Home DIY

Yeah having a random schedule is something I've been thinking about as we work from home. I'm putting a new heating system in and just want it to be as efficient as possible.

There's a cable running down the side of our stairs, I've given it a wiggle and it's been cut and is does not run into the fuse box. Does this mean there won't be any power to it and I'm ok to cut it?

No

If it's a ring then you could have power at one end and not the other. Cut it and you could be fucked. Try licking the end to see if it is live.

Sorry, can't stop myself sometimes, don't lick it.

Wet your knob and, sorry there I go again.

Should be able to trace that cable back somewhere, unless it disappears behind plaster or skirting, etc.

Disappears under the second set of stairs on the landing. I tried to pull it through and simply push it into the stairs but no joy.

Can't I just turn all the power off and cut it then?

My knob's wet just thinking about it.

You could do that, as long as you terminated the end of the mains cable in a sensible way, eg. mount in terminal block, and don't strip insulation back. It's slightly bodgy though; I'd want to know where it's from, and to protect others in the future. However, you can at least improve the situation just now by making it more safe...

Yeah, it's not ideal but the new floor is down now so finding where it goes to is a bit tricky, or would a spark be able to work it out? I was thinking to just run it into a junction box but a terminal block would be a better fit for threading it back into the staircase.

It's annoying I hadn't checked it before but I was fixing the under side of the staircase this evening and realised the wire which I had assumed it was, went a different direction and that the one in question was just hanging there.

I think I'd rather get someone in to look at it. I don't like the idea of leaving something for someone else to sort out a few years down the line.

If it were me, I'd just make it safe and pop it away. It may be disconnected at the other end, but best to be safe. You could put a multimeter across it whilst your power is switched on if you want to check if it is live.

You could switch the power off (and lock it off using a special clamp), switch off all the breakers, open up the CU and take a wander lead (any wire long enough to reach the CU from your mystery wire) connect it to the live (red or brown) of your mystery wire and wander back to the cu, use the continuity function of a multimeter connected to the end and then find out if it's connected to any breakers by probing the live terminal on each breaker to see if you have continuity.

Alternatively there are wire tracing units that work on dead circuits (switch the whole house off first) available for less than £20. Generally called fuse finders or in the automotive trade, wire tracers.

If you need to leave a maintenance free junction on it then look for WAGO connectors and boxes, any maintenance free joint should not have screw terminals as they can and do loosen due to several factors (heat/cold, cold flow of copper & AC pulsing being a few reasons).

So, yes an electrician could trace it.

What sort of cable? Thickness, cores etc? What flooring is down, the birch ply? Is is screwed or glued? I'd be tempted just to trace it myself by whipping up the boards. Or give it a really hard tug #euph

I've taken a rising main cold water feed to the bathroom for the powershower, I'm thinking I'll T-off for the basin and toilet (all temporary plumbing) and remove our entire hot & cold water systems today, immersion heater, cold water tank, all pipe work etc. I feel like I haven't thought this through enough...

I think your main concern is just pipe diameters and sensible routing. Remember that every T and elbow adds an equivalent length of pipe which reduces flow rate.

On the subject of plumbing, has anyone here had Thames Water replace their lead supply pipe for free? My water was measured by them as having unsafe levels of lead and they are due to replace it......

Its a thick, don't fucking mess with me cable.

Floor is glued and nailed down.

I'm just going to get an electrician in as I want to finish the stairs this weekend

My only other suggestion before you get a spark is to see if the colour/dimension of the cable is recognisably different from your other wiring that you can see near the consumer unit. If you are saying that it's a heavy gauge cable then I'd expect it to either go to the consumer unit, or be a spur from a nearby wall socket.

In my house, they had screwed a spur cable into a bedroom socket which went along the underneath of the skirting towards my fireplace..... It then ran upwards behind some plasterboard which was covering the original fireplace, before being chased into the plaster on the wall to a height of around six foot. The cable had previously fed a wall lamp, but previous owners had simply cut the cable back and left it. Wankers.

I'll have a look this weekend.

The state of some of the stuff we've uncovered and some of the work we've had done, shocks me.

I have - but for a different reason. My old lead supply pipe was leaking between the meter and the entry to the house. Their responsibility to replace it, luckily.
What they did was use a pneumatic drill/borer to push a new hole straight into my cellar. Made a bit of a mess, and once the new plastic pipe was put in, they just filled the gaps with expanding foam. They don't exactly do a neat job, they just do the job to the bare minimum of getting it done.

Yes, they should do. They have a suggest time to do it but rarely have I seen it done, so chase it up and see if you can move things along.

They are coming to replace it, but say they will only replace to the property boundary, ie. my front garden wall. I've already replaced my pipework inside the house for plastic.

If they do what they say they'll do, then I'll have about three metres of lead pipe under my path left remaining. Seems a bit silly. They say that if I replace this section later, then they'll charge around a £300 connection fee to attach the newly replaced section to their supply pipe. If I replace it now then there won't be a connection fee as they'll do it at the same time as replacin their supply pipe.

Thing is, there's no stop cock on the street, so I physically can't replace that pipe anyway as the street supply can't be shut off.

Seems a bit silly but unfornately, responsibility lies up to property boundary. Do you not have an osv? You should ask to get one put it when get to connecting up to the box at the same, that way you can relay your side. Are you metered? You could possibly have a peared shape box outside your house.

They would possible just linestop the main outside your house and do the works 'live' to fit the new poly in.

Possibly measure a bit of pipe up and do it. Get the tw guys to 'finish' it where not possible on the day.

No OSV. In fact, I actually have a slow drip before my stopcock that I can't fix for this reason. I'll ask them to fit one. No meter.

I could get them to connect a new poly pipe into my house, but I doubt they'll do the work of lifting my front garden path. Coordinating someone else to do that work to coincide with Thames Water just sounds nearly impossible to me.