I've just been looking at the excellent diy wiki, great job by the way! So nice to see people contributing and creating something really useful for free.
Maybe I missed it but I was hoping to find about what how to run electric cable under upstairs floorboards. I have questions such as:
1) If running cable parallel with the joists. Can cable be left lying on the plasterboard or should cable be clipped to centre of a joist?
2) If junction boxes (maintenance free junction boxes) are used, should these just sit on the plasterboard or be screwed to a joist? How best to protect these from above/below?
If you were doing a new build and installing cable before the ceilings went in etc, then they would normally be clipped to the side of a joint in the middle. However for rewires and extensions its quite common to let wires lay on the plasterboard. If insulation is going in under the floor (either for thermal, noise or fire resistance) then it is actually advantageous to have the cables on the plasterboard since it helps them dissipate heat.
It must be screwed to a joist. Since JBs typically don't have cable clamps, you would also need to clip the first few inches of cable adjacent to the box to the joist as well to provide restraint.
Things clipped to the sides of joists usually don't need protection since they are out of the reach of fixings.
A wire laying on the PB is also usually ok since if you attempt to screw up through it, it will usually just move out of the way.
Wires in notches in the top or bottom of joists should be protected by nail plates:
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Is this info in the wiki?
Yes some of it, but it is scattered about a bit. Some of the info on the physical installation issues of electrical work are covered in:
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free to add to that or other articles if you want. I can create a wiki account for you if you like?
We take contributions on all topics (within reason!)
Also for that matter, even if you don't confident to finish an article on a subject, but you spot a gap that could do with filling, there is nothing to stop you creating the outline and leaving it to someone else to add the detail...
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