Cannot access lights

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Hi all

Just writing to get some advice on an issue regarding access to the junction box for our kitchen lights. I've attached a picture just to show the layout. As it's an old terraced house, ordinarily (so I've had explained by an electrician) the junction box for these lights would be accessed via the floorboard in the room directly above. Unfortunatley, this isn't the case in this situation and, it looks like the ceiling in the kitchen is a fake one which the previous owners have d with seemingly no way of accessing the light wiring (this is becoming an issue as there are a couple of lose connections therefore a few of the lights are now rendered useless).

Is there any way of accessing the junction box via cutting an observation panel (I think that's what it's called) into the ceiling or is there another way?

Hope that makes sense and thanks in advance for any advice you can offer

Thanks
 

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If you pop a light out, hopefully it will be on a long cable attached to the transformer / junction box or whatever......have you tried that?
John :)
 
If it is definitely a false ceiling & there is room above it to get into, then you could create a loft hatch. It is simple enough just cut out the relevant size piece of plasterboard in an area between joists & the use 16mm white trunking stuck around the board you remove to edge it & form a trapdoor.
 
If it is definitely a false ceiling & there is room above it to get into, then you could create a loft hatch. It is simple enough just cut out the relevant size piece of plasterboard in an area between joists & the use 16mm white trunking stuck around the board you remove to edge it & form a trapdoor.

Thanks JJ

I'm not sure how much access there is above but it seems like the loft hatch is going to have to be the option. Would you have any idea of what a reasonable price would be for something like this?

Thanks for your help
 
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QUOTE="Burnerman, post: 3667781, member: 76504"]If you pop a light out, hopefully it will be on a long cable attached to the transformer / junction box or whatever......have you tried that?
John :)[/QUOTE]


Cheers john. We already tried that with no success
 
If you have a second ceiling below the original you can still get to it from above, just lift boards and cut a large hole in the original ceiling so you can have look around between the two. The wiring should be below the floor boards even if the junction box isn't so you could run new cable to the lights.
 
If it is definitely a false ceiling & there is room above it to get into, then you could create a loft hatch. It is simple enough just cut out the relevant size piece of plasterboard in an area between joists & the use 16mm white trunking stuck around the board you remove to edge it & form a trapdoor.

Thanks JJ

I'm not sure how much access there is above but it seems like the loft hatch is going to have to be the option. Would you have any idea of what a reasonable price would be for something like this?

Thanks for your help
Doing it yourself would cost you less than a tenner for a couple of lengths of trunking. I don't know how much someone would charge to cut out the hole, but there can't be more than a couple of hours work. I have a photograph of how I did one in the same situation & I'll try & find it & post it up.
 
If it is definitely a false ceiling & there is room above it to get into, then you could create a loft hatch. It is simple enough just cut out the relevant size piece of plasterboard in an area between joists & the use 16mm white trunking stuck around the board you remove to edge it & form a trapdoor.

Thanks JJ

I'm not sure how much access there is above but it seems like the loft hatch is going to have to be the option. Would you have any idea of what a reasonable price would be for something like this?

Thanks for your help
Doing it yourself would cost you less than a tenner for a couple of lengths of trunking. I don't know how much someone would charge to cut out the hole, but there can't be more than a couple of hours work. I have a photograph of how I did one in the same situation & I'll try & find it & post it up.

That would be great. Thank JJ, really appreciate the advice
 
If you have a second ceiling below the original you can still get to it from above, just lift boards and cut a large hole in the original ceiling so you can have look around between the two. The wiring should be below the floor boards even if the junction box isn't so you could run new cable to the lights.

Cheers Foxhole. This may actualy be the solution we've been looking for.

Many thanks
 

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