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| Majorbob:
I'm looking at rewiring my house because it's awful and there aren't enough sockets where they need to be. I've been brushing up on my knowledge of the IET regs and am wondering why the bottom of walls is not a "safe zone" (to use 17th ed terminology). I like the idea of having the wiring going through the skirting as I have heated flooring and, to me, it seems a much more logical place to route it all for increased adaptability and ease of access in the event of faults or additions than burying it in the wall. (For reference all walls are brick, including internal.) My question is why is this deemed such a bad idea? I've seen people saying about people banging nails etc into the skirting but I can think of 0 (zero) times I've seem something nailed or screwed there! (Except cable clips). |
| james_s:
That would certainly be illegal here for exactly the reason you state, but then so would burying wires under the surface of a wall where someone could put a nail in to hang a picture or install a shelf or something. Either way if the convention is to not have any wires in certain places then people getting into those areas in the future are not going to expect there to be wires in the way. There also may be some consideration for flooding, especially if you have any junctions down low. Bottom line is it doesn't really matter why the code requires what it does, you have to follow the code anyway. |
| Monkeh:
--- Quote from: Majorbob on February 13, 2021, 05:21:19 am ---I'm looking at rewiring my house because it's awful and there aren't enough sockets where they need to be. I've been brushing up on my knowledge of the IET regs and am wondering why the bottom of walls is not a "safe zone" (to use 17th ed terminology). I like the idea of having the wiring going through the skirting as I have heated flooring and, to me, it seems a much more logical place to route it all for increased adaptability and ease of access in the event of faults or additions than burying it in the wall. (For reference all walls are brick, including internal.) My question is why is this deemed such a bad idea? I've seen people saying about people banging nails etc into the skirting but I can think of 0 (zero) times I've seem something nailed or screwed there! (Except cable clips). --- End quote --- Err, because the cables would be behind the skirting you're likely to fix with nails or screws. You can use trunking as skirting, at which point it's no longer buried and safe zones don't apply, but you probably won't like the PVC aesthetic.. --- Quote from: james_s on February 13, 2021, 05:28:25 am ---so would burying wires under the surface of a wall where someone could put a nail in to hang a picture or install a shelf or something. --- End quote --- That's.. where all your cables go as it is. |
| gnuarm:
--- Quote from: Monkeh on February 13, 2021, 05:32:01 am --- --- Quote from: Majorbob on February 13, 2021, 05:21:19 am ---I'm looking at rewiring my house because it's awful and there aren't enough sockets where they need to be. I've been brushing up on my knowledge of the IET regs and am wondering why the bottom of walls is not a "safe zone" (to use 17th ed terminology). I like the idea of having the wiring going through the skirting as I have heated flooring and, to me, it seems a much more logical place to route it all for increased adaptability and ease of access in the event of faults or additions than burying it in the wall. (For reference all walls are brick, including internal.) My question is why is this deemed such a bad idea? I've seen people saying about people banging nails etc into the skirting but I can think of 0 (zero) times I've seem something nailed or screwed there! (Except cable clips). --- End quote --- Err, because the cables would be behind the skirting you're likely to fix with nails or screws. You can use trunking as skirting, at which point it's no longer buried and safe zones don't apply, but you probably won't like the PVC aesthetic.. --- End quote --- I'm with the OP on this one. I'm in the US so I don't know how homes are built in the UK, but here we use wooden studs for framing and drywall (also known as sheet rock) for the wall itself. Wiring is run through holes drilled in the studs and electrical boxes secured to the sheet rock or to the studs. There are no regulations on the height of the wiring that I am aware of. I know vertical wires are to be affixed to a stud but the horizontal wiring is simply run though the holes in the studs. So most wiring is at the level of outlets which are about two feet off the ground (the height of the outlet boxes is standard), or up and down the studs. Working on walls people know this and avoid those areas. I believe a metal plate is supposed to be used behind the sheet rock where a wire goes through a stud because nails are commonly driven there. Drive a nail into sheet rock and it will just fallout again. So why would anyone be putting nails randomly through panels knowing wiring might be on the other side? Don't you use studs? Or is the paneling heavy enough that screws and nails are driven through them? --- Quote --- --- Quote from: james_s on February 13, 2021, 05:28:25 am ---so would burying wires under the surface of a wall where someone could put a nail in to hang a picture or install a shelf or something. --- End quote --- That's.. where all your cables go as it is. --- End quote --- Yeah, I'm not picturing this at all. |
| Monkeh:
--- Quote from: gnuarm on February 13, 2021, 05:46:50 am ---... --- End quote --- |
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