Is drilling rafters OK?

[Edtwozeronine]

Under Regulation L, you can drill through the middle of solid wood joists in the UK Read it as part of my current electrical course fairly recently, but in America you can't drill their composite (not solid wood) joists.

 

[telectrix]

Regarding the rafters I'm going to have to remove the wiring, then I'll baton / strengthen the main support, put Celotex in the cavities the re-wire under the window.

more than 1 post has told you there's no compromise to the strength of those timbers.
I'm out.

 

[Octopus]

Where do you mean under the window?

 

[telectrix]

Where do you mean under the window?

think he means in the floor joists. more weakness there and these joists carry a lot more weight than them rafters.

 

[gutterball]

He's gone up and over because he wants to keep his cables away from the pipes, and the plumbers have knackered the joists.

 

[Des 56]

The op may be advised to read the Building regulations regarding holes and notching of joists
May be its possible he would then appreciates the actions of the spark rather than condemning what appears to be a sensible routing decision

 

[stevethesparks]

Seems like the OP was wanting support rather than advice. If anyone altered my wiring, I wouldn't be too happy. Funny how the plumbers get away with murder.

 

[driverman]

Agree with above comments. Electrician has thought about those pipes.
Are the ceiling beams to be left exposed? Is that your concern re the cable?

 

[davesparks]

...

Regarding the rafters I'm going to have to remove the wiring, then I'll baton / strengthen the main support, put Celotex in the cavities the re-wire under the window.

Did you tell the electrician that there is to be celotex between the rafters? They needed to know because it will affect the cable size required for every cable in the ceiling.

Don't remove and alter the cable yourself, get the electrician to do it. Tampering with their work is not going to do you any favours in the long term.

 

[telectrix]

Tampering with their work is not going to give you a headache caused my a 4lb. club hammer.

corrected that for you, dave.

 

[Deleted account]

Regarding the rafters I'm going to have to remove the wiring, then I'll baton / strengthen the main support, put Celotex in the cavities the re-wire under the window.
.

It seems to me you need to speak to your electrician regarding the design of the installation and who is responsible for that.

If you want to do the design you can help with the choice of equipment locations of switches, sockets and lights. As for choice of cables and routing your electrician must do this or another company brought in to do the design.

I had a customer who made it a requirement that I wasn't to drill through any joists at all. It would mean lots of chasing of walls. It meant nearly twice as much cable used and twice the work. I changed the quote accordingly and he changed his mind.

I see nothing wrong with what has been done in the photos.

 

[Fordango]

You say it's 200 years old but is it a listed building? If so then you may have to seek other advice from the local authority conservation office depending upon the nature of the listing in terms of significance.

There is a publication from CIBSE giving guidance on installing M&E services in historic buildings. It's not cheap but the only source of reference I know of. CIBSE - Building Services Knowledge - http://www.cibse.org/Knowledge/knowledge-items/detail?id=a0q20000008I7ocAAC.
It has a lot of examples of how to do thing in it and I recall there is some information on notching joists (I don't recall seeing rafters) and putting in strengtheners.

I fully agree with Davesparks and Pete above. And if you take any of the electricians work out to do yourself then any safety certification, including Building Regulations compliance provided is void and you bear responsibility yourself.

 

[GlenTavener]

Clearly the electrician has taken trouble to route it this way drilling those timbers old and hard as they are would seem to be the more difficult route. He will have had a good reason and the plumbing runs seem to be that reason. What is questionable is that someone, apparently not an electrician, thinks it ethical to join an electricians forum and criticise his electrician. Is there no communication between them about this rather minor issue? The proposed battens fixed to the timber to strengthen them as said is incorrect. The timbers don't seem to need this, the battens most likely just required as fixings for the insulating boards etc. There is nothing worse than a client who has to prove some sort of superiority over what they like to refer to as a "tradesperson" simply discussing the matter would rectify the situation.

 

[Deleted account]

Just looked at the photo again and took a little more notice of where the cable is run. Are the cables going through rafters or joists because I seem to recal an issue with drilling rafters. Not sure though. Can anyone clarify?
I hope I haven't made a boo boo on previous post.

 

[Rpa07]

That's the roof so it's rafters - besides they look like 4 x 7s to me, they probably didn't even feel it!