Home Electric Rewire cont

[rov1200]

Like tallyot below I was also thinking about a rewire of our 3 bed semi. Can anything be done about the multitude of wire criss crossing the rafters in the loft. The previous owners has done some previous rewiring leaving the old bits about and its difficult to know which is live and which is unused.

I know you can buy channelling but is the only method to drill holes in the rafters or is there a method to hide the wiring in the loft completely?

[buildersmate]

You seem to have a very tidy mind, Rov - most people aren't fussed by this.
If your loft is a habitable space, I can understand why you might want to make it look tidier and it depends how much effort you want to put into doing it. Some people are happy to have it just neatly held down using cable clips - these nail into the joists.
Drilling holes in joists in covered by 'rules' in the form of Building Regulations - these are structural components. That much said, small holes for electrrical cables drilled in the middle of a joist are OK and within the 'rules'.
If you are going to do it, do one section at a time - working out what is live using a meter and cutting the dead cables. Then work out where each section needs to be re-routed to - and do it one section at a time. Means running back and forth to the main switch on the CU, I'm afraid, but that is safest and less liable to go wrong.

[Wak]

I recently put flooring in certain parts of my loft by nailing 3/4" x 1" strips of timber on the top of the joists and left spaces between these strips of timber so that the existing wiring could be left as it was.
The floor boarding was then screwed on top of the strips and the position and type of wiring, junction boxes, etc. drawn on to the floor boards with a black marker pen so that it could easily be found in case of any future problems. The house alarm control box is also in the loft between the joists so I left a removal panel to cover that.
Hope this helps.

[Wak]

Sorry, just re-read your question and realised that you have a re-wiring problem and not a flooring problem.
Still, my reply might help someone else who is thinking of flooring the loft space.

[rov1200]

Thanks for both your answers.

Wak the idea of raising the flooring panels in the loft by 1" sounds an excellent idea. It not only hides the cables but can male it an ideal playroom space or working area. This would still apply when rewiring and maybe the electrician could also have the cables follow the joists instead of using the shortest route diagonally.
Then maybe he could produce a schemic drawing showing what cable is which. Not to much to ask of him is it?

[Wak]

Hi Rov1200, My loft used to be covered with old kitchen cabinet doors, plywood and bits of pallet making it a death trap for the plumber, etc. Now he as a nice walkway to the hot water tank and I have a decent storage space for all the junk we seem to collect over the years. Each floor board only requires one screw to hold it in position providing each end is resting on a joist.