Kitchen designers and electricians need to talk more!
I have two clashes where the mounting brackets for cupboards coincide with the drops to a light switch and the cooker outlet:-(
My stud finder does not give a reliable indication; just metal/electricity around here.
The photos I took at first fix show all the drops as vertical but can I rely on that to fit wall plugs either side?
On Tuesday 08 January 2013 17:48 Tim Lamb wrote in uk.d-i-y:
New-ishly wired in the UK?
Then yes, upto a point.
Permitted zones for cable routing (unprotected, < 50mm from wall surface) are:
1) Horizontal band from accessory - band height is from the top to the bottom of the visible parts of the accessory.2) As 1, but vertical band to the left and right sides of the accessory
3) 150mm vertical band touching the inside of an internal (concave) wall corner4) 150mm horizontal band at the top of the wall touching the joint with the ceiling.
In my house, I have to put slight bends in the conduit in the 150mm ceiling band to take them away from joists. This takes the cable out of the accessory vertical band - so I will have to double check when I hang my cupboards.
In message , Tim Watts writes
Yes.
I suppose the questions comes down to whether or not he used a spirit level before chasing the blockwork.
The plan is to mark the likely route with a level, isolate the circuits and drill very cautiously:-)
Because the washbasin/loo positions have swopped, I had to do a short horizontal chase....
Isn't this a bad risk/return choice? The risk is that you do drill into the cable, and then you have to chase out the wall again to replace it. The only return is that you can use the standard fixings inside the kitchen units. Why not put a piece of wood inside the cupboard at the top, then drill through that into the wall where you know the wires aren't? Depending on the unit's construction, You may well need to fix the unit to the chunk of wood using the standard fixing points 'in reverse'.
I don't think using the standard fixings would work but I'll give more thought to the *chunk of wood* suggestion. I have an idea the cabinet backing is 6mm mdf in a deep groove which would be amply strong enough with several screws. Luckily these are isolated units so shouldn't need adjustment.
I have considered welding the supplied brackets to a steel strip; moving the actual wall plugs to one side.
By standard fittings, I assume you mean where you screw a bit of almost flat metal to the wall - and that has a sort of "dog leg" in it? I think I would go for some technique of using a long plate and moving the screw holes, if possible. We have several different patterns and some are much wider than others. If you are a capable welder I would have thought it easy enough to manufacture a full cupboard-width strip from two flat pieces with an overlap?
You *always* need to adjust cupboards!
850mm wide! One end is clear so I only have to bodge the other.
I have some 2mm steel strip. A bit of that with the offset at one end and a 90deg. flange for stiffness should do the job.
That's because the adjusters aren't preset:-)
>
I used something like this (not from this site):
Simon.
In message , sm_jamieson writes
Just the job. Luckily I have the tackle to make something similar although it won't be nicely plated.
I remember seeing something like that - a bit expensive for what it is, but I fancy using that next time...
???????? just buy/hire a decent detector?
Jim K
Why not excavate a small hole a 10 or 20 cm below the intended fixing point so thqt you know exactly where the cable is.
No need to make good very carefully, as the cupboard will conceal it.
John
I have cabinets here that fix by hanging onto a continuous aluminium track that can be screwed to the wall at any point. I don't know if the track is available generally but it made fitting my kitchen wall cabinets very simple.
Mike
may we presume your track is not wired to the mains? ;>)
Jim K
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