Access to lighting wiring under loft floor

The hassle I've had with people who've tried to replace a ceiling rose and have been stumped with the multitude of wires sticking out of the ceiling, then have proceeded to join all the reds together and all the blacks together and wonder why the fuse keeps blowing, the light is permamntly on, and the bedroom only comes on when the bathroom is one. ... I always go out of my way to ensure then every outlet has only a single cable, unambiguous cable coming to it (or a single pair for sockets). The extra 25pences of junction boxes is soooo owrth it.

In the OP's example, what I've done is trim a length of T&G to fit over one pair of rafters over the ceiling rose/whatever and trim off the tongue from it and the adjoining board so it just slots into the space, and put a notch in it to lever it up.

JGH

Having experienced problems accessing wiring buried under loft boarding in this house, when helping my son board his loft using T&G chipboard "loft boards" I did cut three holes in the board above tricky bits of wiring. I then simply screwed a bit of steel sheet over each hole. Nothing fancy other than rebating one hole so that the steel plate sat flush with the boards as it was in the way of the slide down loft ladder. The other two were just in general storage area so I just laid the plate on top with about an inch overlap and a screw at each corner. I did countersink the screw holes which my son considered to be OTT, but that's me!

Incidentally! What are those "loft boards" made of? I had sparks coming of the router cutter when I cut the rebate!

Mike

Non too strong, either.

If someone doesn't know how that type of ceiling rose is wired, they shouldn't be messing with electricity.

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned this type of product as a possible solution to Problem 2:

En el artículo , Dave Liquorice escribió:

I've seen switches and sockets with a very low profile (basically just a metal plate a mm or two thick). One of those in blanking plate form might be more suitable.

"Muddymike" wrote: [snip]

Floor sweepings. The sparks are from the bits of metal (saw teeth, bolts, screws, washers, bits of wire etc) that get picked up and dumped into the hopper alongside the chips from thicknessers, saws etc. it kills router bits.

Thanks - just what I was looking for. Strange that they don't show up in Screwfix or Toolstation.

I think the one that was in my house when I moved in is still under the the floorboards.Or was is lust a large jb. Eitherway it's still there.

And I got called to put up a new fitting where the customer was stumped by the two black singles and the red and earth cable.

They are brillaint.

Or at work:-)

That is proof you are not married:-) One of the first jobs I did when I moved into this place was sink the coax into the wall that was just clipped down the wall. I made good and redecorated. I sat down to watch TV with the wife and she said "can I have the TV in that corner" whilst pointing to another corner of the lounge.

A board access hole saw such as described here:

See above, and also look at doing loop in wiring with a JB or wago box.

Not if the JB is under the metal plate ;-)

Still a bit or a trip hazard, and the face plates are probably unlikely to react well to being walked on!

These are ideal for lighting junction wiring:

Its broken

So are they, just a bit less ;-)

Try another newsreader...

The problem is, the job sounds so straightforward in theory, so swmbo is convinced "he" can manage to swap one light fitting for another, after all, how difficult could it be? ;-)

The flat bit also has teeth to cut a rebate into the top of the board for the plate to sit in.

I'd guess you have points in every corner now. ;-)

It's not. It just shows how thick the great unwashed really are.

There is a junction box in the loft here, it's *something* to do with the lighting (ie depower the lighting and it is depowered...). It's a four way box with at least 5 if not 6 cables into it a couple of which are 3 core and earth. When I was putting down the loft flooring several of these cables took interesting routes over the top of joists or just generally curious paths. I simply numbered each cable, and noted to which terminal the wires in each cable went to. Took the wiring apart, fixed the floor, put it back together according to my notes. Everything works as it did, no fusen popen. I still haven't any idea what thoase cables do other than in the vaugest guessing terms.

So why doesn't the great unwashed when presented by the wires/cables in a loop thru/switch drop ceiling rose mark 'em and note down which one goes where it's not difficult, unless you are thick.

Not to mention taking a photo first. For me that's now standard procedure before disconnecting or disassembling anything non-trivial.