We are extending our kitchen into the adjacent single-storey room. We have 3 sockets on the wall that is to be removed. These cables drop down from the ceiling space - the house is 15 years old. I don't want to get the floor up in the bedroom above the kitchen, so is it OK (within regs) to push the cables into the loft space of the adjacent room and to extend them by using junction boxes before dropping them down the wall on the other side?
Circuit extension
- Thread starter richlatham
- Start date
Any junction boxes need to be accessable for inspection and testing so they should not be used in the ceiling space. Can you replace the entire lengths of the cable?
As this work is in a kitchen it will be notifiable to your LABC under part p.
As this work is in a kitchen it will be notifiable to your LABC under part p.
Ideally you'd actually remove the cables, and (assuming it's a ring final circuit) reconnect the ring up properly.
If it is a ring, what you could do is find the in and out of the ring (assuming it e.g. goes in to your first socket, from that to the next, to the next, and then out to the rest of the ring), and join up those cables with a suitable maintenance free connection (e.g. staggered insulated crimps done with a proper ratcheting crimp tool with some heatshrink round them).
However, as has been said, this is notifiable work under Part P, so you'd need to see what your LABC would be happy with, since they'd be the ones that would have to sign off on it...
If it is a ring, what you could do is find the in and out of the ring (assuming it e.g. goes in to your first socket, from that to the next, to the next, and then out to the rest of the ring), and join up those cables with a suitable maintenance free connection (e.g. staggered insulated crimps done with a proper ratcheting crimp tool with some heatshrink round them).
However, as has been said, this is notifiable work under Part P, so you'd need to see what your LABC would be happy with, since they'd be the ones that would have to sign off on it...
It's not possible to replace the entire lengths of cable as they drop down from under the bedroom above. However, I propose to push them into the roof space of the single storey extension and attach the juction boxes in there. They would be accessible via the loft hatch.
Will junction boxes in the loft space be OK?
Assuming it's properly accessible for routine tightening of terminals etc, then there's nothing wrong with having JBs in the loft space. It's not the nicest of solutions, but there's nothing inherently against the regs (as far as I know anyway).
You haven't stated however how the cables get in to the loft space, if it's just all straight above the ceiling then that's fine, but if they will still be buried in the wall below 150mm from the top, then as you've removed the sockets you no longer have safe zones from them, so that cabling would not be allowed...
You haven't stated however how the cables get in to the loft space, if it's just all straight above the ceiling then that's fine, but if they will still be buried in the wall below 150mm from the top, then as you've removed the sockets you no longer have safe zones from them, so that cabling would not be allowed...
They will go through the brick wall within 1 inch max from the ceiling. Ie if they drop down the wall at all, it will only be for 1 inch maximum.
Have you calculated what the current carrying capacity of the cables will be when derated by the insulation in the loft space?
Will you be testing the circuit when you've finished it to confirm that polarity and continuity are all OK, that the insulation resistance is OK, and that the fault loop impedance of the modified circuit is within limits?
Will you be testing the circuit when you've finished it to confirm that polarity and continuity are all OK, that the insulation resistance is OK, and that the fault loop impedance of the modified circuit is within limits?
That's building work, so you've got to notify anyway. Read this to see the sort of mess you can get into if you don't sort out with LABC in advance how you'll be complying with Part P.
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