Inspecting above the false ceilings in new build flat built since the 1990’s with metal framed ceilings is revealing really shoddy electrical installation work carried out by electricians.
Down lights and smoke alarms with the outer sheath of the twin and earth cable stripped back by up to 200 mm and the cable retaining clamps not used.
Three MCBs in a consumer unit two marked lighting and one smoke alarm, but the smoke alarm is supplied from one of the lighting circuits, leaving the MCB connected to a cable that apparently does not have anything on the other end of it and may be just a cut cable lying on top of the metal framed ceiling.
Cables passing though holes chewed through the sides of the metal joists to allow light fittings and smoke alarms to be secured through the plaster board to the metal work above.
Really the ceiling is a metal framed partition laid flat, I was wondering what the real intent of 552.6.203 is, does its wording include or exclude ceilings?
The opportunity to inspect above the ceiling is limited, usually it is only possible where there are down lights that can be dropped down, but as they were one of the “must haves” in flats built at this time the usually is an opportunity to have a look.
I am having to take a light switch off and take the back box out to confirm what the studs are made of in partition walls. I carry a camera with me and take a considerable number of date stamped photos during the inspections and like to get a photo of the switch I have taken apart and a stud in the wall.
The last EICR I did was a sixteen year old new build flat with a metal framed ceiling over timber stud walls and two way switching had been installed for the bedroom lights without a CPC leaving the galvanised back boxes without an earth connection, as it was wired in insulated singles without a CPC, so I am not talking about jobs that were completed to an acceptable standard in the first place, despite having been completed by major electrical contracting firms.
Inspecting above the false ceilings in new build flat built since the 1990’s with metal framed ceilings is revealing really shoddy electrical installation work carried out by electricians.
Down lights and smoke alarms with the outer sheath of the twin and earth cable stripped back by up to 200 mm and the cable retaining clamps not used.
Three MCBs in a consumer unit two marked lighting and one smoke alarm, but the smoke alarm is supplied from one of the lighting circuits, leaving the MCB connected to a cable that apparently does not have anything on the other end of it and may be just a cut cable lying on top of the metal framed ceiling.
Cables passing though holes chewed through the sides of the metal joists to allow light fittings and smoke alarms to be secured through the plaster board to the metal work above.
Really the ceiling is a metal framed partition laid flat, I was wondering what the real intent of 552.6.203 is, does its wording include or exclude ceilings?
The opportunity to inspect above the ceiling is limited, usually it is only possible where there are down lights that can be dropped down, but as they were one of the “must haves” in flats built at this time the usually is an opportunity to have a look.
I am having to take a light switch off and take the back box out to confirm what the studs are made of in partition walls. I carry a camera with me and take a considerable number of date stamped photos during the inspections and like to get a photo of the switch I have taken apart and a stud in the wall.
The last EICR I did was a sixteen year old new build flat with a metal framed ceiling over timber stud walls and two way switching had been installed for the bedroom lights without a CPC leaving the galvanised back boxes without an earth connection, as it was wired in insulated singles without a CPC, so I am not talking about jobs that were completed to an acceptable standard in the first place, despite having been completed by major electrical contracting firms.
