Only if there’s wall lights.


Most houses have the light switches either side of the central hall wall on the ground floor, generally you can get a run of boards up along the landing and into bedrooms then work from there the using rods from the centre light positions.


And surprising you can often pull cables down the wall behind the capping.

I've done this a few times, success rate about 90% if it moves at all, not worth trying if it does not - you need to form a very flat joint, in the manner of a running splice, so the 3 (or 2 in this case) cores have their looped sections not side by side.

Do not bother if you and accomplice cannot get the wire to move up and down an inch or 2 behind the capping with sensible hand tension. before even doing this give both ends a quick go with the hoover - a sharp edged  'snot' of  plaster dropping in at the wrong moment could jam it solid.


Assuming so far, you are in  with a chance...

Working from above, so gravity is on your side..

So remove the outer jacket for 4-6 inches on both the old and the new. Strip L and N offset so that there is one with about 1.5 inches of bare copper, and one with more like 3.

form loops with the round nosed pliers, and then wrap back, or do the western union splice of (page 7 this PDF) set both splices offset, and rebuild with tape to re-create jacket profile, or at least something with no great lumps or steps in diameter. A quick massage with either washing up liquid or that fancy stuff plumbers use (no tittering at the back) to make the cable slippy. Accomplice feeds in as straight as poss with no kinks or twists, while you pull from below.


If there are 2 cables behind common trunking they will have to be pulled as a pair.

Andy, Mike, interesting methods. Of course, what you really don't want is the ends coming apart.


I have had some success with stripping back a short length and then soldering the ends together. Then a small wrap so that the aft sheath does not catch. I reckon pull up 'cos that won't bring any builder's carp with it.


Whatever you do, make sure that you pull on the correct cable. ?

And use 1.0 mm twin and earth, not 1.5 mm again it’s surprising how much difference that makes pulling cables to replace old cables.

Look at a typical semi that hasn’t had the lighting circuit altered in fifty years or more, there aren’t light switches on the perimeter, they are generally all down the middle and accessible from above by lifting boards on the landing and third bedroom, though the kitchen being under the bathroom can be a bit of a sod.

But just hope that some tight wad electrician did use all the odd bits of capping up leaving a sharp end on the join part way up the wall. Indeed you may need to bend the ends of the capping back if it wasn’t done in the first place.

Or that the brick/block layer left the mortar joint "squished out" rather than trowel it off!


Regards


BOD