wiring behind skirting boards

[John Rumm]

or according to the current regs, horizontally aligned as well...

[al]

Or use "No more nails" to glue it on ... ;)

a

[Andrew Gabriel]

In my experience, no wiring inspection is performed in the case of a "full survey". Indeed, the state of all services is explicitly excluded from a full survey. If the surveyor happens to notice something extremely obvious like a bit of rubber wire with the insulation all fallen off, you _might_ just get a comment along the lines of "Some deteroration to the wiring was noticed in the loft, and we would recommend that you engage a speciallist company to carry out a more detailed inspection".

[doozer]

I agree. I briefly considered running network cables behind a piece of skirting in an area where putting them under the floor would mean drilling a large number of joists. I quickly realized that putting them behind the skirting rule broke (software development) rule number 1:

Always do the least surprising thing.

You might not want to bang nails into the skirting but what if the next owner of the house notices a crack along the top of the skirting (where it's come loose because you have crammed a load of cable behind it) and whacks a nail in. Hmmm not a nice picture.

Having said that though you can buy skirting that is designed to carry cables. It's pretty ugly stuff and I wouldn't want it in my home but you might like it.

[[news]]

could one not place galvanised steel capping over the cables as is done when cables are buried in the walls ?

RT

[:::Jerry::::]

And what do you use to hold that stuff to the wall with, all the galvanised steel capping I've ever come across has been hailed on and all the new capping I've come across doesn't have holes for those nails - go figurer....

[AlexW]

"Some deteroration to the wiring was noticed in the

Indeed.

In my recent experiences they are very unlikley to do anything potentially risky like entering the loft or lifting a carpet! They seem to inspect just what they can /see/.

Alex.

[doozer]

You could but I don't really rate the coverings I have seen. I am pretty sure that I could bang a nail through them without really trying. If I was putting a fair sized nail into thick skirting and expected to be nailing into breeze block I could easily be inclined to hit it hard enough to puncture a wire cap.

I would have to have a really really good reason to run a cable behind a skirting board (even a concrete floor wasn't enough to make me run it behind skirting).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's not exactly life threatening nailing through network cables, though?

And exactly the same can apply to nailing down a floorboard where the joist has been notched for cable runs too.

[doozer]

I wasn't implying that nailing through a network cable was a life threatening problem but that running cable behind a skirting isn't a good idea in general because it's not necessarily expected.

All the electricity cables (bar one) in our place run through holes in the joist at least 50mm from the top so there is little danger of hitting them with nails or screws. I don't know about you but I don't just bang nails into the floor because I expect cables and pipes to be under the floor running every which way so I check first. I don't expect them to be hiding behind skirting (but on the occasions where I have nailed old skirting I have checked).

[Mark]

How old is the house, ive encountered gas, water, and electric running vertical horizontal and every angle between, in walls and skirting. Most Victorian/30s houses, which still foam over 50% of the housing stock, had sockets installed on the skirting with no conduit and lead or rubber cable. Arguably less chance of someone at a latter date fitting shelves to the skirting. However we now live in nanny land, "practical" is a word Rarely found in legislation.

-- Mark§

[[news]]

err, you don't nail through the capping, you nail adjacent to it with clout nails, pinning the edge of the capping to the wall.

RT

[:::Jerry::::]

The point is, no pun intended, the nail is quite capable of penetrating the metal and being driven into the wall - what do you think is going to happen when Mr Bean goes thumping a 3 inch masonry nail into the loose skirting board ?... Doh!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Expected by a pro and a first time DIYer ain't the same thing. ;-)

Yes, they should do, but in older houses where the joists were already notched for cables, many will use them again rather than further weaken the joists by drilling holes. And then there are things like pipes.

But you're being sensible. Plenty of people do just bang in nails to try and cure a creaking floorboard without checking first. I'd say if a skirting had developed a gap, most would simply fill it, as they'd guess hammering in nails isn't necessarily going to fix it as it's more likely the wedges or battens to the wall have failed. But then that's just my view. ;-)

[andrewpreece]

It's all very well specifying the directions in which cables may run to a socket or switch, but for this to be effective, everyone needs to know about it, a situation that will never materialise so long as humans are human. You can still stick a nail through a properly positioned cable if you have no idea where a properly positioned cable would run. You may argue that such people should be banned from doing their own diy, what, putting pictures up?

Andy.

[markzoom]

I wanted to know if I'd missed something obvious, so I am grateful for your reply. The skirting board would be more of a box than a board (2x battens, ply and moulding to round the top) and looking at the sockets it would be obvious that the wires run in it. Nails would be far more of a risk in the walls than in the skirting board/box, I would say. Mark K.

[markzoom]

One reason why I am getting a place abroad.

That is what I considered, since I intend to run the wires IN the skirting board/box, not behind it. There would be no reason for someone to put nails/screws in the ply part of the box. The only thing someone might consider is screwing a rubber doorstop to it, something which I can pre-empt.

I'd say that almost no-one worries about the position of sockets when they hang a picture and I can't see regulations becoming so anal (though I may be wrong) that you wouldn't be allowed to hang pictures above your sockets.

Fair point, but it would be a box with the wires running IN the "board", not behind it.

I don't really think gouging grooves deeper than 50 mm in structural walls is exactly common sense though (particularly in an earthquake zone). Mark K.

[markzoom]

Exactly, you interpreted my words correctly. Like I also said later, the wires would run IN the skirting board, not behind it, since it would be a shallow box. Another reason I don't want to attack the walls (apart from it being a total shag) is because it is originally a stone house underneath and I might end up trying to carve grooves into lava. Another alternative might be to run conduit above the (squared) skirting board and put a quarter round moulding above the rectangular conduit to make it neater. Mark K.

[markzoom]

I am sure that you also consider any subversive lowlife who doesn't paint their internal walls regulation Magnolia utterly despicable. Your ilk is a big reason I'm getting a place abroad, actually. I'm fed up with the anals taking over the UK.

M.K.

[:::Jerry::::]

But you're happy to infest another country....