Electricians Tips from a professional electrician in the UK Electrical Forum
Sometimes you need to work in an old house, and there’s a number of threads on here about how to, say, fit downlights in a lathe ceiling.....
Here’s a start... on lathe and plaster walls without making a huge mess....
Mark where you want the socket to go. Height wise, measure an existing one from either the floor or the top of the skirting.
Next, use a pad saw to find a gap between the lathes. Hit and miss jabbing with the saw until it breaks through.
I will be using a regular dry lining box, so you don’t want to be too close to a vertical joist. Use the pad saw to feel to the left and right. If you can feel a joist, just adjust your planned position.
Once you have the final position, you can draw around a regular metal back box to give your cutout size.
Using a multi tool on a fairly slow speed, you can chip away at the plaster, but not the lathe quite yet.
yet.
Now, with the multi tool on a high speed and a fine toothed wood blade, you can cut neatly through the lathe without much problem. A small wood screw screwed into the middle of the lathe and held tight in pliers will help as the lathe will want to push into the hollow wall.
Now for the biggest tip I can give. Very very important whenever you are doing anything like this;
Always remember to charge your phone fully, or it will die when you’re in the middle of trying to make a hints and tips thread???
Sometimes you need to work in an old house, and there’s a number of threads on here about how to, say, fit downlights in a lathe ceiling.....
Here’s a start... on lathe and plaster walls without making a huge mess....
Mark where you want the socket to go. Height wise, measure an existing one from either the floor or the top of the skirting.
Next, use a pad saw to find a gap between the lathes. Hit and miss jabbing with the saw until it breaks through.
I will be using a regular dry lining box, so you don’t want to be too close to a vertical joist. Use the pad saw to feel to the left and right. If you can feel a joist, just adjust your planned position.
Once you have the final position, you can draw around a regular metal back box to give your cutout size.
Using a multi tool on a fairly slow speed, you can chip away at the plaster, but not the lathe quite yet.
yet.
Now, with the multi tool on a high speed and a fine toothed wood blade, you can cut neatly through the lathe without much problem. A small wood screw screwed into the middle of the lathe and held tight in pliers will help as the lathe will want to push into the hollow wall.
Now for the biggest tip I can give. Very very important whenever you are doing anything like this;
Always remember to charge your phone fully, or it will die when you’re in the middle of trying to make a hints and tips thread???
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