Loft flooring - wiring over the joists...

[parkinpants]

Hi,

I've got a large loft space (approx 50m2) and I'm looking to put down loft boards to use as storage space. I am probably going to get the 3 pack tongue and groove chipboards from Wickes.

It sounded like an easy job until I noticed that my electrician has put the wiring for all the (downstairs) lights OVER the joists rather than through them. All the lights are LED so theres lots of lights which means lots of wires overlapping everywhere.

Should my electrician have drilled through the joists to begin with? (It seems reasonable to expect that anyone with a large loft would at some point want to conver it.)

I've pondered a few solutions but not sure what to do:

1. Get the sparky to rewire, drilling through the joists (for which I gather he needs to put down protective plates),

2. Use 'loft legs'. These are used to prevent insulation compression but could also divert the wiring problem. It will add £50 or so to the job and make it a lot more effort having to fix all the legs to the board and then scren all the loftboards to the legs.

3. Use pre-insulated loft boards? - these are twice the price of normal loft boards - I was thinking the cushion would resolve any imbalance caused by fitting over the wires.

Any other ideas or advice on the above would be appreciated.

I also notice the sparky has pulled up all the rockwool insulation. He tells me it's safe to put back over the LED lights so hopefully that's true.

thanks
Nick

 

[jagillham]

If it is only small wires, could always notch out the top of the beam?

 

[parkinpants]

I'm a bit scared of weakening the joists so I might just cut a hole in the boards instead.

I bought the normal panels from Wickes. I went to B&Q first and they were exactly the same product as far as I could see, only cheaper at Wickes.

 

[Chri5]

Do not put insulating board over the cables, it de rates the cable and could cause compression issues to the cable.

Loft joists tend not to be that strong so I would not introduce multiple notching which will cause weakness. The majority of loft conversions, more so given the 50 sq m of yours are done with steels that take no support from the existing structure. So a loft conversion could have been done with the cables laid over the existing joists.

I would suggest you buy some rough sawn cheap baton and fix that to the joists with gaps left as pathways for the cabling.

 

[dannytylerwells]

id go with the suggestion of the batton on top the joist quick cheap and easy fix to the problemm