Looking for some safety advice please.

[Kenny]

As someone who knows only enough to be dangerous I have 2 questions that are linked to electrical and was hoping for "yep that's ok" or "omg are you crazy?" to my proposed solutions.

I am about to decorate my bathroom and before starting need to tackle a couple of holes in walls.

1. A hole cut through plasterboard to feed electrical cable to my shower (not by me). I was told "just stuff the hole with newspaper and plaster over it", the question is, is that safe?

2. High on another wall is the socket from what I recall would have been a bar heater that was removed before we moved in but for whatever reason the socket has been left and now has around 4 coats of paint over it, I want to remove it and fill the hole, at the moment I am unclear if it is connected or not on an assumption it is, is there anything I could connect to the end of the cable to neutralise it, failing that how safe would it be to switch off the power to the house (I do know that much ) snip the exposed ends off wrap them in tape and and push them up into the wall then again stuff some newspaper and fill accordingly.

Any and all comments welcome, thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[ferg]

Newspaper and plaster is safe but rough.

Cutting cable and taping.. omg are you crazy.

It would cost relatively little for a spark to make this safe.

 

[Dannyg8810]

Get an electrician...........

 

[westward10]

Get an electrician in to make safe if necessary as for the hole that is up to you but newspaper does not sound correct does it.

 

[Strima]

I once filled a hole with an egg sandwich and plastered over it, lasted for years until the MOD demolished the building and never heard a complaint about it.

As for taping a cable up, NO!!!

 

[dmxtothemax]

Quote - how safe would it be to switch off the power to the house (I do know that much ) snip the exposed ends off wrap them in tape and and push them up into the wall then again stuff some newspaper and fill accordingly.
If you want to seal these wires up so that they are not accessible any more ?
Then the best way is to find the other end of the cable and diss-connect it.
Then if you want you can put a tag on it " no longer used".

 

[Wilko]

Plenty of plastering tips on the internet, no need for newspaper !

Leaving live cables hiding in walls could be deadly.