I am renovating my bathroom and have removed the old plasterboard to reveal electric cables that were connected to wall lights and the shaver socket. As I don't intend to have wall lights or a shaver socket I have put insulation tape on the exposed wires and want to put up new plasterboard and tile over it. My question is - is it okay to leave the cables behind the plasterboard unused or should they be removed? many thanks for any help you can give.
Please, please disconnect the other end. I hate finding live cables in the wall - especially those that have taken to burning through.
Preferably trace them back to source and remove. If this is an impossible job, rather than tape them, terminate in a junction box screwed to a wall stud and label the box as to what has been terminated in it.
GreaseApe
Insulating tape will eventually fall off, so please disconnect the wiring from its source before you blow things up or cause a fire.
In message , G&M writes
Having survived shorting live mains wires (kindly left by the previous owner) while patching a hole with ~filla while crouching atop a kitchen unit at ceiling height I'd like to second, third, fourth and fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth this!!!
Shaver sockets are useful for more than just shavers - many electric toothbrush chargers connect to them as well. Future users of the bathroom might be grateful if you install a new socket...
They can be left in place, but you really should disconnect the cables at the far end. Wrapping the end of a live cable in insulation tape (which will eventually fall off) is not sufficient.
Christian.
Insulting tape will fall off. If you must terminate the cable, use a couple of layers of heat-shrink sleeving, or maybe hotmelt glue, or both (hotmelt on the wire then shrink sleeving over it)
Definately disconnected. If left live and less the 50mm behind the front face of the wall the regs are being broken unless you leave a visible fitting in the appropiate place(s)...
When I said "really should", I meant "must".
Christian.
Hmm - perhaps my previous owner did up your house before he went on to mine. I know it can't be after because he DIY'ed himself an early grave. The moral of this story is :
Please don't dodge things - you give DIYers a bad name. In fact do it more professionally than the professionals.
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