Preparation for Plastering

I have been rather hectically working to get the preliminary works done to Adam's new bedroom, for the plasterer who was due today. With all the patress boxes finally in place it has taken a while to pull all the required cables through. I am still not 100% sure how I (or the electrician) is going to connect these new sockets into the existing configuration, so I have just looped cable to connect them together in a ring, and left long tails coiled up under the floor, both of which can reach back to the consumer unit if required.

There were some horrors to be found under the floor, when selected boards were lifted. Here is an example of some connections made for a light in the kitchen (underneath this room) using simple terminal blocks :

They are not even wrapped in insulation tape ! I also found a junction box that breaks out a live wire from the ring main that disappears off under the floor on it's own. I have no idea where it goes !

There was one thing that proved easier than I had expected. Feeding the cables up behind the skirting board actually caused no problems. The old plaster was quite thick and soft, so it was relatively easy to manoevre a pull cable round behind the skirting, then attach the real cable and pull it through.

For the lighting it seemed easier to use the live feed that is already present in the switch box, rising up from the floor. The cable seemed fine. I have replaced the diagonal cable to the wall light with a vertical cable to the loft, which then comes back down :

The other metal sheath covers the cables to a ceiling light and another wall light, as well as a live feed to a loft light. I have followed my electricians method of making all the connections in the switch box rather than in the ceiling / wall boxes. It does make the switch boxes very busy and complicated, but also has it's advantages. For example, in our new bedroom, we have 4 wall lights all on the same switch. We are considering splitting these into two independent pairs, which is easy to do as all four wires come back to the switch box. It is just a matter of buying a switch with an extra gang, and moving two of the wires over to the new one.

The TV coax was a little awkward as I had, without thinking or planning too hard, mounted the single pattress for it directly below the wall light. In the end, I opted to shift the cable over, well clear of the wall light. This means that the cable does not rise directly up from it's box. However, it is mounted directly above the mains socket box, so this should be equally discouraging of any future resident from drilling or nailing through it.

It wasn't all electrical work. I also had to line the tops of the window reveals with plasterboard (only a 10 minute job) :

There was also a block of 4 copper pipes rather roughly embedded in the wall behind the door. The house obviously had a "conventional" central-heating system in the past, with a hot water tank in the airing cupboard and header tanks in the loft. These pipes connected the two. My plasterer advised that I remove them, as they stood rather proud of the wall. However, closer study showed that only two of them were proud, so I removed these. The other two are fine, so I have left them in place, now wrapped in duct tape to protect them from the evil sand and cement :

The thinking is that these could, in future, be used to connect solar panels on one of our few south facing roof areas, to a heat exchanger in the airing cupboard, without having to disturb this room again.

They will probably never be used, but they are there if we need them.

In the end my rushing to get all this ready was fruitless. The plasterer has been delayed and won't be here until next Tuesday.