"doozer" wrote in message
...
LetterBee wrote:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message
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On 31 Mar 2005 10:55:06 -0800, (markzoom)
wrote:


In the UK, it is common practice to attach cables to walls and plaster
or plasterboard over them. Then the skirting is fixed over that.
Thus the cables are hidden. Since the skirting is usually nailed to
the wall through the plaster, one doesn't want cables there.



Hypothetical situation to throw a spanner in the works.
What would you say if there was say a utility room on the back of a
house, it had been boarded out and plastered over. Used as a storage room
for years, the owner of the house then decides he wants electricity in
the room.Part P doesnt apply. Floor is concrete, he doesn't want channels
dug into the plasterwork to save his wallpaper from being ruined, doesnt
want ugly conduit stuck to the wall. When a room is plasterboarded out,
they normally leave a gap at the bottom of the boards, enough room for
cables to lie underneath and the cables would be at floor level. Skirting
board is the type they sell in B&Q, curved at the top on one side,
bevelled on the other, curved side on show.
Would that be a good enough reason to run cables behind the skiring
boards? A lot of people do make use of that No More Nails these days, and
even if it was nailed to the wall, the nails wouldnt be right down at
floor level.
If not, how would this problem be overcome? Obviously a fussy customer
but the customer wants it done with the least amount of damage and repair
to his room.

Now this might just be me being a complete masochist but faced with
roughly this problem I dug a channel in the concrete floor. Perhaps, with
hindsight, not the smartest move as it was $)£!"(!* hard work (running
behind the skirting wasn't an option as there was a patio door in the way.
The only other option was drop down from the ceiling which would of been a
hellish job as well) but it has resulted in a job with minimal visual
damage.

Fair enough but if the customer insisted you could not damage the walls and
you installed the wiring at floor level behind the skirting boards, would
that fall foul of the regs?