Onto dining room - rewire before ceiling repair?

[FamilyWiggs]

You are probably thinking to yourselves "I bet she gets gorgeous girly Christmas and Birthday presents in appreciation of all her hard work". Well you would be wrong, over the last few years I have had a hammer drill ( but didn't get the drill bits until a year later) a cement mixer, a chainsaw, a scaffolding tower and last year I was lucky enough to get a diskcutter.

Mr Alex is clearly a thoughtful and generous present giver - that list would please all of us on here! And I have difficulty remembering what I got Mrs FW last year, but Mr Alex not only remembered he bought you a drill, but got you the accessories for it the following year.

He truly puts us to shame. Treasure him!

:lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Hurrah! All the paper is off! It took around 4 days, and a curious spin-off is that I find I'm now double-jointed, ambidextrous, and able to lift 25 kilo sacks of corn with ease.


The room is now very wet - I must have filled that steamer twenty times. I don't believe in dust sheets, (trip hazard, plus how do you sweep a dust sheet?), and so the floorboards are very saturated. The window's been open, the cracks between the floorboards show visible grass through them (long story) - there's plenty of ventilation. Should I crank the heating up in there to dry it all out, or leave to dry naturally?

Gravity-defyingly, the ceiling hasn't fallen down anywhere. The only thing that fell off was around 10 inches of the top part of cornice. I can't wait for a lime plasterer to look at it now and give his verdict.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Great news! Pics???

big pat on the back, bubble bath, candles aand champers!!

 

[Flyfisher]

Well done Joce!

Personally, I wouldn't bother to crank up the heating to dry the floor boards. I doubt they have become too soaked after such a relatively short time and I'm sure it would be better to dry them out reasonably slowly with plenty of ventilation. Give them a week and see what they're like then.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks for the replies and sorry for my late one! Yes, it's all drying out nicely with just an open window and a gentle wood fire. Only minimal condensation on the windows this morning.

Pics: (more ominous in reality unfortunately)

Unfortunately, I am going to have to wait a long time before I can progress with this. Chris has said the ceiling can't be repaired until the light is fitted, which means buying the light, which is around £600 -£800 I think, depending on what we have, and can't be afforded just now. I said can't we just fit a cheap one and upgrade it in the future, he said that that would completely alter what ceiling rose was fitted. How tiresome. If anyone spots any cheap, nice, silvery and glass chandeliers with 5 bulbs please let me know.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Update

The chandelier is on the sea, making its way here.

And here's a hole I've waited a very long time for!!!

It will be OK, won't it - 7 x 40 W, replacing 4 x 60 W?

 

[Flyfisher]

How exciting . . . especially after such a long wait. Such timescales seems to be the norm with these old properties as few things are straightforward. But not only will you have a new light fitting you now have a beautifully repaired ceiling.

I haven't re-read the entire thread (amazing how an apparently simple question can generate six pages!) so can't recall if you decided to re-wire in the end.

Power-wise there would seem to be no reason to rewire as you're only increasing the power by 40W, but if the existing wiring is not plastic then I would think very carefully about having it replaced. Fortunately, we don't have very much rubber wiring remaining and I replace it whenever I do any nearby work.

Coincidentally, I had our electrician here today replacing an ancient fuse-box (porcelain fuses!) with a modern one and connecting up all the new utility/cloakroom wiring I had installed. He certified all the work so I'm now fully legal.

Looking forward to the finished photos Joce!

 

[Penners]

A couple of other little points,as a PS to FF's expert advice.

Firstly (and I apologise if this is a very obvious point) you are completely happy that the ceiling structure is capable of supporting your new chandelier, are you? Just remember the famous "Only Fools & Horses" clip! (Just in case you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mf58Yndjsw)

Secondly, if your wiring is a bit old, do check to ensure that your lighting circuit has an earth.

 

[Lime]

Perhaps this is a daft question but why is the hole so big?

 

[Penners]

If I know Joce, it'll be a big chandelier!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thankyou for the reassurance and tips.

It is a medium chandelier that will fall from a small rose. The hole, as I'm sure you know, gets covered by the inverted "bell" at the top of the chain.

http://www.uk.thechandeliercompany.com/classical-hand-crafted-chandelier_481.html

The second rose down

http://www.simplymouldings.co.uk/ceiling%20Roses01.htm

Not old wiring, no electricity at BC until mid 80s. (though Chris is my electrician as I haven't found anyone else who isn't put off by the unconventional access.) He's doing the wiring on Saturday- the switches are done.

Here's a piccy of the proposed support for the chandelier. It's a bit vague, and the bend has ended up getting exaggerated in my sketch, but the idea is that the great rafter supporting the roof gets the weight of the chandelier (12kg)

It won't be easy but this is the 6th one I've made Chris hang for me, poor thing, so he's had enough practice. I really hope it deosn't turn into the Fools and Horses sketch! :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

The 6th one ?!!!

Chris should be on here giving advice about such things by the sound of it!

Looks like a good method of avoiding the ceiling itself from bearing the load of the chandelier though, especially after the care that went into repairing and conserving it.

 

[Pford75]

Small tip - always leave enough 'spare' chain and cable so that if you need to decorate in future, the chandelier can be dropped down a couple of links away from the ceiling. Might also help to mark (or record) the position of the chandelier on the floorboards above.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thank you both. xx

A useful tip Pford, I'll be sure to keep the spare chain in a safe place.

 

[MdB]

A useful tip Pford, I'll be sure to keep the spare chain in a safe place.

I think you are missing Pfords point. Make your chain say 400mm longer than it needs to be and fix the end of this chain to your beam. You can then work on the chandelier if needed with it hanging safely 400mm lower than normal below the ceiling. When happy, you then bring the correct link in the chain up to the hook (or even better, another hook) to have the chandelier in the correct place. It just makes fitting and maintenance safer and easier.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh! Yes, I see what you mean. Not the chandelier chain then but the one we buy as the support. I'll speak to Chris about it.
I've typically just tied them up in sheets and worked around them but it would be easier to have it out of the way - many thanks.

 

[Flyfisher]

. . . also ensure sufficient 'slack' in the wiring.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Update

The chandelier is on the sea, making its way here.

And here's a hole I've waited a very long time for!!!

[Image]

I think we may have discovered how the baby wabbits are getting into BC Joce.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

But I have other suspicions of a certain striped fellow, even though he seems to be asleep most of the time.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Finished! (the ceiling, not the room)

Making the chandelier was hard, and the Chinese wiring in it was extremely poor - for example the earth wasn't marked - hanging and wiring consequently took two days. They've also left off a fair number of drops so we'll have to wait for those to be shipped (maybe we're not that finished after all.)

But it's now been hanging from the roof joist for three days and it hasn't fallen down!
Some pics:

I first posted about this ceiling in 2009 so I'm extremely glad to be looking at this, and not a lurid green sagging woodchipped one anymore!