Guidelines for laying Metac over wiring in attic?

thenashlegend

As the title says, thinking of insulating the attic with this Metac that everyone seems to be talking about. The house was built in the 70's and the wires were pulled across the rafters in a shortest/cheapest path style which is a bit of a nightmare for this potential job. There is currently 100mm of Fibreglass between the joists but thats as far as it goes.

Regarding the electrical work, the fuse box was rewired last year and the house was given a cert as part of this. The electrician was in the attic and never mentioned anything of the cable that was in place, 2.5sq T+E for the sockets and 1.5sq single core for the lights. The 2.5sq is the old style red and black cables with an outer shield of grey.

Looking around on the web it seems to be acceptable to cover the wiring as long as it is in good shape when its covered. Having said that, I want to do it safely with minimum risk of anything going wrong over time.

What are the professional opinions on this or what have other people in this situation done?

I'd safely say rewiring the house it out for the foreseeable future, so its cover the wiring or live with the heat loss.

slimjimmc

Covering electrical cable with thermal insulation can cause the cable to overheat but I think this only really an issue with cables carrying high current such as an electric shower or cooker supply. I lifted as much cable as possible above the insulation (200mm glassfibre, not Metac specifically) and left the rest, thankfully there was enough slack on the oven and shower cables to do this easily.