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BedfordBruiser

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Hello,

Recently moved into a new place and discovered this plastic tubing covering wires, I've never seen this in my life and have no idea why it has been done like this. In my opinion it looks ----ing awful. The tubing runs vertically up the wall and then goes horizontally across the wall just below the ceiling. I need to know the following:

1) Can an electrician put the wires in the wall? If so do they generally avoid these types of jobs.

2) How much should I roughly expect to pay for this work to be done.
 

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I'm assuming it's an internal wall as pipes appear to run through it, is the room the other side of this in your flat too, and are there any sockets on the other side of the wall?
 
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timhoward said:
I'm assuming it's an internal wall as pipes appear to run through it, is the room the other side of this in your flat too, and are there any sockets on the other side of the wall?
Click to expand...
Yeah it's a bedroom, behind the wall is another bedroom and hallway. The plastic tubing is basically in every room apart from the bathroom. The walls are solid, not sure if they are concrete or brick though.
 
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There was a fairly recent thread about rewiring with concrete walls/floors.
www.electriciansforums.net

Rewiring flat with concrete everywhere. | on Free Electrical Advice - Electricians Forums

Find Rewiring flat with concrete everywhere. Advice and Help. How-to Rewiring flat with concrete everywhere. in the UK Electrical Forum advice boards on ElectriciansForums.net | Free Electrical Advice - Electricians Forums: Electricians' Talk Forums. Rewiring flat with concrete everywhere. on...
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BedfordBruiser said:
Assuming the walls are concrete, is there any other solution? Or do I have to put up with this plastic ---- on my walls for the rest of my life ?
Click to expand...

My reckless guess is this this property once had MI cables in the walls and whoever rewired it (for unknown reason as it would outlast you and me normally) did it on the surface as it looked scary.
There are about 10 more questions in my mind but main one is have you lifted any carpets yet, is it concrete floors too?
Options could include re-discovering former wiring, or battening walls and ceilings reducing every room in size a bit.
We can normally guess jobs and price ranges but this one is rather unusual and you need someone experienced to have a look. I was also going to ask if you were in Bedford as there may be a forum member nearby willing to have a look for you.
EDIT to add this is all assuming it is in fact concrete walls.
 
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timhoward said:
My reckless guess is this this property once had MI cables in the walls and whoever rewired it (for unknown reason as it would outlast you and me normally) did it on the surface as it looked scary.
There are about 10 more questions in my mind but main one is have you lifted any carpets yet, is it concrete floors too?
Options could include re-discovering former wiring, or battening walls and ceilings reducing every room in size a bit.
We can normally guess jobs and price ranges but this one is rather unusual and you need someone experienced to have a look. I was also going to ask if you were in Bedford as there may be a forum member nearby willing to have a look for you.
EDIT to add this is all assuming it is in fact concrete walls.
Click to expand...
I don't mind battening walls and ceiling if feasible as my partner wants those modern ceiling lights, just depends on how much room I'd lose. Floors are concrete.
 
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BedfordBruiser said:
I don't mind battening walls and ceiling if feasible as my partner wants those modern ceiling lights, just depends on how much room I'd lose. Floors are concrete.
Click to expand...
I'd take a small masonry drill and gently drill into the plaster somewhere and see what sort of depth you have before you hit something hard. It might be enough to chase some cable into. You might not need to build out the surfaces.
It might be coving is an acceptable way to conceal some of the trunking at the top of the rooms.

BedfordBruiser said:
Would it cost say over 3k to get a room battened/dot and dabbed and the wiring hidden?
Click to expand...
I would say no. Dry wall board is fairly cheap (about £10 for an 8x4 sheet) and goes up quite quickly. The time and money is the skimming, so similar to your previous experience of plasterers.
 
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A few more questions

If I was to go down the batten walls and ceiling route, does the electrician generally handle all this? Or do I need a carpenter & plasterer? Would it affect architrave/door frames?

If the above isn't feasible, is there any better trunking that looks a bit better than the square ---- I currently have?

In my situation, if I wanted to keep the trunking on walls but have ceilings battened and boarded, how would it work for downlights? Is it a simple job for an electrician?
 
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BedfordBruiser said:
A few more questions

If I was to go down the batten walls and ceiling route, does the electrician generally handle all this? Or do I need a carpenter & plasterer? Would it affect architrave/door frames?

If the above isn't feasible, is there any better trunking that looks a bit better than the square ---- I currently have?

In my situation, if I wanted to keep the trunking on walls but have ceilings battened and boarded, how would it work for downlights? Is it a simple job for an electrician?
Click to expand...
There is decorative trunking available in various colours and shapes.
The electrician will need to be involved in order to coordinate things with the plasterer, in order to get cables in before the boards go up. But most electricians do not do the plaster or boarding.
Downlights need a minimum depth to be fitted into a ceiling, so the board would need to be spaced away from the ceiling accordingly.
 
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My two-penneth... If by "modern lights" you mean downlights... I'd try to convince your partner not to have them... they are, IMHO bl00dy awful anyway. There are much better ways to light a room than have those monstrosities beaming light down to nothing but the carpet ! Yes yes yes... I know it's what everyone installs these days... but that doesn't mean they are right ! You can do a degree in lighting design, it's that complicated... but if you google it, I'm sure you'll find lots of useful info.
 
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I've just removed some skirting from the hallway and think I've found that my walls are actually brick rather than solid concrete? Please look at the photo and correct me if I'm wrong. If I'm proven right and the walls are brick, does this mean that the wiring can be chased into the walls? And that whoever lived here previously opted for the cheapest possible rewire?

[ElectriciansForums.net] Can this be done?
 
Last edited:
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brick. the plaster looks a mare to chase out though. if i were doing it, i'd use a twin blade chasing machine with vacuum for the dust. only need to go down to the brick, not into it, except for the back boxes for sockets and switches.
 
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