Electric cable left sticking out of plaster

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Hope someone can help us. My daughter has just bought a flat which needed mich renovation. She had a new kitchen fitted (rather badly) and has been left with a cable protruding out of the plaster just below wall cupboard level. My husband has tried to trace where it's from and failed miserably. We're almost certain it's run from the lighting circuit but have no idea what it fed, or, where it runs from/to. Without having to pay yet again for someone to come in to try to sort it out for her - can anyone suggest what we can do, can it be plastered over?
 
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Before you do anything else to the cable get yourself one of these

http://www.tech-faq.com/multimeter.html

The chances are that however bad the company were they would not leave a live cable sticking out of the wall, but you MUST check to make sure that it is not live.

Once you have done this with the meter you can then trace where the cable goes, you might find that it goes nowhere and the company could not be bothered to remove it. But please make sure the cable is dead .
 
it's most likely a feed for the under cabinet lighting..
it may be connected to the kitchen light or it may be left coiled up under the floor near th light..
only you can tell which when you trace it..
 
As ColJack has stated, the circuit will have been or be for under cabinet lights.
This can be fed a number of ways, could be from the lighting circuit or even a fused connection unit from a socket circuit, to name the most likely ones.
You need to identify the circuits origins.
So a multi-meter would be needed, to prove circuit is dead(an approved voltage indicator can do this too) and trace the run and supply.
Were new electrics installed at the time of the kitchen re-fit or is the installation the original/not been changed.
You can't go burying potentially live cables in the wall.
But what you can do is install a back box for the cables to be terminated safely and fit a blanking plate over it or if the circuit is live and safe to use, install under cabinet lights.
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/BG904.html
 
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Hope someone can help us. My daughter has just bought a flat which needed mich renovation. She had a new kitchen fitted (rather badly) and has been left with a cable protruding out of the plaster just below wall cupboard level. My husband has tried to trace where it's from and failed miserably. We're almost certain it's run from the lighting circuit but have no idea what it fed, or, where it runs from/to. Without having to pay yet again for someone to come in to try to sort it out for her - can anyone suggest what we can do, can it be plastered over?

When you say the cable is protruding, do you mean the bare cables are showing or that the cable sheathing is protruding (not buried properly) in the plaster?
 
Had a job recently, builder was ripping out kitchen and was supposed to ring me when done in order to sort out cable runs for under cabinet lighting before new kitchen units went in. Did'nt get call, got call from owner, new cabinets fitted with two under lights(one each side of kitchen)Neither worked. Owner spoke to builder who said "they both worked guv" After checking neither could have worked as the cables put in by builder were not connected . Needless to say builder now disappeared.
 
The cable is actually left protruding from the plaster. We've now ascertained that the cable is live but can't find where it runs from/to!!
 
Switch off circuit breakers one at a time until it kills power to the cable. When you've established what circuit its on, you stand a better chance of finding its origin.
 
The cable is actually left protruding from the plaster. We've now ascertained that the cable is live
If you're in England or Wales they broke the law by leaving it like that - report them to Trading Standards.


 
Has the cable actually been left in a dangerous condition though?

I mean, if a junction box or similar has been fitted and it's not dangling over the work areas I suppose it's reasonably safe enough.

Was there a live bare end on the cable?
 

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