Rewiring in my loft Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[advocat]

Hi
I want to put down some loft flooring but the wiring in my loft is ancient, its some kind of metal piping or conduit, every few metres or so they run into some kind of junction boxes, these are stopping me from putting down the flooring as they are above the joists. I would like to replace the cable with twin & earth and run this below the joists. Can anyone tell me the best way to go about this, i had thought of doing it in small sections, turning off the power cutting out a section, replacing with twin & earth then power up again, is this wise or not?? Also what purpose do these old "junction boxes" serve and what would i replace them with?
One last thing, i live in scotland and i guess the regulations are different here, can i do the work myself or does it need to be done by a qualified spark?

Many thanks in advance folks!

[BLAKEY1963]

[quote="advocat"]Hi
I want to put down some loft flooring but the wiring in my loft is ancient, its some kind of metal piping or conduit, every few metres or so they run into some kind of junction boxes, these are stopping me from putting down the flooring as they are above the joists. I would like to replace the cable with twin & earth and run this below the joists. Can anyone tell me the best way to go about this, i had thought of doing it in small sections, turning off the power cutting out a section, replacing with twin & earth then power up again, is this wise or not?? Also what purpose do these old "junction boxes" serve and what would i replace them with?
One last thing, i live in scotland and i guess the regulations are different here, can i do the work myself or does it need to be done by a qualified spark?

Many thanks in advance folks![/quote]

ADVOCAT
I DO APRECIATE U LIVE IN SCOTLAND, AND TAKE ON BOARD
THAT PART P DOES NOT APPLY WITH NO NEED TO ENGAGE LOCAL
AUTHORITY BUILDING CONTROL, FOR NOTIFIABLE WORK, AS APPLYS
TO US IN WALES, AND ELECTRICAL WORK IN ENGLAND.
HOWEVER , I WANT TO GIVE U THE SAFEST AND BEST ADVICE I CAN.
BY YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THE CONDUIT THIS IS A DATED SYSTEM
OF WIRING. IF U NOT GOT ANY IDEA WHEN THE LAST PERIODIC
INSPECTION WAS CARRIED OUT ( EVERY 10 YRS NORMALY ) , THEN THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT IF U ADD NEW WIRING ONTO OLD
THEN THE OLD OR EXISTING WIRING MUST BE ABLE TO BE IN A SERVICEABLE STANDARD AND SAFE FOR ADDITIONS ALTERATIONS ECT.
IN YOUR CASE BECAUSE THIS SYSTEM COULD BE QUITE OLD I WOULD
BE LOOKING TO CONSULT A QUALIFIED REGISTERED ELECTRICIAN
WITH ONE OF THE ORGANISATIONS LIKE , ECA, NAPIT, NICEIC , AND
ASK FOR A VISUAL EXAMINATION. MOST AS I DO OTHER FREE QUOTATIONS TO ALLOW A IDEA OF THE CONDITION OF YOUR INSTALLATION.
IT MIGHT BE SERVICEABLE BUT IT WOULD BE WISE TO SEEK ADVICE.

BLAKEY1963

[advocat]

We only bought this house about a year ago so i've no idea when the last inspection was carried out, its an ex local authority house so i presume there must have been an inspection at some point in the 60 + years its been here. I'll try and find out more on that.
Also my friend is an electrician, he put a strip light up in the loft and ran it from one of the junction boxes i was talking about, i asked him about doing what i want to do, his only comments were it would be a lot of work involved. I'm gonna try get some pics of the old wiring up there and put them on here if i can, might let you see exactly what i'm up against here.

thanks for the advice!