The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - My pictures of the week

[SimonH2]

Added some lights in a friends loft, and of course for a supply it's "no problem" to pick it up from the most convenient existing rose. Well perhaps not …

It's a 1960s ex council house, originally wired in slip conduit, and rewired (going by the date on the label on the CU) in 86 - at which point they pulled out the conduit and did it in T&E. The Good ? It's not often you see switch drops done in twin red (or twin brown these days).

So first problem, how to fit an extra cable down here ?

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• SimonH2
• 15 Nov 2013
• 1

And yes, that cable coming in from the right does have a nicked sheath from the sharp edge.


So, no problem. Disconnect the rose, pull the cables out, remove that short bit of conduit and all 4 cables should fit. Oh that it were that simple - who can tell me what's wrong in this picture ?

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• SimonH2
• 15 Nov 2013
• 1

 

[davelx]

lovely regular twists !

 

[SimonH2]

That isn't what I was saying while I was unravelling it - and one of the ends snapped off while I was doing it such was the amount of squashing from the screw.

So that's the bad (IMO), though I suspect it was common practice back then.

So what else ?

 

[rjm2k]

What about the grub screw with the missing head on the blacks?

 

[SimonH2]

That's the one - head missing though it was actually still "there" but caught in the plastic when I started out. Took me a few moments to work out what was going on.
But then one of the other screw heads came off when I was putting it all back together - clearly it was "almost off". And if you look carefully, all the slots are mangled.
So that's the ugly

I fear this isn't the last I'll see of the work of whatever gorilla did the rewire. I certainly won't be tackling any more work without suitable spares (I'd have binned that rose if I'd had another one to hand).

Must have a look for the jar of 2BA screws we've got in the garage. I never thought I'd find myself working with pre-metric conduit boxes.

 

[333rocky333]

I personally would have removed the metal box or at least earthed it

 

[securespark]

All the council houses I've worked on wired in that fashion have used a rose which had one fixing screw through the earth terminal so that the conduit was automatically earthed when screwed up. Can't remember the brand...

Can any equally old farts help me out?

 

[SimonH2]

I personally would have removed the metal box or at least earthed it

That's a good point.
Removing the box would be a bit of a pain as it would then leave a large hole without convenient points to put fixing screws into - ie screwing the rose up to the joist would mean it not covering the hole. As I work my way round, I'll look at earthing the boxes.

I quite like having "proper" threaded screws to fix things up with - at least know I've found out what thread they are !

 

[bernardgreen]

as it would then leave a large hole without convenient points to put fixing screws into - ie screwing the rose up to the joist would mean it not covering the hole!

Cut 2 x 1 wood into 8 inch lengths drill holes through one inch from each end. Then using long screws through the holes fit three of these to the side of the joist to cover the hole left when you remove the conduit box.

Using 2 inch wide wood means the holes can be far enough above the ceiling to allow easy access with screw drive


That will take the weight of a rose, pendant and normal lamp shades, If in doubt then re-inforce with a couple of L brackets

 

[crystal ball]

Seen a few ex councils with those boxes still in situ, the cables were cut into the plasterboard and snaked over the side, covered by the halo on the ceiling rose, I guess it made fishing possible