I swapped the hinges on the main downstairs room door last year, and of
course now the light switch is on the hinge side of the door rather than the
opening side.

There is no chance of me getting into the ceiling void above to be able to
reroute the cables above the door, so is it permissible and acceptable to
crimp extension twin & earth cable where the existing switch is, and route
this down to the floor, under for a short way and back up the other side of
the door?

Both walls are lath and plaster, btw,

Many thanks

Richard


--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 14:18:25 -0000, RichardS wrote:

I swapped the hinges on the main downstairs room door last year, and of
course now the light switch is on the hinge side of the door rather than the
opening side.

There is no chance of me getting into the ceiling void above to be able to
reroute the cables above the door, so is it permissible and acceptable to
crimp extension twin & earth cable where the existing switch is, and route
this down to the floor, under for a short way and back up the other side of
the door?

Both walls are lath and plaster, btw,

Have you got good access under the floor to get a drill in? You will need
to drill upwards through the floorboards and the soleplate of the
partition. There will also probably be a big lump of plaster behind there
that dripped down when it was put on. Threading the cable upwards from the
floor to the old and new light positions could be fun too.
There is also the rule about the positions that concealed cables are routed
in walls, horizontally and vertically from fittings. You will end up with a
cable down one side of the door with no hint that it is there. Not sure how
strict that rule is though.

"John Armstrong" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 14:18:25 -0000, RichardS wrote:

I swapped the hinges on the main downstairs room door last year, and of
course now the light switch is on the hinge side of the door rather than
the
opening side.

There is no chance of me getting into the ceiling void above to be able
to
reroute the cables above the door, so is it permissible and acceptable
to
crimp extension twin & earth cable where the existing switch is, and
route
this down to the floor, under for a short way and back up the other side
of
the door?

Both walls are lath and plaster, btw,

Have you got good access under the floor to get a drill in? You will need
to drill upwards through the floorboards and the soleplate of the
partition. There will also probably be a big lump of plaster behind there
that dripped down when it was put on. Threading the cable upwards from the
floor to the old and new light positions could be fun too.



There is also the rule about the positions that concealed cables are
routed
in walls, horizontally and vertically from fittings. You will end up with
a
cable down one side of the door with no hint that it is there. Not sure
how
strict that rule is though.

You could leave the exiting lightswitch there and run a 3 core + earth and
make the second lightswitch a two way, or maybe something on
http://www.wireaway.co.uk/index.htm
may help.

--
Adam

"John Armstrong" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 14:18:25 -0000, RichardS wrote:

I swapped the hinges on the main downstairs room door last year, and of
course now the light switch is on the hinge side of the door rather than
the
opening side.

There is no chance of me getting into the ceiling void above to be able
to
reroute the cables above the door, so is it permissible and acceptable
to
crimp extension twin & earth cable where the existing switch is, and
route
this down to the floor, under for a short way and back up the other side
of
the door?

Both walls are lath and plaster, btw,

Have you got good access under the floor to get a drill in? You will need
to drill upwards through the floorboards and the soleplate of the
partition. There will also probably be a big lump of plaster behind there
that dripped down when it was put on. Threading the cable upwards from the
floor to the old and new light positions could be fun too.
There is also the rule about the positions that concealed cables are
routed
in walls, horizontally and vertically from fittings. You will end up with
a
cable down one side of the door with no hint that it is there. Not sure
how
strict that rule is though.

I have the skirtings off at the moment, so have good access to feed the
cables through the flooring. Unfortunately, I've just laid the new floor in
the room in question, and wish I'd thought of this before doing it! I'll
have to lift a board in the hallways if I can't feed the cable through.

Now, the cable is, as I say, in the cavity of a lath and plaster wall, so
this isn't as if it's chased into the wall. The cavity is probably about 4"
deep, and the cable just rattles around in it.

I could feed a plastic conduit into the cavity to give the cable a little
protection.

I don't really want to leave the existing switch there (in response to Adam)
because it's a brass dimmer, though I think that it is one that can be used
as a three way.

cheers
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

In article , RichardS
noaccess@invalid.? writes

I don't really want to leave the existing switch there (in response to Adam)
because it's a brass dimmer, though I think that it is one that can be used

Perhaps just replace it with a blanking plate, to leave a clue for
future owners that there is electrical wiring along that side of the
door?

In uk.d-i-y, RichardS noaccess@invalid wrote:

Now, the cable is, as I say, in the cavity of a lath and plaster wall, so
this isn't as if it's chased into the wall. The cavity is probably about 4"
deep, and the cable just rattles around in it.

I could feed a plastic conduit into the cavity to give the cable a little
protection.

I don't really want to leave the existing switch there (in response to Adam)
because it's a brass dimmer, though I think that it is one that can be used
as a three way.

The Regs suggest extra protection is needed for cables in non-obvious runs
if they're closer to the surface than two metric inches, i.e. 50 of your
earth millimetres. If the cable really is loose-flapping, in practice the
chance of penetrating it with a drill or picture hook is negligible, so
if you're willing to take a small risk, and given that other parts of the
installation also have loose-wires-in-the-cavity, you're not going to
create a massive hazard by doing the crimp-and-down-and-up route you
suggest. (Personally I prefer if possible to find the junction box or
rose which supplies the switch and run a new unbroken length, rather than
extending; but obviously that's a bit more work).

Now, if you're happy to spend a bit more in exchange for reduced effort,
you'll find that remote-control switches and dimmers are down to the 25-30
quid mark at many of the online leccy-bits suppliers, and at many trade
counters. With that gear, you can put the mains-connected dimmer unit at
the current position, behind a blanking plate if it's one which doesn't
have a "local" hard-wired switch, and slap the no-mains-needed remote
switch/controller wherever you like. Pricier, of course, but could be
a hassle-saver...

HTH, Stefel

wrote in message
...
snip

The Regs suggest extra protection is needed for cables in non-obvious runs
if they're closer to the surface than two metric inches, i.e. 50 of your
earth millimetres. If the cable really is loose-flapping, in practice the
chance of penetrating it with a drill or picture hook is negligible, so
if you're willing to take a small risk, and given that other parts of the
installation also have loose-wires-in-the-cavity, you're not going to
create a massive hazard by doing the crimp-and-down-and-up route you
suggest. (Personally I prefer if possible to find the junction box or
rose which supplies the switch and run a new unbroken length, rather than
extending; but obviously that's a bit more work).

Now, if you're happy to spend a bit more in exchange for reduced effort,
you'll find that remote-control switches and dimmers are down to the 25-30
quid mark at many of the online leccy-bits suppliers, and at many trade
counters. With that gear, you can put the mains-connected dimmer unit at
the current position, behind a blanking plate if it's one which doesn't
have a "local" hard-wired switch, and slap the no-mains-needed remote
switch/controller wherever you like. Pricier, of course, but could be
a hassle-saver...

HTH, Stefel

Thanks Stefek,

After considering a couple of things, I decided to go ahead and do the job -
fortunately (for my pedantic mind) I think that your post has just confirmed
that it's probably within regs. There's a 100mm cavity, which means that if
it dangles down the middle (it's not clipped anywhere) then it's 50mm from
either wall.

Belt and braces, I put it in some conduit. If anyone manages to drill
through that then I want to know how - because if you wanted to do it then
you couldn't in a million attempts! Drill bit shoudl just push it out of
the way.

Anyway, when the replastering is done the missus will be happy. Of course I
missed the studs in the new location completely (skirting off so I know
exactly where they are). Sod's law is that I tried to install it slap bang
on top of a noggin (why is the jigsaw making such a big deal about cutting
through lath and plaster I think? Reason - cos it's just cut through 70% of
the depth of the noggin.... didn't even bend the blade! Atlas Copco, love
'em...). So, noggin repair added to the time to do the job, plus few inches
of wall disintegrated around the new position, needs replastering (good job
I'm doing some plastering tomorrow..). Sigh, I'm normally so good at
fitting sockets and switches.

Incidentally, I would normally have run another length of cable from the
originating rose/junction box, but unfortunatly there was no chance in this
case. The run would have been across all of the ceiling/floor joists, and
there was no chance of lifting the boards upstairs at all (all nicely
polished, varnished and bedroom only dust free room in the house).

Still, just wasted an entire afternoon on what would have been a simple job
just 3 weeks ago when the floor was up, so I'm feeling happy with myself
again...

cheers
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

Still, just wasted an entire afternoon on what would have been a simple
job
just 3 weeks ago when the floor was up, so I'm feeling happy with myself
again...

Well done BUT.....
Are you practising cursing for when the wife decides to rehang the door to
fit in with the new furniture. I laid sat cable, tv arial cable, tv uplink
cable and VHF cable to some nice points behind the TV, sunk the lot into the
wall filled it in, painted the room and the next day she went to IKEA and
bought book shelves and moved the TV across the room.
Adam
PS. IKEA is Scandinavian for HELL.

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Still, just wasted an entire afternoon on what would have been a simple
job
just 3 weeks ago when the floor was up, so I'm feeling happy with myself
again...

Well done BUT.....
Are you practising cursing for when the wife decides to rehang the door to
fit in with the new furniture. I laid sat cable, tv arial cable, tv uplink
cable and VHF cable to some nice points behind the TV, sunk the lot into
the
wall filled it in, painted the room and the next day she went to IKEA and
bought book shelves and moved the TV across the room.
Adam
PS. IKEA is Scandinavian for HELL.



:-)

I had considered this very point extremently carefully before embarking upon
said voyage of pain!

Door better off opening as it does at the moment whatever the furniture
arrangement I reckon. The current furniture arrangement will probably stay
as is for a couple of years, and we'll probably move at the end of it
anyway.

I'd forgotten what IKEA is like - haven't been there for quite a while now,
perhaps once in the last 2 years! Every time she want some more furniture
now I promise to make it and buy another book or something, and the fear of
that is usually enough to put her off the idea for a while...

cheers
Richard


--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message ...
Still, just wasted an entire afternoon on what would have been a simple
job
just 3 weeks ago when the floor was up, so I'm feeling happy with myself
again...

Well done BUT.....
Are you practising cursing for when the wife decides to rehang the door to
fit in with the new furniture. I laid sat cable, tv arial cable, tv uplink
cable and VHF cable to some nice points behind the TV, sunk the lot into the
wall filled it in, painted the room and the next day she went to IKEA and
bought book shelves and moved the TV across the room.
Adam
PS. IKEA is Scandinavian for HELL.

Your wife disconnected the sat cable, 2xTV aerial, and FM aerial,
moved the TV across the room, and reconnected it all? Correctly?

Don't believe you!

Tell her it's Eastenders or the bookcase - she can't have both. ;-)

Cheers,
David.

"David Robinson" wrote in message
om...
"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Still, just wasted an entire afternoon on what would have been a
simple
job
just 3 weeks ago when the floor was up, so I'm feeling happy with
myself
again...

Well done BUT.....
Are you practising cursing for when the wife decides to rehang the door
to
fit in with the new furniture. I laid sat cable, tv arial cable, tv
uplink
cable and VHF cable to some nice points behind the TV, sunk the lot into
the
wall filled it in, painted the room and the next day she went to IKEA
and
bought book shelves and moved the TV across the room.
Adam
PS. IKEA is Scandinavian for HELL.

Your wife disconnected the sat cable, 2xTV aerial, and FM aerial,
moved the TV across the room, and reconnected it all? Correctly?

Don't believe you!

Tell her it's Eastenders or the bookcase - she can't have both. ;-)

Got rid of her. Best move I ever made and I have just been looking at diy
divorces.

Adam