Bad practices in 1970s House Bashing.

[Pete999]

Worked fo a Large West Country Building and Civil Engineering Firm for a while.
The Guy who was the electrical Manager was a tight fisted so and so, he would not supply us qith cable clips, we had to use cable off cuts and plaster board nail to make our own, they won't be seen so whats the problem was his answer.
Fitting Ceiling Roses and Batten Holders, he had another trick, he supplied us with 1 1/2 no6 screws for this task, the only stipulation was use 1 and push a plaster board nail on the other side, so each ceiling fitting had 1 screw and 1 nail as fixings, why did you put up with that? you may well ask. Whilst I don't condone this type of thing, when you had a new Wife and Baby as well as a Mortgage you did as you were told, I lasted about 9 months, anyone else got any horrors, or are the frightened to say? there is no statute of limitation mind you.

 

[Midwest]

Thats outrages Pete. That made up cable clip isn't A3 compliant, just use nails.

 

[Midwest]

, anyone else got any horrors, or are the frightened to say? there is no statute of limitation mind you.

Absolutely no testing, apart belling out RFC continuity or the bang test.

 

[Pete999]

Absolutely no testing, apart belling out RFC continuity or the bang test.

Only an old bakelite Wind up Megger, bell wire as the test leads, wonderful eh?

 

[GMES]

Worked fo a Large West Country Building and Civil Engineering Firm for a while.
The Guy who was the electrical Manager was a tight fisted so and so, he would not supply us qith cable clips, we had to use cable off cuts and plaster board nail to make our own, they won't be seen so whats the problem was his answer.
Fitting Ceiling Roses and Batten Holders, he had another trick, he supplied us with 1 1/2 no6 screws for this task, the only stipulation was use 1 and push a plaster board nail on the other side, so each ceiling fitting had 1 screw and 1 nail as fixings, why did you put up with that? you may well ask. Whilst I don't condone this type of thing, when you had a new Wife and Baby as well as a Mortgage you did as you were told, I lasted about 9 months, anyone else got any horrors, or are the frightened to say? there is no statute of limitation mind you.

Ha ha, I do very little domestic work, but I have seen this a couple of times and it always made me chuckle.
What didn't make me chuckle was coming across old switchgear that was held up with a bloody 6" flathead rusty screw, I hope that wasn't you @Pete999

 

[Deleted member 109422]

Only an old bakelite Wind up Megger, bell wire as the test leads, wonderful eh?

I am not alone! Pete, that is what I experienced for years! I remember the megger getting harder to wind if there was a problem....it meant the circuit was 'down'.

I eventually went and did my 2391 and passed it because I was obsessed with passing it. That was about 8 years ago and I am now back to square one, I have forgotten stuff. But I am back now and am going to re-learn. Exciting times.

I experienced my boss sleeving up a cpc in a piece of twin and earth to make a two way circuit an easier option with less chopping out of walls. Now that is a class act of 1980's disregard of the 15th Edition.

It gets worse as well.

To be continued.....

 

[Midwest]

Cut clasp nails to fix back boxes

 

[Deleted member 109422]

Cut clasp nails to fix back boxes

Hi. I know this happened all the time on new builds when I was working. It was easy to hammer a cut nail into the soft blocks and it was quick.

If the cut nail was sharp I can see where the problem lies, but mostly they are rounded.

The main problem I can see is if the back box is needed to be removed in the future, a boxed which is rawl-plugged and screwed is easier to remove. But, if the box is plastered into the wall then a mess will be required to remove either fixing method.

Or am I missing something?

This isnt a pop, I am keen to learn.

Regards
Sym.

 

[telectrix]

plastered in boxes are a pain. a multitool is invaluable to cut out neatly without needing to make good the plaster.

 

[Deleted member 109422]

Thanks telectrix, I know nothing about such a tool.
I have made a real mess in the past trying to remove back boxes, mostly trying to change a single socket into a double sockeck (I ended up learning that a double surface Patrice attached to the single metal box caused less mess). I will look into this.

Cheers
Sym

 

[Strima]

Didn't do any work in Cambs did you???

 

[telectrix]

Thanks telectrix, I know nothing about such a tool.
I have made a real mess in the past trying to remove back boxes, mostly trying to change a single socket into a double sockeck (I ended up learning that a double surface Patrice attached to the single metal box caused less mess). I will look into this.

Cheers
Sym

Fein Multi Tool FMM350QSL Quickstart Starlock With 17 Accessories 110v 72295262241 - Fein from Alan Wadkins Ltd Toolstore UK - https://www.alanwadkinstoolstore.co.uk/power-tools-c17/multimasters-multi-tools-c174/multi-tool-fmm350qsl-quickstart-starlock-with-17-accessories-110v-72295262241-p35202/s38292?gclid=CjwKCAjwur7YBRA_EiwASXqIHK74TBJPkg8IGaCEAlPBkCCQbnFzP29RauxPpZdj5B7Qb9CFZi5_WBoC7PQQAvD_BwE

 

[Midwest]

Hi. I know this happened all the time on new builds when I was working. It was easy to hammer a cut nail into the soft blocks and it was quick.

If the cut nail was sharp I can see where the problem lies, but mostly they are rounded.

The main problem I can see is if the back box is needed to be removed in the future, a boxed which is rawl-plugged and screwed is easier to remove. But, if the box is plastered into the wall then a mess will be required to remove either fixing method.

Or am I missing something?

This isnt a pop, I am keen to learn.

Regards
Sym.

Might of been easy back then, but its a right pain in the bum to get them out now, back boxes with cut clasp nail that is

 

[Pete999]

Ha ha, I do very little domestic work, but I have seen this a couple of times and it always made me chuckle.
What didn't make me chuckle was coming across old switchgear that was held up with a bloody 6" flathead rusty screw, I hope that wasn't you @Pete999

Hardly Mate I only did 9 months of it all on one site, an interesting time.

Didn't do any work in Cambs did you???

View attachment 42554

Oh that's naughty

 

[Deleted member 109422]

Srtima...I will give you a thumbs up for the giggle. BTW I have never worked in Cambs as a sparks. Nice to meet you.

Thanks for the link telectrix.

One thing I will say about the use of cut nails with mounting back boxes is I doubt they all were at exactly at the same level from the floor.

If it was my house then sockets at different levels would hurt my eyes.

 

[telectrix]

it'seven worse him following me round on my prestige repair jobs, nit picking..

 

[Deleted member 109422]

I watched my first awful boss attach a large storage heater to a stud-work wall with plasterboard fittings....those wind in screw things...

 

[littlespark]

We still used a wind-up megger in the 90's but not as the certified tester. Also a modified doorbell with croc-clips. One-person continuity tester. When you heard the bell ring from the other end of the job, you knew you had a circuit.
And the voltage tester was a 20w lamp in a lampholder with singles coming out of it. Bright light was 240v back then... Dim light was 110v. We even had a 3 phase tester; 2 lamps in series across any 2 phases

The wind up tester was the right of passage for any new apprentice... along with the dead arms/legs sitting in the middle of a 3 seat transit van.

Holding the bare ends of the wire as someone else slowly turned the handle. Tingly finger time. Then slowly speeding up to the point where you just couldn't feel the wire so it slipped from your grip.

I think I was up to tingly elbows before it dropped out.

 

[littlespark]

I watched my first awful boss attach a large storage heater to a stud-work wall with plasterboard fittings....those wind in screw things...

Ive seen the same thing, until they started using the umbrella fixings. but the type of people in the houses where the heaters were going were rough enough to pull those off the wall too.

 

[KEV 1 N]

My parents house (built 1972) and my house (built 1965) both houses ex council, The sockets were wired as a “spider” so a 6mm T&E (or imperial equivalent) would leave the DB to a central joint box under the floor and from there a 2.5 radial to each socket.
I’ve never came across this method else where for sockets (except a similar method for lighting)

Was this a common practice in those days or were the sparks just being rough?