Legal to drill a hole?

[Joe Cable]

I want to replace an oyster light in my kitchen ceiling with an LED downlight. I have engaged an electrician to do the job. While waiting for him to arrive, out of curiosity I unscrewed the light housing from the ceiling and drew it down a short way, (I don't intend to detach the wires from the fitting).

I noticed that the cable for the light has been passed through a hole that had been drilled in the joist at an angle, (see image).

I may be wrong, but this doesn't seem right to me. I want to install the LED a little way from where the oyster was, in the ceiling between the joists. I will need the cable to pass through the joist in a straight line rather than at an angle and come out at the bottom of the beam, as it does now.

What I want to know is, is it legal for me to drill a hole in the joist as per Image 2, so that the electrician can thread the cable to the place where the LED will go? I don't want to touch the cable at all, or thread it through the hole myself. I just want to drill the hole so that the electrician can do the job without any preparation, which would cost me more.

 

[telectrix]

could you not fit the new light to the left of the joist, which would just mean pulling the cable back thtough the joist after the downlight hole has been cut?

 

[Joe Cable]

could you not fit the new light to the left of the joist, which would just mean pulling the cable back through the joist after the downlight hole has been cut?

No, Telectrix, because I want the new light to be in a particular spot. It's going to be the light for a breakfast bar which I'm going to build against the kitchen wall. When it's installed, it will be only about 30cm away from the wall. I'm just hoping the sparky will agree that it can be hung that way, because at the point I've picked, it's only ceiling, and there'll be no timber to anchor it to.

 

[telectrix]

for how long it will take an electrician to re-route the cable i'd leave it to them.

 

[Joe Cable]

for how long it will take an electrician to re-route the cable i'd leave it to them.

Yeah, probably. Should take only a minute, I suppose. I'm just always trying to minimise costs on anything I do, being on the pension. Every dollar counts.

 

[telectrix]

basically it would entail a couple of holes, the hole for the downlight and a hole on the left of the joist, keeping the cut out piece. once cable has been re-routed and downlight fixed, cut out piece can be patched back and a bit of filler.

 

[Joe Cable]

basically it would entail a couple of holes, the hole for the downlight and a hole on the left of the joist, keeping the cut out piece. once cable has been re-routed and downlight fixed, cut out piece can be patched back and a bit of filler.

When I first noticed the odd placement of the cable, I cut out a section of ceiling to get a good look. There's enough room now to reach up with a drill and cut the hole in the joist. Also enough room to reach in and pull the cable out and rethread it in the new hole. The joist and the cable are just hanging out there, so to speak; that's why I was so keen to find out if I could do it myself.

I've got no problem patching plasterboard, I've done a heck of a lot of that.

I'll let him do it, though. I don't need the stress...
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Correction: In my second post I mentioned "hanging" the new light. That's down to simple confusion caused by my indecision about whether I want an LED or a pendant light installed. I already have both, so it's a matter of making up my mind.

 

[Joe Cable]

Just to update; the job's been done, and it's good. Opted for a pendant in the end.