Moving phone and electric points on skirting board

littlerock

We are updating our hall. We have had the floorboards sanded and bought a new hall table. It has a shelf on the bottom. The phone sockets and electricity point are all in free standing boxes currently screwed into the skirting board (which is a tall elaborate one it is a Victorian house). They now get in the way of the shelf and need moving, ideally we would get them screwed on the top edge of the skirting board. How tricky will this be in particular for the electricity socket? It would involve moving them around 6cm/2.5 inches up the wall above their present location.

Grenage

It depends entirely on how much slack you've got on the cable.

littlerock

I realise that. I am not planning doing the job myself but would like to be aware of options. I believe cable can be extended using wago clips for example.

There is also some clearance under the table shelf but it might be a bit tight for conventional plugs where cable emerges from the bottom. However I have at least two plugs where the cable emerges from the top of the plug not the bottom so that might be another option.

Anyone got a socket in a tight corner or had to move plugs slightly during building work, who can share their experience.

tacpot12

There might also be an option to install a new cable down the back of the skirting board, and taking this new cable to where the old cable is coming from. Your electrician will probably have very long, thin drill bits that will allow him to drill down behind the skirting board without damaging your walls.

Risteard

littlerock wrote: »

ideally we would get them screwed on the top edge of the skirting board.

There is nothing ideal about that. Building Regulations stipulate a minimum of 450mm to the bottom of accessories (e.g. socket outlets) with a new build. Obviously that doesn't apply here.

However, the Wiring Regulations require that socket outlets be installed at an adequate height to prevent damage to the flex and plug inserted into these. This is generally taken as a minimum of 150mm clearance. No competent Electrician will entertain installing them at the top of the skirting board (and rightly so).

tacpot12

Given the Victorian era of the house, the top of the skirting board could well be 150mm from the floor. My skirting boards are 200mm tall.

littlerock

Risteard my house is 130 years old. The skirting boards in the hall are 220mm from the floor with elaborately moulded tops. I also have the original dado rail half way up the wall and original picture rail near the ceiling. I assume I do not have to rip all these out to accommodate modern wiring regulations. Clearly I need to specify an electrician who appreciates the age of the house and will try to work in sympathy with its original features.

kerri_gt

I don't know about the phone socket, but I'm guessing the cables for the electric socket should run down the wall, so moving the socket up, shouldn't be too much of an issue. However I'm guessing there will be holes left in the skirting where the current sockets now are which will need to be filled / painted.

We have has both phone and electric sockets moved up in our lounge (albeit a modern house) to allow clearance when we had taller skirting installed and it was no issue, although we had ours fixed to the wall rather than the skirting. It did make a bit of a mess and there was some filling / bit of replasteirng to do but nothing major. Can't quite remember how much it was but I think somewhere in the region of £60 a socket.

EssexExile

kerri_gt wrote: »

...I'm guessing the cables for the electric socket should run down the wall...

They have floorboards so the cables probably run up the walls, making it a little more awkward.

littlerock

Yes I think they do run up the walls from under the floor. But the under floor is accessible from below as the hallway is over the cellar which contains the fuse box. I could at a pinch have a skirting board temporarily removed to run a new cable, as they need repainting anyway. What I do not want is to lift or cut my newly sanded and stained floorboards.

littlerock

ok I found an electrician and explained I needed socket moved slightly and cables werecaccessible from underneath as hall is over cellar. where junction box is also very nearby. I said skirting boards could be removed temporarily but no cutting into floor He said no electric socket could be moved or installed without cutting the floorboards. Surely that is not right.