Running a wire neatly down a wall: how to?

Hi,

The story so far: I was hoping to convert the cupboard under the stairs into a cloakroom. The first step is adding a light and this is proving difficult as I had hoped to keep the wires hidden. You may have seen my thread on conduit. I have put conduit inside the stud wall: at one end it goes to the light switch; at the other end it terminates in a metal back box at the top of the wall. I now need to get the wire to this top box. I can't just drop inside the wall from above as the stairs are in the way, so I will need to have a couple of inches of cable run down the outside of the wall: what is the neatest way to do this?

May be I have made things difficult by connecting the conduit to a back box? I know you can get flex outlets to screw onto a back box but I need something that would allow T&E. Does such a thing exist?

I know you can get pattress boxes that screw onto a 1G box and convert it to a 2G or 3G socket. Is there such a thing as one of these "skirts" that is only 1G wide, in other words extending the back box out onto the wall? That way I could drop into the protruding plastic box and put a blank plate over the front?

TIA

Reply to
Fred
Loading thread data ...

pics needed. Not clear why youre using conduit

NT

Reply to
NT

ok with you so far. Not sure why you put the metal box in mind you...

Which wire? Presumably not the switch wire since this will go up your conduit one presumes. Hence I suppose you mean either the switch wire to the lamp fitting, or a power feed to it?

Outside of which wall? Do you mean outside the cloakroom - e.g. visible in the hall? or outside and in really outside?

Hmm, need some pictures to visualise exactly what you are doing here.

Things to ponder:

What sort of lamp fitting are you using and where is it mounted?

Where is the power coming from? (i.e. lighting circuit, power circuit via a fused spur etc)

What is on the under surface of the stairs in the cloakroom?

General advice on fiddling wires through buildings can be found here:

formatting link

Reply to
John Rumm

This would do

Reply to
Camdor

I'm not sure now either; I think it is making things complicated. I suppose I thought that a box with a blanking plate would look better than a conduit box on the surface of the wall. I thought that taking the conduit out of the wall would be ugly too.

Yes.

Yes.

No, not outside-outside.

Just a standard pendant thing, nothing fancy nor special. The power is coming from the radial that supplies all the other downstairs lights. I thought this was best to keep all lights together rather than use a fused spur or similar. It was on an 3A spur before and made the wiring simpler!

Thanks.

Reply to
Fred

So how are you planning on getting the power from the lighting circuit to the rose for the lamp? I presume the underside of the stairs is covered with plasterboard or similar?

I expect youe easiest solution will be a couple of holes in the plasterboard one by the rose, and another at the edge where you need to change direction.

Photos might help.

Reply to
John Rumm

This looks exactly what I need. Can you knock out a hole for cable entry, or is it more for creating extra room behind dimmer switches?

I tried to google mita to find out and found my own thread ;)

I also found a post on Screwfix where a sparks suggested saving money and drilling through the posts on a "normal" pattress box. Has anyone done this? Is it worth the hassle?

TIA

Reply to
Fred

Yes it is plasterboard but luckily the bit with the light on is accessible from the landing floorboards; it's just everything else is not ;(

I will have to look for a free upload site to upload some photos.

Thanks.

Reply to
Fred

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.