"Wood" you believe it?

A down light hole with a problem

This is something I have seen quite a bit over the years, but it is rarely this bad. I always think it looks like a wasps nest at first glance but in reality it is far more serious!

This hole is where we removed a downlight that was not sitting flat on the ceiling. The customer had just had a large kitchen extension so this work was less than 3 months old. The electrician who did it refused to come back as he claimed the builder had not payed him for the job but in my opinion nothing excuses this.

So what happened I hear you ask? This is a classic case of a failure to plan, when fitting down lights it is essential to plan where each light is going, ensuring you avoid all the structural wood work in the ceiling. in this case the electrician did not do this and when he cut the hole in the freshly plastered and painted ceiling he would have realised there is a double structural joist in the way, instead of moving the down light and repairing the hole in the plaster board he has used a large paddle drill bit to drill out all the wood in the way, he has removed approximately 50% of one joist and 25% of the other, this will have seriously reduced the strength of the brand new structural joist that is holding up the wall of the house above!

The building regulations state a gap of at least 50mm should be guaranteed between the exterior of the light and any combustible materials. This can be a very difficult thing to do if you are trying to achieve symmetry or a certain pattern, but it is imperative as the heat from a down light will dry, if not char the wood around it and eventually the wood may catch fire. This situation is even worse than that as they have compromised the strength in a crucial structural element of the house and in theory this joist could have been weakened to the point of failure in which case the wall above could end up in the kitchen!

PLEASE ensure you always use qualified and Part P registered electricians!