Confused wiring

[johnl]

I was trying to install a series of 3 mains Down lights and a Extractor to the light switch in the bathroom, when I opened the floor boards , I found their were no junction boxes.

Everything seems to be wired using single cables and their does not seem to be a earth.

? Is this normal for old houses
? Should an earth be fitted before I continue

 

[breezer]

when a house is wired, ideally there are no junction boxes as all connections are made in the ceiling roses. (nothing says that you can not put in a junction box)

as for no earth if it is an old house then yes it is possible, in which case you should get the whole house rewired as no earth is dangerous.

But one question first, if take apart one of the existing lights (ceiling rose) and tell me what wires you can see, and how old is the house (aprox)

 

[MANDATE]

Breezer!,
I recently removed some old cable from an old house built 1910 which had gas at the time of building. Some cables were sheathed in 'rubber' and some were sheathed in 'lead'. Can you confirm if the lead sheathing was ever used for earthing purposes.
At some stage after earthing became a requirement someone installed bare copper wire about 2mm diam. running along side most cables.
I ask you because I don't go back that far.

 

[breezer]

what makes you think i do?

as far as i know the lead sheath was NEVER meant to be for the earth Dont think it had been thought of (earth).
but if ever you find any it should not be used. the inner cores were inulated with rubber which by now will be beaking down

 

[spark]

johnl, when you say single cables, do you mean singles(no over sheath)? Or are the cables of an oval construction with two inner cores (one red and one black) and a grey or white over sheath? Or a black rubber oversheath?

 

[johnl]

The cables are single strand copper wire in a grey sheath.
The ceiling rose has only two of them, one coming from another part of the house, presumably another rose and the other heading down to the switch.

The original part of the house is 1830's although this is in a extension probably built in the 1970's

 

[spark]

This is normal for a building of that age, I'm not old enough to know for sure (though breezer will probably know ), but I think it was sometime in the 70's that they started to provide an earth in the lighting circuits, and it was probably fairly early in that decade. The fact that it has no earth doesn't necessarily make it immediately dangerous, but it is at least a good indication that you may need to start making plans to rewire the property.