Hiding the wires.. any cunning tips?

[legstrap]

Greetings all, our ongoing renovation of a 1700-and-something small timber framed, wattle and daubed cottage now necessitates a rewire!
The wiring is mostly external, being clipped to the beams, and having uncovered the original ceilings of plastered laths on the underside of the upstairs floorboards (why cover up nice beams with plasterboard, then stick fake beams over the top?) a rewire in the '80s I'm guessing, involved drilling through the now exposed ceiling joists to run cables through.

Anyone here done a rewire on a similar property and have any cunning tricks/tips for 'hiding' the cabling?

My first thoughts are, as we intend to redo the floor downstairs is to bury some of the cabling, and with low mounted sockets, shouldn't involve much if any exposed cables, lighting on the other hand maybe a bit more of a problem, although just wall mounted lights are downstairs.
Obviously we don't want to drill through any timbers.

 

[MikeG]

I ran mine around the outside of the frame, at first floor level. Obviously, this is only possible if you are removing the existing rendering (or boarding), which I was. Wherever I could I ran wires in rebates in the back of new oak posts and beams. There isn't a single wire (or pipe) on display anywhere in my 300 year old house, so it is do-able.

 

[legstrap]

Yes that makes perfect sense. Our cottage has mostly been rerendered on the outside, we were going to have the whole thing covered, but on revealing the remarkably good condition of the frame, we're leaving the beams exposed on the outside (with LBC of course), and they are on the inside too, so unfortunately can't go down that route.
There are quite a few gaps around the timber frame joints which will be filled with lime plaster, could probably run some cables up through such spaces I suppose.

 

[JoceAndChris]

As far as I know there are 2 ways to get round the problem of visible wires ( if they absolutely can't be hidden). One is trunking which when it's brown against beams isn't too awful, if there isn't too much of it. It can be painted to match in with interior colours too. I think when it's bright white against darker colours it shows up horribly.

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Trunking_Pvc_Index/Dline_Wood_Index/index.html

The other is braided cable and I think it has a real charm just left as it.


http://www.creative-cables.co.uk/lighting-cables/1424-twisted-fabric-lighting-flex-electric-cable-tm09-red.html

We've got exposed brick and timbers in parts and I think I'll be going for the small sections of braided cable option. Not ideal but if you don't have plaster what can you do?


 

[Feltwell]

Some will be aghast at this - but I think that galvanized steel round conduit, once it has aged a bit and gone a dull grey, is a very "honest" way of cabling in an old house and looks infinitely better than plastic trunking of any kind.

Of course if you can hide the cables properly then better still, but difficult to do so in a non-destructive fashion.

 

[livias]

My technique ...

Ground floor wiring and pipework is underground.
Upstairs I run ducting at floor level. Effectively it is hollow skirting and contains electrics and pipework. Timber framed houses were never very good at making the firstfloor wall to floor join, it was a case of 'bung up any holes with plaster' so a nice bit of scribed oak skirting is a good feature imo

Power sockets are behind full length curtains which means that both sockets and wire which are hidden.
Lighting is from 5w lighting sockets also behind the curtains with floor and table lights plugged in. I dont like ceiling or wall lights partly cos of the wiring problem but mostly cos they are not appropriate to the age of house

Light switches are replaced by pull cords a la bathroom light pull. Paint the housing an inconspicuous colour, replace the string with brighly coloured silk bondage rope and the knob with a nice knob of turned hardwood

 

[livias]

The designer way to do it but expensive ... is to buy cable coated in copper. It dulls down to invisible when put against oak

 

[GPHouse]

Hi

I cant find the link atm but there are some interesting posts on this on here somewhere... I asked a few questions a while ago.

Another option might be to make a feature of it - someone suggested PYRO to me (Mineral-insulated copper-clad cable) which can look fabulous. Its abit fiddly given my limited look at it but I;m about to order some. This can happily be surface run!

The other thing you need to think about.... sadly... is building regs.

I was looking at running cabling at floor/skirting level behind a combination of routed plaster and a hollow back skirting. If you're subject to regs (they are in looking at other stuff at mine ) this is a no-no without "mechanical protection". Take a look for images and stuff on google for permitted zones - just to be on the safe side.

Hope this is food for thought
G

 

[GPHouse]

Ah, previous post by @Livias,.... great minds and all that.

Previous post link but there are more if you search on "PYRO"

http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15740&p=215571&hilit=pyro#p215571

 

[Me!]

We have some cable runs that are in wooden trunking. Definitely real wood, not plastic. It looks like it has been there quite a while, but it has PVC T&E cable running in it so presumably it's not too ancient. Because it's wood, where it runs down the edge of a beam or door frame and is stained or painted to match, it just blends in and doesn't catch the eye at all.
However, I've no idea where to get it, or even if it is still available, or still legal to use.

Has anybody else seen it used before, or know where to get it?

 

[Flyfisher]

Some will be aghast at this - but I think that galvanized steel round conduit, once it has aged a bit and gone a dull grey, is a very "honest" way of cabling in an old house and looks infinitely better than plastic trunking of any kind.

Of course if you can hide the cables properly then better still, but difficult to do so in a non-destructive fashion.

Like most decorative matters this is likely to be a very personal issue, but I tend to agree with Feltwell about the 'honesty' of steel conduit, though I prefer it to be painted to match the background so that it blends in. For much the same reasons, I don't care much for hiding water pipes either, which has the added benefit of making any leaks apparent before too much damage is done. Repairs are also easy and less invasive to the decor.

As already mentioned, while it might be possible to find nooks and crannies throughout period houses in which to hide cables, modern wiring regulations are fairly restrictive when it comes to cable routing, though if you happen to be re-routing old colour (red/black) cables then it would be effectively impossible to prove when the work was done and whether it was subject to the current cable routing regulations :wink:

 

[legstrap]

some very interesting solutions, I'll definitely have a look at the copper coated wiring. I originally thought against trying to hide it as the house didn't have electricity originally, so was thinking of having visible internal bare metal pipework housing the cables, so making a feature of it.. unfortunately the other half thinks not!

 

[Flyfisher]

I'd guess that most people end up with a variety of cabling depending on the type of rooms. We have painted steel conduit in some rooms (mostly hallways and utility room), cables hidden under suspended floors feeding skirting-mounted sockets in others (contrary to modern wiring regulations I believe) as well as some exposed cables clipped to beams. The effort I expend to hide them depends on the 'formality' of the rooms but I must admit that I don't really notice them very much. After all, if it's authenticity we're seeking, electrical sockets and light switches are all out of place in any (say) pre-1900 property anyway, though no more than a refrigerator or other essential modern household appliances and who amongst us would forgoe such items? So it's really a matter of personal preference rather than any attempt for authenticity.

 

[philpjuk100]

Cables and pipework have been hidden in my house (by somebody else!) by running them around the outside of the rooms between the last beam and the wall and then capping them with either a strip painted to match the wall or varnished to match the beam,seems quite neat and they are fastened with brass csk screws so maintenance or addition of more cables is possible.

 

[Owain]

Another option might be to make a feature of it - someone suggested PYRO to me (Mineral-insulated copper-clad cable) which can look fabulous. Its abit fiddly given my limited look at it but I;m about to order some. This can happily be surface run!

It can be surface run, but it requires special tools and considerable skill to work with it. Young electricians now don't even get trained on it. Discussed with links at

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12918