Moving a Light Switch

Cmar-Ireland

Hi All,

I am moving a light switch in the kitchen about 40cm for where it is now. It's fitted on a stud wall an I need to cross one stud to get it where I want it.
Is it acceptable to extend the wiring by means of using a junction box inside teh stud wall to lenghten the wire?
It's a 2 gang 2 way switch, so there are 5 wires in total. If I use a box and some 1.5t+e will there be any issues?

Thanks

eoghan.geraghty

If you lift the floorboard above can you pull the wires up and then bring them down where you want them without jointing them.
Make sure to keep each set of strappers seperate, but they should be on twin brown cable.
Even if this will only help with 2 or 3 of them, at least then the joint will be smaller and under the floorboard and so accessible if a fault occurs.
It really is done as a last resort, but never do it where it won't be accessible for possible faults.
Ideally you should trace any short wires back and replace with longer ones, but definitely lift the floorboards and try the way i've described first.
Oh, and switch off the MCB!
Good luck

Cmar-Ireland

Unfortunately the floor above the switch is the ensuite, so lifting the boards would be a right pain in the neck.
Are junction box joints frowned upon or unsafe for this type of join?

I tried the wires for any slack, but they were cut pretty tight, so no room for movement there.

Hoagy

You need to be able to get at the joint in case of a fault.
Is there any way you could make the connections in the existing switch box and cover it with a blank plate?

Cmar-Ireland

Hoagy wrote: »

You need to be able to get at the joint in case of a fault.
Is there any way you could make the connections in the existing switch box and cover it with a blank plate?

Yeah I could do that, but it would leave me with a cover plate and the switch close to each other. Not very neat looking IMO.
What if all the insulation around the area is cleared out. Then the box is well secured to the stud and the wire joins are nice and tight, would this be sufficent/safe to leave in the wall. This area of the wall will be tiled.

Hoagy

Sounds safe enough, but there is still the issue of accessibility, which is a wiring rule.
You have to make your own decision about that.

dingding

Could you put a box with a blank cover on the other side of the stud wall, might meet the accessability requirement and not have a switch and cover plate beside each other.

Cmar-Ireland

The accessibility of the joint has me worried. I think I will have to go with a blank cover plate. The rest of the sockets and switches in the kitchen are stainless steel, so I might go for a gloss black blank plate to help disguise it.