Rewire Questions from the inexperienced!

[Vladimir3000]

Hi folks,

Been helping on a couple of different rewires recently to gain some experience. I have a question -

When it comes to installing the wiring for sockets, what do you do if there is no crawl space (or the crawl space is too small) to get in under the ground floor?

 

[a12jpm]

Cable rods

 

[Andy™]

cable rods/trunking lid/drop a bit cable (as a draw wire) down and grab with hooked rod etc

 

[Vladimir3000]

Cable rods

OK but it thought the cable needs to be clipped to the joists etc rather than left dangling - is this right? and if so, is the only solution to take up a few boards like you would on the first floor?

 

[Andy™]

you dont have to clip them

 

[batty]

Can be a nightmare, did one on Friday trying to upgrade main earth to water from 4mm to 10mm thought easy job lift floor understairs where meter is and bit up in kitchen no more than 6 mtr away use rods to get cable across. Three hours later finally finished. Trouble was builders had left bits of concrete and other muck under floor rather than taking it away and what with walls and bits in the way it was a pig of a job. Now specs tells me I didn't need to do it anyway as its a plastic incomer and bonding shouldn't have been there in the first place.

 

[Vladimir3000]

One of the houses i worked on had a crawl space but it was basically too small to get in, less than a foot high i'd say but then it had a series of sleeper walls across it maybe one every 3 or 4 feet maybe 6 in total - how on earth do you get cable run through all that?!

 

[Andy™]

walls are not often solid - the bricks are often spaced apart, so you can get a cable/cable rod throught it.

failing that, you can normally get over the wall, between joists

or take up loads of boards

 

[revjames]

Hi folks,what do you do if there is no crawl space (or the crawl space is too small) to get in under the ground floor?

Thats why you have apprentices!

 

[Vladimir3000]

[quote name='Andy

 

[Andy™]

normally wired from above. sometimes horizontal between sockets, but not always worth the extra chasing compared to taking link cable up and accross

some concrete floors do have access from below - basically the joists are concrete with concrete blocks between them

 

[Vladimir3000]

Thanks Andy, once again you've been a diamond helping me out here!

One final thing - with regards to time - what usually is most efficient method?

a)using rods etc OR

b)actually getting in the crawl space and wriggling around OR

c) taking up boards.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Can be a nightmare, did one on Friday trying to upgrade main earth to water from 4mm to 10mm thought easy job lift floor understairs where meter is and bit up in kitchen no more than 6 mtr away use rods to get cable across. Three hours later finally finished. Trouble was builders had left bits of concrete and other muck under floor rather than taking it away and what with walls and bits in the way it was a pig of a job. Now specs tells me I didn't need to do it anyway as its a plastic incomer and bonding shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Don't recall you asking me that Batty? and If you are going to miss-quote please have the decency to mis-quote correctly!

I believe Spec's actually said If you can confirm the internal metal pipework is not extraneous it doesn't need bonding..

and he only said that because that is what is says in BS7671! :| :| Details can be found in OSG chapter 4 pages 29 though 32

Apologies for this bit off topic! :x

 

[andylherts]

If the customer is Austrian, take the boards up.

And use rods.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Right, so i guess there is always space above the walls then? I suppose though getting in there if you can is the best move though?

one additional question - what if the building had a solid floor? do you just go u and over ceiling for sockets? or can you hide cable in skirting or cut horizontal chases around rooms? What about zones etc?

(Sorry bout all the questions, appreciate your help though!)

You defiantly don't go hiding cables behind skirting's.

vert or hoz chases in "safe zones"

 

[Vladimir3000]

Apologies for this bit off topic! :x

All cool so long as my question gets an answer!

Ahem! One final thing - with regards to time - what usually is most efficient method?

a)using rods etc OR

b)actually getting in the crawl space and wriggling around OR

c) taking up boards.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

One of the houses i worked on had a crawl space but it was basically too small to get in, less than a foot high i'd say but then it had a series of sleeper walls across it maybe one every 3 or 4 feet maybe 6 in total - how on earth do you get cable run through all that?!

Something like one of these budget rod sets can fish easily across the average room width.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Accessories_Index/Budget_Rods/index.html

 

[tom1]

Something like one of these budget rod sets can fish easily across the average room width.http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Accessories_Index/Budget_Rods/index.html

and i thought mine were cheap at

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

All cool so long as my question gets an answer! Ahem! One final thing - with regards to time - what usually is most efficient method?

a)using rods etc OR

b)actually getting in the crawl space and wriggling around OR

c) taking up boards.

Cut a few strategically placed access traps..

look for where boards have previously been lifted.. e.g. plumbing routes,

near to radiators etc..

Those rod set normally have some little hook attachments...

so you can push a load of cable down where you socket is going

then hook and fish your cable up to your access trap..

Feed a few rod over to the next access trap..

and off you go again!

when your cable is in place you can if you want too reach inside your trap and put a couple of cable clips to hold the cable up off the ground or away form the trap or pipes etc..

put the kettle on

 

[batty]

All cool so long as my question gets an answer! Ahem! One final thing - with regards to time - what usually is most efficient method?

a)using rods etc OR

b)actually getting in the crawl space and wriggling around OR

c) taking up boards.

If you are using rods don't make the mistake I made, take a good bit of floor up so you can see where they are going. If I had done that earlier in the day I probably would have saved myself 2 hours.