How should these messy mains cables be fixed?

Sorry to see you took my previous criticisms so badly, Jonno. I didn't realise they rankled you so much.

Surely it's high time to man up and move on.

Reply to
pamela
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Looks to me like the joists run left to right (ie the same direction as the cable) which would mean the joists would have to be drilled along their length. Would say stapling/clipping the cables out the way should be adequate as this looks to hardly be a trafficked area. As for your junction box idea, can't see nor imagine what you would possibly want a junction box for (remember you need access to any joins). IANAElectrician

Only way I can see you being worried at all is if the cable is one side of a joist and travels to the other side . If they do drill make sure they do it along the neutral axis or they could just notch the top of the joist then make good with a metal plate. Very dubious that they would cut the cable then rejoin it with some sort of junction.

Could be construed as a good thing that these cables are easily seen as if they are buried under that insulation...

Reply to
soup

I boarded the loft as "slats", i.e. gaps between floorboards. So wires can run over the joists in the gaps between the boards. Its a bit of a pain if you drop something down the gaps though. Of course this is not "nicely" boarded like some would like. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

I'm puzzled by your logic

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Have put an image up (Took me ages to get everything just right ;O)).

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I imagined the joists running left to right (same direction as cable and to get from A to B a hole would need to be drilled along the length of the Joist (Green line[obviously impossible]) so I can't really see what Pamela is asking about .

Unless she is meaning the cable has to at some point cross the joist (orangy line) then a slot cut in the top made good with a metal plate or drill through the middle (neutral axis [not in compression or tension]). But those methods (along with pinning/stapling) will bury the cable under the insulation not only giving rise to a greater chance of accident but also leads to cooling problems. To my mind the cables should be left as is maybe tidier at install but apart from aesthetics I can see no problems

Reply to
soup

Turns out it's not a crack but extra bricks:

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Reply to
pamela

Chimney :)

Reply to
Tim Watts

It's obviously not an area which is used for storage etc by the exposed insulation. So other than it being a bit untidy, I'd not worry.

Joists in that sort of area are often very small, as they aren't meant to carry any extra load. Drilling through them wouldn't be ideal.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Your diagram places my joists right to left but the joists run front to back in the picture. The insulation is laid along the joists and so is the boarding.

I don't know what that wooden strut thing is in the middle of the picture. I should have realised it wasn't clear.

Reply to
pamela

They all get there in the end ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Now I am very confused, I thought joists would only run in the same direction as the rafters but obviously you know your house best.

How can the boarding possibly be in the same direction as the joists, and not at right angles?

Reply to
soup

The boards which make up the short walkway in the picture each sit ontop two joists.

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The boards are wider than the distance between the joists.

For some reason, there's that wooden beam (is it also called a joist?) which goes cross wise. Don't make me lift up any insulation to see what other bits of wood are there because it's horrible stuff. :-( It was bad enough brushing along that stuff next to the walkway to take the picture. I don't plan on going in there again. The electricians who went in there to wire up the cables have my total respect!

The upshot of all this is that 3 or 4 joists would need to be drilled to get from the left to the right of the picture.

Reply to
pamela

En el artículo , pamela escribió:

That's good to know, thanks for coming back. In your first pic it looked just like the bricks had shifted laterally (side-to-side).

Wrt to the cable, looking into the hatch, they could have run it to the left, along the wall, then perpendicular to the wall to where it enters the bathroom (the ceiling pull switch?), but as someone else said, it's unlikely they will agree to come back and do that.

If it's right opposite the hatch where you enter the loft, you could try arguing it represents a trip hazard and should have been routed more carefully. Long shot though I think.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

pamela scribbled

No they don't. If they did, you'd not have crawled up with a camera looking for problems.

Try getting this through your thick head. Drilling roof joists affects their integrity. Given your record, had they drilled the joists, you'd have been here complaining about that.

Reply to
Jonno

Jonno, you're parroting some comment made here without proper thought.

The electrician who discovered those cables said he regularly puts in electric showers for our local authority and knows their specification. To do the job as required he said in our situation he would pass the cable through the joists.

Of course drilling a hole through a joist compromises the structural integrity to a greater or lesser degree. But you haven't seen our joists, nor read the technical spec for the job, nor spoken to the electrician about his opinion, nor weighed up any structural compromise against the other factors.

Instead all you've done is come home after the pub closed and fired off what must seem to you to be some witty comments. Unfortunately they won't seem so great when you're sober. Go to bed and get some rest.

Reply to
pamela

You don't want to run cables through roof members. Its not necessary.

It also puts the cable under the extra insulation you will be fitting which de-rates the cable by ~50% so the 10 mm2 cable for the electric shower would need to be 20 mm2. Next time you talk to your pet electrician ask him what happens when someone insulates over his cables he has carfully put in the worst place possible?

You would be far better tacking them to the verticals about 2ft up or just chucking them on top of the insulation.

If you have got them drilled through the joists and under insulation then don't use the shower for more than a minute or two or you will be on here complaining that the firemen wet your floors when the put the roof out.

Reply to
dennis

pamela scribbled

If you know all this, WTF did you make the OP? Are you related to Hucker, he's forever posting attention seeking bollocks.

Reply to
Jonno

If you were determined to tidy cables,instead of making holes you would nail a bit of wood across the joists and clip the cables to the side of said bit of wood.

Reply to
F Murtz

Thanks for the info.

He's not my pet! :-)

Reply to
pamela

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