dealing with wiring & lights in a C17 brick walled room

[Hatster]

Hi all,

I'm very pleased to report that my test patch of Klingstrip seems to have taken the indoor paint off the my C17 soft bricks very nicely. If all continues well and I get the nod from the COs, I'll strip all the paint off and it can get breathing over summer before limewashing or breathable paint goes on (people can advise on this, too).

However, this has now shown up a range of new issues.

1) The wires for plug sockets, telephone and light-fittings have been run over the walls, which looks horrendously messy. The best I can think of is to rewire with one set of wires going round at floor level and coming up for electric sockets, and one set of wires going round at ceiling height, for lights. That means there will be wires at ceiling and at floor, but very little on the walls.

2) The plug sockets themselves are very obvious because of course they are the sort that stick out rather than being recessed into the walls. Suppose there's absolutely nothing I can do about large amounts of white plastic boxes in the room? Any decorative ways to disguise them?

3) The lighting at the moment is so low that it's almost impossible to read in the room. (Two 40w bulbs in wall lights) - probably because the ceiling is very low with one large oak beam and lots of rather unattractive joists for the floor above. What would people suggest for lighting in a low-ceilinged room? Have people found that those rows of halogen spotlights tucked along the beams work well?

4) Screw holes - what's the best way to fill these up?

5) If anyone has ideas on what sort of flooring we should go for, please give your opinions! We need to take up the existing modern quarry tiles (unattractive, CO more than happy for us to remove them) in order to remove the concrete underneath. This room is in theory a snug, but in practice it also doubles as boot-room and bike workshop, so it needs to be a really hard-wearing floor which also looks attractive.

Thanks for all advice, people! I'm really looking forward to getting the paint off.

Hatster

 

[Lime]

A few suggestions.
White plastic boxes, sockets and switches can be sprayed with paint.
The sort used for cars is fine and most colours are available.

Light the room with table and standard lamps.
I wouldn't bother with ceiling lights if you can avoid them particularly the spotlight type because they give points of light surrounded by gloom.

Lay a suspended floor in the room... ordinary joists and boards.
Then the power points can be in the floor too. (there are special sockets for floors)
They can be placed anywhere on the floor so can supply a standard or table lamp wherever you need electricity.
I have seen floor sockets recessed under small trapdoors too, that way the floor can be completely flat if need be.

The last couple of suggestions would remove all the wires from the room.

 

[DaveBrigg]

We have rows of low voltage halogen bulbs in our kitchen, and they work quite well. The room is a little over 12' square, and we have four rows of three lamps each, switched in pairs. They can be angled to avoid patches of gloom, but the brightness may be too much to achieve a 'snug' feel.

Is the mortar thick enough for the wires to run horizontally between the bricks? Sockest can be hidden to some extent by carefully planning where your furniture will be before the rewire, but this may, of course, make them less convenient to use.

 

[Penners]

In my experience, any attempt to camouflage electrical fittings invariably ends up with their becoming more obvious. Simple white switchplates and plug sockets are so ubiqitous that people just don't see them.

As for your lighting, our sitting room has no overhead lighting at all. We rely entirely on a variety of table lamps, one of which is powered from a plug socket that is switched by a light switch just inside the door. I find this style of lighting much more restful and flexible than anything at ceiling height, or on the walls.

You could hide your power cables behind a skirting board that is trenched out on its back surface.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Sorry to dear respected Penners, each to their own and all, but white plastic is ALWAYS noticed by me and I think it looks terrible in a period room. I'd definitely replace all sockets/switches with something that melts into the background a bit more. I like the stuff on this website:

http://www.oliverslighting.co.uk

But it just depends if you fall into the camp of liking "honest repair/ modernisation" (whatever that means) or your own designed, homogenous, historic ( albeit somewhat fake) re-working. Personally I can't stand contemporary styling alongside genuine period features, but I think I'm pretty much alone in this. If I could, I'd recreate the house to look exactly as it looked when it started out. Sockets present a serious problem!

The most beautiful and hardwearing floor has to be flags, but prepare for a large bill. If I wasn't able to afford that (which I wouldn't be !) I'd go for wooden boards, stained and waxed and rugged.

Screw holes in what surface? Wood- wood filler. Modern plaster- polyfller. Lime plaster- some sort of lime product? Others know far better that me!

Good to hear about the Klingstrip- good luck!

 

[Penners]

prepare for a large bill

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:roll:

 

[Hatster]

Flags, Joce? Totally inappropriate for our part of the country! (Do you have stone up in Lincolnshire? I suppose you do). I wouldn't dream of introducing such a non-vernacular material into our house. Right, that disposes of the threat of a large bill (boom boom).

Thanks muchly all for your suggestions, which are many things I hadn't though of as options, as always. I shall review the ideas with Mr H.

The screw holes are in the bricks themselves, unfortunately. How on earth do you re-fill a soft brick? Lime plaster?

 

[Penners]

I would try grinding up an old brick (of the same colour) to make dust. Then mix that into some Polyfilla, until the colour looks right.

Tip: Let a test dob of the mixture dry before you use it to fill the bricks. Its colour may change a bit as it dries. You may have to adjust your brick-dust content once or twice before you get a good dry match.

 

[Lime]

I wouldn't bother grinding bricks, although cement colouring powder may work as well, I'd just fill with polyfilla.
Get the plaster surface to a similar roughness as the brick then paint with artist's oil paint to the right shade and colour.

 

[CHRIS]

Sorry to dear respected Penners, each to their own and all, but white plastic is ALWAYS noticed by me and I think it looks terrible in a period room. I'd definitely replace all sockets/switches with something that melts into the background a bit more. I like the stuff on this website:

http://www.oliverslighting.co.uk

I would disagree, you always see peoples attempts to hide sockets in houses that never originally had them and it either looks rubbish or too flash (like these ridiculous clear hidden switches). If you chooses simple plain good quality MK plastic ones it looks neat and tidy. You could always go the industrial route with galvanized conduit and sockets.

http://www.gil-lec.co.uk/products/Cable+Management/Round+Metal+Conduit+%26+Accessories/20mm+Galvanised

I had this in a 1880 warehouse conversion and looked ok.

 

[JoceAndChris]

No stone in Cambridge? :? Sorry Hatster, to mention such a non-vernacular material- best get some lino in then! Good luck with filling bricks, half of mine have crumbled away, so I'll be interested to hear how it goes!

Chris- I knew my comment would provoke either strong agreement or snorts of derision, these sorts of things always do. :wink: You can have your manly gun-metal radiators and honest plastic, I'll have me fluted dolly switches, and sparkly chandeliers, and we won't fall out over it!

Penners- lovely bill, if only they were all as pretty and welcome as that one. That smart fellow reminded me of a holiday we once had, long ago, before the days of spending all holiday funds on dolly switches and fancy paint.

 

[Flyfisher]

I have seen floor sockets recessed under small trapdoors too, that way the floor can be completely flat if need be.

Yes, widely used in commercial premises and the trapdoor itself is usually recessed to accept a piece of matching carpet or other floor covering. Such floorboxes are also available with telephone and other connectors, so they can be a single point of access to all electrical and communication services.

 

[Flyfisher]

If I could, I'd recreate the house to look exactly as it looked when it started out. Sockets present a serious problem!

If the house is older than about 125 years then it it wouldn't have had electricity in the first place. Would anyone seriously consider such a thing today in the quest for original authenticity?

 

[JoceAndChris]

If the house is older than about 125 years then it it wouldn't have had electricity in the first place. Would anyone seriously consider such a thing today in the quest for original authenticity?

I might be able to live without electric light. But I couldn't manage without the laptop, so no, much as I'd love to live in a "museum", to quote Nigel, there would have to be some cheating going on.

 

[CHRIS]

You can have your manly gun-metal radiators

I hate to rain on your parade but they were originally polished cast iron but where they had leaked they kept going rusty and the gun metal was the closest match! But you are right about my honest plastic because the house only got an electrical supply in 1966 and there were some of the original ones still in when I moved in (along with some truly nasty B&Q brass type ones with a rope edge patten) which makes plastic part of the history of the house!!!!! Does this argument work in this case I am not sure but I will try anyway. I just know that if you have 30 switches in a house at £30 a go it gets to be silly and then you have to match your sockets and you have then spend £2000 on "Stuff" if you live in a large house they look nice but in a cottage it looks OTT. You could buy a new Smug fridge with that money.

http://content7.flixster.com/question/47/11/31/4711317_std.jpg

This argument has been on this site since it was the old one and it still gets good banter.

I also love my sparkly chandeliers too.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

Nice pic, I need that on a post card on my fridge as it' very appropriate for this place!

I also hadn't heard "Smug fridge" before, brilliant!

Yeah, £1000 on switches/sockets is insane, but it's all insane, so I'm just going to get 1 now and again until they're all the same.

Electricity was installed here in 1985, so I guess it would be more authenitc to leave the original white plastic: you'll have to report me to SPAB!

 

[Hatster]

This led to arguments in the Hatster household last night. I adore the see-through lightswitches, and was all set to buy hundreds. Now it turns out my husband hates them. Looks like we'll be searching for a compromise - perhaps copper?

Or should we be trying to search for antique light switches?

http://www.architecturalclassics.com/en/Brass-and-Ceramic-Light-Switch-1276.html

 

[Feltwell]

Hmm, it's the cost that puts me off - especially as I import wiring accessories for a living! £33 for a single light swtich when I can buy a good quality brushed stainless one for £1.30 or a good quality white plastic one for 90p just grates too much!

It's all subjective and a matter of taste (and pocket depth) of course, but I did subscribe to the Penners school of "white plastic is so universal you hardly notice it" until I tried using brushed stainless when we launched a new range at work. By using a version with a rounded edge to the plate, and no visible plastic around the switch (cheap and older designs have this plastic, it looks naff), it is even less noticeable I reckon - and by getting a lacquered finish one you don't get problems with fingerprints, which is a common issue with stainless steel.

An opinion, of course, and I know Joce will be horrified at the thought of modern brushed stainless steel adorning her walls!

 

[CHRIS]

An opinion, of course, and I know Joce will be horrified at the thought of modern brushed stainless steel adorning her walls!

Shhhhsh just tell her is a new F&B colour - what about "Pure Norfolk mist" she will be fine.

You are right about the ridiculous cost with all these things and especially as they are all knocked out in some dodgy factory on the banks of the Yangtze River.

 

[Hatster]

We had this argument at our church when radiators were installed, and the argument, which I think right, was that people don't notice modern white radiators as either present or absent. Certainly I don't notice them.

Logically, I agree that white plastic light switches should be ubiquitous and unnoticeable, but I find that I do very much notice them in all our rooms, and in other peoples houses. I also am driven mad by our cheap B&Q door knobs and cupboard latches. I think it really lets the house down, when you have one well-made latch on one door, to have a B&Q latch on the next door.

But I have terrible worries about the environmental and human cost of --everything-- light switches made on the banks of the Yangtzee

Happy World Environment day, everyone