Floor attic - cables in way

Marathon_Man

I'm thinking of putting down some T&G boards to give myself a bit more storage space in the attic. Problem is some of the electical cables run over the joists. I'm not able to reposition these so I'm going to end up laying the boards over the cables. Obivous danger is I damage them with screws but is there any other danger?

Thanks,
John

kadman

Lay 2x1 battens on top of the existing ceiling joists first. When you come to a cable draping over the joist, cut the batten and start the next one 20mm away. This way your cables are undamaged by laying anything on top of them.

Screw the battens on, as this is more friendly towards your ceiling below. No point in hammering your ceiling to bits. Lay your flooring material down on the battens. And use only pins that are long enough to go through the flooring and a bout 3/4 way into the 2x1 battens. This way there is less likely hood of hitting a cable. An air pinner would be more friendly towards the ceiling, when fixing the boards.

If this is only for attic storage , this or something similar should suffice.

Kadman

mad m

Well obviously Electrocution if you screw into a wire,why not knock a few notches out of joists so that the wires slot in easily and make a note where cables are for future reference,also try and cover wires with a type of condiute the hard plastic type or have seen the metal type also.Only other thing is that if you have to get to a cable or something after laying down floor it could be hard.

Are you just putting down T&G to make it easier to store stuff in attic or are you doing a Diy conversion,because if you are attic joists are not meant to support People walking on,the joists are meant to hold the slabs for ceilings underneath.

When doing a conversion the normal thing(without question) is to put steel girders from one end to house to other and place a floor on this,the girders will be above cables and ceiling joists.

Kadman above explains it much better in a nutshell.

Victor

mad m wrote:

why not knock a few notches out of joists

Never do this as it fundamentally compromises the strength of the joist. The top and bottom sections give the most strength to the joist, beam, etc.

Never notch for pipes / cables, but if you need to pass them through the joist, then drill a circular hole in the middle third.

mad m

Victor wrote:

Never do this as it fundamentally compromises the strength of the joist. The top and bottom sections give the most strength to the joist, beam, etc.

Never notch for pipes / cables, but if you need to pass them through the joist, then drill a circular hole in the middle third.

Even better advice,Meant to say drill **





*Cough*

Victor

mad m wrote:

Even better advice,Meant to say drill **

*Cough*

That doesn' work with existing cables.

Xennon

ok...Do NOT cut notches into joices. As you have been told this will weaken them. The proper way to deal with these cables is to knock off ALL power to the house in your fuseboard. Get an electrician in or if you are comfortable with electrics then using a proximity voltage tester make sure the cables are dead. Then cut the cables at appropriate points. Run them thru circular holes cut into the center of the joices and rejoin them in junctionboxes. Do them one at a time and have some extra cable handy to move the runs around so you dont have to drill too many holes

Yes it takes a lot of work but its the safe way to do it..

Glukk with it

Dave W..

mad m

Victor wrote:

That doesn' work with existing cables.

Yeah i knew that. :rolleyes:


now where is that Benilyn cough medicine.

Marathon_Man

Thanks Guys. Think I'll head down the batten route. Not competent enough as a sparky and a bit wary of cutting the joists.