Wiring in plaster

[John Rumm]

The way the colour transition was performed over a period of time, meant the transition straddled the intro of part P anyway - so old colours were permitted after it, and new colours permitted before it. Hence the colour of the wire tells you nothing of value.

Most modern wiring accessories have a date of manufacture stamped on them - so unless you have a stockpile of those...

Lastly, why bother, who is going to ask?

So ultimately either "do it right" or take an informed decision as to why deviation from "to the book" if you think that is a reasonable trade off of safety against effort / cost etc.

[Roger Hayter]

I see. I probably just copied the professionals!

(snip)

[John Rumm]

For the avoidance of doubt, there is obviously nothing wrong[1] with using conduit/capping in walls etc, and in many situations it would be good practice - especially when first fixing cables prior to plastering since it saves getting cables damaged by plastering trowels and might help reduce the amount of plaster they fill all your backboxes with (but don't count on it!)

[1] You get a slight derating in maximum current capacity, but not usually enough to cause any problem in isolation.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've often seen oval plastic used. If it makes plastering a new wall easier, no problem. But wonder just how much extra protection it would offer to a picture nail, etc?

[John Rumm]

Pretty much none really. Even metal capping is usually fixed with nails, so does not offer much physical protection[1]. You need 3mm or steel really to get significant puncture protection.

Its probably slightly easier to pull a new wire through oval than under capping - but only so long as its straight lines.

[1] Although if its earthed, then that makes the protection more effective in an electrical sense, but you would still have a cable with a nail in it!