Ideas of how to run cable from Loft

[leeweedon]

Hi everyone

I'm trying to run some 1 mm T&E from the loft to to CU.

Just struggling to work out the easy way to get the cable routed.

I have located and sorted a route down the middle of a stud wall, through the first mid-beam but then there seems to be a blockage.

So really old electrical wire exists but this will not come out even with brute force, the cable just shreds if pulled.

I can drill a hole from below as there is not enough space below the floorboard for the drill, and drilling downward would need a 3 meter drill bit!

I've added some photos but not sure if they help. Any ideas?

Untitled

• leeweedon
• 25 Aug 2013
• 1

Untitled

• leeweedon
• 25 Aug 2013
• 1

Untitled

• leeweedon
• 25 Aug 2013
• 1

Untitled

• leeweedon
• 25 Aug 2013
• 1

 

[OwainDIYer]

Get a 1 metre drill bit and 2 x 1 meter drill extension rods

Or cut into the wall at the point of obstruction and make good afterwards.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How thick is whatever it is you have to drill through?

 

[sparkwright]

I can drill a hole from below as there is not enough space below the floorboard for the drill, and drilling downward would need a 3 meter drill bit!

Is this a misprint?

Do you mean you can't drill a hole from below?

If you can get through from the top, and through the middle noggin...
... can you cut off that old cable at the bottom, push the end into the void, and fish a new cable/draw wire out of this hole at the bottom?

 

[leeweedon]

How thick is whatever it is you have to drill through?

As I really can't see I have. No idea . Guessing its a joist so 3 inch?

 

[leeweedon]

I can drill a hole from below as there is not enough space below the floorboard for the drill, and drilling downward would need a 3 meter drill bit!

Is this a misprint?

Do you mean you can't drill a hole from below?

If you can get through from the top, and through the middle noggin...
... can you cut off that old cable at the bottom, push the end into the void, and fish a new cable/draw wire out of this hole at the bottom?

Yeah I can't drill from below, it's 3 m to drill from top.

 

[riveralt]

Hi everyone
I'm trying to run some 1 mm T&E from the loft to to CU.

I assume this is for a lighting circuit in the loft space?
Can you not just pick up a live, neutral and earth from somewhere closer?

 

[Lectrician]

These types of walls usually have some diagonal studwork - dropping down through the walls vertically can be challenging depending on where in the wall you are.

Similar to this, although this seems to show "let in" timber, not occupying the full depth of the wall.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I'm trying to run some 1 mm T&E from the loft to to CU.

Could I ask why you need to do this. Maybe there is another (easier) solution.

 

[leeweedon]

I'm running cable for a new light.

 

[bernardgreen]

It is a good idea and worth the extra effort to run loft lights from a circuit other than the upstairs lighting circuit.

[1] you can have loft lights on when working on the upstairs lighting circuit

[2] at least one light above or below the loft hatch will be useable to find your way out of the loft. ( Unless both on the same RCD )

 

[Taylortwocities]

If the cable run is so difficult, why not connect to the existing upstairs lighting circuit?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

not enough space below the floorboard for the drill

No room for a right-angle drive?

 

[leeweedon]

Right angle drive could be an option. It's hard to work out how far I'd have to drill through and to check exactly what it is going through.

Stuck )-:

I really don't want to use the upstairs lighting circuit for the loft light as it would enable work on the upstairs lighting circuit with the light on. Beside the upstairs lighting needs a proper good re-wire as its not the greatest of wiring / configuration.

 

[JohnW2]

I really don't want to use the upstairs lighting circuit for the loft light as it would enable work on the upstairs lighting circuit with the light on.

On the basis of that issue, taken alone, I think I would have to ask you how often you envisage needing to 'work on the upstairs lighting circuit' (particularly after it has the 'proper good re-wire' you mention). I would imagine that your answer would probably be 'once in a blue moon' - in which case I might suggest that anyone doing such work on those very rare occasions could simply use an extension lead for lighting (as they often have to do in such circumstances).

Bernard has offered another argument as to why loft lighting fed from an upstairs lighting circuit is theoretically not a good idea. However, although he is theoretically right, the chances of the lighting circuit failing when one happened to be in the loft must be incredibly small (assuming one wasn't working on one of the circuits, in which case it would have to be switched off, anyway!). Mind you, I'm a bit of a pessimist, so no matter what lighting arrangements there were, I probably wouldn't be in a potentially very dark loft without a torch in my pocket!

Kind Regards, John