GRRRR sparkies...

[Vir Campestris]

I've just replaced a ceiling light - one of the few left from before we bought the house.

I took it off the ceiling, and was shocked to find a single cable connected to it, and another one tucked neatly in the hole in the ceiling.

Which turned out not to be live. Or grounded.

Looking at the switch end showed the lighting ring goes that way, and the light is on a switched spur. There's also a spare cable in the back of the switch box not connected to anything...

It took some ingenuity so I could test that these two loose ends were opposite ends of the same cable. Why did the ****s put it there at all?

I also found that our kitchen fitters have broken the door of the fusebox. It stays on OK when shut, but tends to fall off when the door it opened. But we have bigger problems with them.

Andy

[T i m]

What if you wanted a ceiling fan / light assembly and wanted independent control of both from the switch plate? ;-)

Is it one of those you have to lift up first to release then lower (so they have probably forced it closed)?

And partly why I do, and I guess many others here, do it themselves? ;-)

But I guess if you want the fancy stuff (like granite worktops) I'm not sure how easy that sort of thing is to diy (if at all, where cutting is required)?

Cheers, T i m

[harry]

Angle grinder.

[Brian Reay]

The Earth not being connected is bad but, assuming I?ve understood you correctly, having a cable which runs to the rose from the switch rather than the loop in/out arrangement isn?t that unusual.

Again, some oddities but you may find this is better that the traditional method- especially if you want to add smart switches.

Some of our lights have live and neutral at the switch- unfortunately not all of them. Basically the ones which only had wall lights originally.

These will be easy to add smart switches to.

[T i m]

<snip>

I can see how you could use an angle grinder to cut a worktop to rough length but what about a finishing joint or an exposed sink hole where the sink is fitted underneath?

The only time I've seen a granite worktop being cut was on a large 'wet' CNC router (I helped them set the PC bit up).

Cheers, T i m

[Roger Hayter]

I got my reclaimed slate worktop cut by a local monumental mason. A very impressive fixed diamond wheel running in a water trough at the bottom, mounted vertically and at least a couple of metres in diameter.

[ARW]

Send me details and I'll keep an eye out for a replacement cover.

[ARW]

+1

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

How long ago were these done? I used to know an Electrician who bemoaned the way some customers changed their minds in mid job making everyone confused. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

I have a granite table lamp, obviously turned up on a lathe. Just don't drop it on your foot! Brian

[Andy Burns]

lighting ring? usually just a radial. Not unusual to find two lighting circuits fed from a single mcb/fuse.