Help with kitchen renovation/ 1st house.

[zoothorn]

Chaps- this piddly 3cm H splashback upvc trim Im glueing on.. shall I leave a gap below to the worktop, fill after with white silicone.. or meet it to the worktop, then add a bead along after? seems a v.important bit this/ fallible area for water ingress. best do it spot-on.

 

Done the last pB last ev/ all electrics (47mm backboxes.. ripped out old ones, ply shims in/ tapped to get my outline on pB, shims undone/ new deeper boxes set in.. & frontplates flush-mounted with longer screws). Soudalled gaps. Just strip of pB along btm & skirting can go over.

 

Splashback & sills doing this wknd.

 

Thanks zoot

[PeterW]

H Splashback..?

 

got a photo..??

 

That wall looks proper tidy - did a good job on it. 

[zoothorn]

H splashback.. means..? sorry not on board. Im sticking a 3cm x 8mm window-trim placcy rounded edges white job.. as a cheapo splashback. Im gluing it to pB behind sink area/ sill front edge. So do I leave a small gap to the worktop below to silicone after, or meet the two/ no gap-?

 

cheers Peter.. really given me the impetus back just finishing off this. makes a stack of difference/ a solid 'finished' feel.

[newhome]

2 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

H splashback.. means..? 

 

He is querying what you wrote as in ... 

 

4 hours ago, zoothorn said:

Chaps- this piddly 3cm H splashback 

 

I assume the H stands for high? As in 3cm high splashback (which is a PVC trim).

 

 

 

[zoothorn]

Ah yes my mistake.. H is always height to me. Yup pvc trim, cheap as chips.

[zoothorn]

Chaps, as I'm doing the electrics, I'm wanting to replace a horrible ikea 4x halogen lamp (one unit), for a simple single ceiling rose.

 

Looking inside it, here, instead of finding 3 grey cables with L, N & Earth as I expected.. I find only *2x black Neutrals, 1x red Live, & 2x earths.

 

How do I wire a standard ceiling rose up to these 5 wires coming down from ceiling? I know there are other lights along from/ in this circuit, as I had an intermittant fault with 3 other lights adjacent areas (UT, bathroom, above/ outside back door).. & fixed it by finding one of the *2x black Neutrals had come loose.

 

thanks, zootH

 

 

[ProDave]

Dig deeper and you will probably find more wires shoved into a terminal block and poked through the hole in the ceiling.

[Ed Davies]

It's mildly amusing to speculate what goes to the switch. Black = line, red = switched line, no earth? Or is this on two-way switches?

[Onoff]

Have you a pic of the wiring inside the switch or switches that control this light?

[zoothorn]

18 hours ago, ProDave said:

Dig deeper and you will probably find more wires shoved into a terminal block and poked through the hole in the ceiling.

 

Hi Dave- do you mean poked -up- through this hole? IE tucked away..

 

I'm trying to figure out, firstly, how/ why this is wired as it is. I like to establish these things 1st, make sense, then to proceed..

[ProDave]

2 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

 

Hi Dave- do you mean poked -up- through this hole? IE tucked away..

 

I'm trying to figure out, firstly, how/ why this is wired as it is. I like to establish these things 1st, make sense, then to proceed..

For thee to be 2 earth wires there must be 2 cables. You need to find the actual cables, not just a subset of the cores from them.

 

When fitting that sort of light, people often just stuff the "spare" cores up through the hole as there is not enough room in the light fitting for them all.

 

When you have dug them all out, post a picture, and turn the power off before you go poking up the hole!!!!!!

[Ed Davies]

First guess, which needs verifying/contradicting, would be that it's something like this. So, yes, there's probably at least one other terminal block stuffed up in the ceiling somewhere.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Ed Davies

[zoothorn]

15 hours ago, Onoff said:

Have you a pic of the wiring inside the switch or switches that control this light?

 

Hi Onoff, one switch only (2 grey cables coming in)..

 

..

[zoothorn]

@ProDave I always turn the -whole- house power off (double red flip switch RHS, crabtree consumer unit) before even venturing to look inside a front plate or a ceiling plate.. rather than isoltate just the circuit in Q.. or peeping inside a live front plate, as qualified sparks tend to do.

 

Cheers, zootH

[Onoff]

2 hours ago, zoothorn said:

 

Hi Onoff, one switch only (2 grey cables coming in)..

 

..

 

Is that red "on it's own" a cut back twin and earth or a single? Is this the only switch that controls that light?

[zoothorn]

Its the only switch for the light.. the red on its own, Im not sure what you mean by a cut back twin/ do you mean is the black in the grey end @ top of pic, cut off here-?

 

as you can see there are only 3 terminals at the switch point.. not 2 black/ 2 red: Ive never seen this before.

[Onoff]

18 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

Its the only switch for the light.. the red on its own, Im not sure what you mean by a cut back twin/ do you mean is the black in the grey end @ top of pic, cut off here-?

 

as you can see there are only 3 terminals at the switch point.. not 2 black/ 2 red: Ive never seen this before.

 

Takes a deep breath...

 

In the back box on the wall you have two grey cables. One grey cable appears to be twin and earth containing red, black and an earth that has been over sleeved with green/yellow. 

 

I can't really see the other cable properly other than it's grey. Is it in fact twin and earth where the black has been cut back? I assume the other earth sharing the sleeving is coming from that cable?

 

The switch pattern is likely L1, L2 and Com - marked on the black rear where the terminals are. This is one of the most common switch patterns there is, it's a one gang 2-way switch. 

[Ed Davies]

Is it possible there was a second switch for this light at some time in the past?

[zoothorn]

@Onoff hi Onoff.. the 2nd grey cable into the switch box, has only a red & earth. Nothing cut back/ its a thinner grey cable.

 

I do see a loop of red wire poking out of the ceiling hole.. with what may be a small clear placcy junction stuffed up: but its not easy to pull this red loop down/ out, & should I try to I might disconnect whatever it is up there.

 

Its too annoying to have to get an electrician in just to do such a simple 10m job. Electrics- I don't have anything else bar this to do.

[zoothorn]

On 24/09/2018 at 22:45, Ed Davies said:

Is it possible there was a second switch for this light at some time in the past?

 

Nothing obvious at all Ed to say so.

[zoothorn]

Ok Ive got to start considering next bit now. Sill 1 is done with splashback. Sill 2 has a bigger H "splashback" bit which will need to be tiled prior to fitting the sill.

 

Does anyone know if this tile adhesive is still o to usek after being opened & a little used/ then stored for ~1 year?

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mapei-buildfix-wall-tile-adhesive-off-white-15kg/5832c

[PeterW]

Give it a stir and see if it is still soft. If it is, use it.... 

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, zoothorn said:

 

Nothing obvious at all Ed to say so.

 

That light fitting is unlikely to be anything other than:

 

x2 Earth (cpc)

x2 Neutral

x1 SWITCHED live  (line)

 

That single red & earth is sold as a "switch wire" for two way switching etc. 

 

Can you see if that single red is coming out at the ceiling? 

 

Guessing there is a 2nd light switch somewhere, maybe boarded over or God forbid plastered in.

 

Whatever, I'd just connect the new light to the connector block and be done with it. 

[zoothorn]

Been behind on the kitchen chaps/ family stuff & work. Slow progress but sill 1 & splashback done. Will try catching up on the ceiling light today..

 

 

 

 

[zoothorn]

On 26/09/2018 at 14:58, Onoff said:

 

That light fitting is unlikely to be anything other than:

 

x2 Earth (cpc)

x2 Neutral

x1 SWITCHED live  (line)

 

That single red & earth is sold as a "switch wire" for two way switching etc. 

 

Can you see if that single red is coming out at the ceiling? 

 

Guessing there is a 2nd light switch somewhere, maybe boarded over or God forbid plastered in.

 

Whatever, I'd just connect the new light to the connector block and be done with it. 

 

Onoff.. back to this plan of yours here, are you suggesting get rid of the connector block/ use the 2 earths, 2 neutrals, & 1 live coming down > into the new ceiling rose.. or keep the connector block in place? If so could you do one of your sketches for me?

 

For a simple light this existing config I find & trying to fit onto, is causing a huge headache not concurring with the ceiling rose wiring diagram.

 

I really need to get this light fitted today so I can have light to work with.. it doesn't work as it is (all 4x bulbs shot).