Unidentified cable at front of house

[kaycee81]

Hi all

We are going to have our front lawn/drive done and one of the contractors who quoted for the work spotted an unidentified cable going into and out of the front of the house - see attached picture.

They said this could be an issue if they run under the drive.

Removing the access cover a few bricks above doesn't reveal any further clues unfortunately.

The consumer unit is approx 3m to the left of these cables, inside the porch on an adjacent wall. There is nothing on the other side of the wall where those cables might terminate. To the right of the cables is where the neighbours garage attaches to our outside wall.

Can anyone offer any idea on what we can do to identify these cables, if they are even cables?

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[ericmark]

You show four cables, one clearly TV or telephone as it goes into a virgin media box, and the other shot gun cable also likely extra low voltage the pair going down into the ground

do look like steel wire armoured, unlikely water pipes since exposed, if more of the cable is exposed if SWA there is likely a marking on it. Maybe not as plain as this

but likely some thing marked on it.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Can anyone offer any idea on what we can do to identify these cables, if they are even cables?

A modern fibre cable for TV, phone, entering via that cover.

The two larger pair, at the bottom, appear to be armoured cables, suggesting they are your house electrical supply. Two suggests you are in a semi, with one incoming, then a looped supply to next door. Where is your electric meter? Is it close to where those two cables enter? Could you upload a photo of the meter area, including the two cables?

 

[SUNRAY]

A modern fibre cable for TV, phone, entering via that cover.

The two larger pair, at the bottom, appear to be armoured cables, suggesting they are your house electrical supply. Two suggests you are in a semi, with one incoming, then a looped supply to next door. Where is your electric meter? Is it close to where those two cables enter? Could you upload a photo of the meter area, including the two cables?

Hi all
...
The consumer unit is approx 3m to the left of these cables, inside the porch on an adjacent wall. There is nothing on the other side of the wall where those cables might terminate. To the right of the cables is where the neighbours garage attaches to our outside wall.
...

I suspect this may be some careful digging required.

 

[kaycee81]

Hi all, thanks for your quick responses. Here's a picture of the front of the house. I have marked on the left where the meter intake is in a meter cupboard on the other side of the porch wall. We are in a link detached - our garage is attached to the left side of our house and the neighbours garage (in the picture) is attached to the right side - it goes Neighbour 1 | Our Garage | Our House | Neighbour 2's Garage.

I checked the front of the neighbours house on the left and they don't seem to have this loop entering and exiting their house.

As I said, there's no junction box inside the house where that loop appears to terminate.

Will be doing some careful digging over the next few days to see if we can find any more information.

 

[SFK]

Have you looked inside the box in which you Consumer Unit is located, at the incoming cables?
Do they match the cables shown entering your wall?
SFK

 

[Sureitsoff?]

I wonder if the meter used to be under the window inside then got moved to inside the porch . So the cable could be looped back out to the porch

 

[kaycee81]

I did think that, about the looping but where would the loop terminate and then go to the porch? In the cavity? Looking at the service head (see attached), the incoming supply cable size looks different to the cables outside.

 

[kaycee81]

Further info - I opened the access panel above the cables and found some sort of junction box inside. See attached photos. I also uncovered another cable going into the front of the house!

Hopefully this provides some further clues!

 

[securespark]

Is that black line your DPC?

Where the cables go into the brickwork, is that below the internal floor level?

Is your GF solid or suspended? If the latter, maybe you could lift a board and see where they go.

If you wipe the visible cable sheath with a damp cloth, are there any visible markings on it?

 

[kaycee81]

Is that black line your DPC?

Where the cables go into the brickwork, is that below the internal floor level?

Is your GF solid or suspended? If the latter, maybe you could lift a board and see where they go.

If you wipe the visible cable sheath with a damp cloth, are there any visible markings on it?

Yes that's the DPC, floor on the inside is a solid concrete floor. I wiped the sheath, no markings on what I exposed digging it out a bit

 

[securespark]

Is the house 1960s?

It looks like some kind of TV cable. Could be Rediffusion or similar?

 

[kaycee81]

Is the house 1960s?

It looks like some kind of TV cable. Could be Rediffusion or similar?

The house was built in 1979 - possible could be Rediffusion. The junction box I found behind the access panel has no markings on so not sure!

 

[kaycee81]

The house was built in 1979 - possible could be Rediffusion. The junction box I found behind the access panel has no markings on so not sure!

I did pull the cable to see if I could feel it below inside the bigger sheath and I could feel it rattle as I jiggled it from above

 

[securespark]

The thinner cable attached to the box, is it chopped off?

Edited for stupidity.