electrical cable running alongside drainpipe

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hey guys, i'm currently renovating my bathroom and whilst lifting up the floorboards was surprised to see an electrical line running alongside my drainpipe, including near the pipe joints.......this surely can't be safe? and is there anything i can do, eg move the drainpipe or put some kind of boundary between them?

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Its fine. The drainpipe shouldn't leak, even if it does pvc cable insulation is waterproof, the kitchen ceiling will usually be down before you get any electrical fault.
What isn't fine is the way that waste pipe has been notched into the joists. Max permitted notch depth is 1/8th the depth of the joist in a zone between 0.07 and 0.25 x the span (see here https://www.labc.co.uk/news/how-get-it-right-notches-holes-solid-timber-joists ). If thats 38mm pipe then unless your joists are 300mm deep you may have an issue with stability of the floor
 
oh ok, i thought it would have been against some regulations at least somewhere!
i'll have a look at the joist stuff and do some measurements.....
 
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.... i'll have a look at the joist stuff and do some measurements.....
Fair enough, but, even without knowing the measurements, I think we can confidently say that what you have their is not acceptable in terms of regulations. The more pragmatic question is probably how 'safe' it actually is - but the answer to that is probably "that it's amazing what one can get away with" !

Somewhere in the archives of this forum is a photo of some joists that has been 'notched' to allow a 4"/100mm soil pipe to pass through them. 'Notch' is hardly the word, since there was very little wood left - but even that floor was somehow managing not to collapse :) Building Regulations tend to be extremely 'conservative' (ultra-cautious) when it comes to things like this.

Kind Regards, John
 

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