Running ring main inside stud-wall

[Sadly]

I have a stud wall in my house that is 85mm uprights with 20mm lathe and plaster each side.

I have access to the inside of this wall (at the top and bottom) at one place along the wall, and would like to run cables down it for a ring main. The regs say that cables must be at least 50mm deep if they are unprotected. There is an area 25mm wide that is >50mm from each side of the wall.

So, should I run my cables in this wall?

Would I be better off putting them close to one of the sides of the wall and adding a socket in the same area (to turn it into a permidded zone)?

Comments please...

[Sadly]

No comments?

[Andy Wade]

It's lath and plaster. A lathe is a machine tool...

The problem here is that with access at only those three points you couldn't fix the cable well enough to constrain it to that middle inch. If you're prepared to knock in two more holes and clip at five points it might just be OK.

That's certainly an option, and then it wouldn't matter where the cable went within the thickness of the wall (assuming the switch or socket location can be determined from both sides of the wall) - but you'd still need to constrain it to a accurate horizontal or vertical run to the electrical fitting.

Does that help?

[Mr Fuxit]

Just drop the cables down the cavity; who the hell is going to see them?

[chris French]

In message , Mr Fuxit writes

Not the person in the future who drills into it/puts a screw through it etc.....

Which is the point really.

[Mr Fuxit]

I've never, ever, seen cables clipped or otherwise fixed inside a studwork cavity. Also, only a complete idiot drills above a socket or switch. Finally, there's more danger of damaging a fixed cable than a cable that can be pushed aside by a drill bit.

[zymurgy]

Not likely though is it.

I agree that a masonry bit isn't that sharp, but a wood drill would rip up the sheath quite well.

Still, this is lath and plaster, Who knows what someone'd drill into it with.

P.