Home DIY

Very David Bowie.

That is why you weaken it by making "pilot" holes along the lines which you wish to cut.

"Stitch drilling" apparently.

If you use the cutter with a narrow blade you could effectively stitch drill with that as they're good at making plunge cuts. You may still need a chisel to get the plaster away from the brickwork though.

As part of my renovation I had my consumer unit moved and recessed into the wall. It's less intrusive than it was but still an ugly pos. Do regs allow me to paint the external case?

metal or plastic?

Plastic

As long as any mandatory information / warning signs are still visible I can't, off the top of my head, see why not.

I see, and when recessed, how much gap or space is there around it in its cubby hole?

I'd use a low smoke and fume paint however to be safe.

It's A new purpose made recesses CU in a stud wall so airflow around it

Ideally it would be better to leave it uncovered and unpainted.

A cover would prevent air circulation, and if made of combustible material could burn.

Paint, even emulsion, contains esters, these attack certain plastics, leading to early embrittlement.

This is true.

Best email the manufacturer and ask them @Trunkie but I know what the reply will be.

I got a multi-cutter, it got through the top layer of plaster, the secondary layer, and then I had to stitch-drill with the SDS and use the bolster+club hammer.

Done now and the hall looks much better - all door frames stripped back, skirting off, ready for the plasterer.

^ longest ever flat reno

Yep.

Photos required or it didn't happen..

Part of todays jobs was moving some sockets, so I laid out where they needed to go to:

And moved them:

Issue for tomorrow is how best to get the cables down behind the work surface, which I cannot remove (or, rather, don't want to remove)?

Some aluminum cable control stuff might do the trick.
Or even some old tracking from a shower door.

Did not understand issue, sorry.

^^ sorry dammit, that looks fucking gash, and is bs7671 non-compliant. if ever there was a reason to get a professional in, there's the evidence

In what way is it non-compliant?

BS7671 states that all electrical work must not look fucking gash.

Ah, well - that's a problem, then.

Gash aside, tomorrow's task is to get the cable to run down behind the work surface, as I mentioned - so the chase needs to be extended straight downward:

I was going to use a big SDS bit, however that will have to go in at a slight angle, how do I 'breakthrough" from the underside?

I can get behind the unit to clip the cable to the wall, but I don't think I have the room to get the drill in there.

There's a gash in the wall!

@Dammit
I hope I'm in 'granny sucking eggs' territory here but I've done this in the past using a mechanics flat screwdriver which is essentially a small chisel but you'll ruin the driver. It's much more controllable than using a drill especially with that nice wooden Worktop.
Good luck

have a read of this > http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/27/cables-in-wall.cfm?type=pdf