Extending lighting cable

[lisap]

I need to move the exsisting cable for a bedroom light to a new position so it needs to be longer. Is it possible to extend it by cutting it and joining in a new piece of cable or should it all be replaced?
Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Replaced if possible - is this an upstairs bedroom, i.e. with reasonably easy access to the cables in the loft? Also, depending on where the rose is in relation to the switch, and where its new location will be, you might have to replace 2 cables, not just 1.

 

[lisap]

The light is upstairs. The wire is behind a false wall I want to take out so its easy to get to. Its not near the ceiling rose its in the wall and goes down into the garage.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

So is it the light switch that you want to move, or a wall light? Either way, the advice still stands - replace the cable if you can, rather than join it. Make a diagram before you disconnect anything, make sure you know which wire is which, and make sure that the power is off.

The only thing I still don't understand is "its in the wall and goes down into the garage" - what is the cable for? Why does it go to the garage? What does it do when it gets there?

 

[lisap]

Its always more complicated trying to write it down than speak !! The roof in the bedroom slopes. Part of the slope is behind a false wall so to make a flat wall i suppose. i want to utilise this space by taking out the false wall. Behind it are two cables going up into the roof space, to the light and then down into the garage and/or under the floor boards I think where it continues the circuit?? Until I take the wall down i cant fully see as Im having to peer through a small hole at the mo!!
Thanks for you help anyway. Maybe I ought to get the big boys in to do it!! I dont like to be defeated but I dont want to end up like a fried fish either!!
Thanks again!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

... Behind it are two cables going up into the roof space, to the light and then down into the garage and/or under the floor boards I think where it continues the circuit?? ...

Possibly - you do need to find the ends of all the cables so that you can replace them. It sounds now as if there are 3 cables to trace - two going up into the roof space (from what/from where?) and one to (from??) the garage. When you go to the garage, is it easy to spot the cable from the bedroom?

Have you thought about where you would route new cables, and how (or if) they would be concealed?