to carrying little insulated screwdrivers. An electrican told me that the 50Hz vibrations caused by the current eventually cause the screws to work free.
I find the physics of that hard to grasp. But even if it is true it means that the terminals aren't designed properly. Car engines are subject to very large vibrations at similar frequencies and I have never heard of correctly installed cylinder head or sump bolts working loose.
Indeed..actually screws will in time corrode anyway.
HOWEVBER there were quite a few in my parents house left over from when the lights were wired up in 1953, together with the rubber cable and steel conduit..and everything still worked fine.
I think the issue is really more that people tend to make a bigger mess of screw terminals that crimps.
I have the odd one buried here and there..under the borded out loft..
LOL Yes, you are right there :-)
Too much laminate upstairs for that. :-(
That's our son's position on the subject. He reckons that if he stays in the house long enough, it will get ripped out and replaced anyway.
Having just got back from his house, I am amazed to say that the kitchen has been half tiled around the light switches and sockets. Each bit of plastic neatly grouted round, instead of being unscrewed and tiled under them. This is not too big a problem as he doesn't like the tiles anyway.
What worried me is that the house has been modified in the past to produce new rooms using stud walls. It must have been quite some time ago as all the wiring looks quite new. Red/black and earth in PVC.
What is the best way to run new cable into the stud walls, without too much of a problem? I don't have much of a problem at the ceiling as there is a suspended one below the original. This is probably where any junction blocks may go after I get the original wiring out of the wall to break into the ring. Any others will end up in the loft when I move the light switches from _behind_ the doors.
Just to add to this tale, the CU is mounted under the stairs at an angle of 45 degrees, so that the cover hangs down. I wonder what else I will find
Regards
Dave
Rip through the plasterboard with a kitchen knife and open up a slot. Drill through the noggins and run your cables,
Replace the removed bit of plasterboard and give it a quick coat of skim..to hold it
Sand and paint.
I have thread cabled through with coat hangers before.but even so you need a hole..that worked OK as long as it was above the noggin line. The hole took the new socket. Below it you have to open up enough to drill the noggin (or notch it)
For lighting cable and possibly ring mains its actually possible to run a circular saw up the wall twice and remove a bit JUST wide enough to squeeze the cable through..then stuff it with newspaper and slap plaster over the slot..sand and paint..etc.
Long series drills will keep the slot narrow :-)
Brilliant. That is the way I am going to do it.
Many thanks. My brain must be addled right now, not to have thought about that.
Regards
Dave
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