Hi Rob and all, Ah! it's a council house, just a bit of bad luck then, but sensible idea to protect the cable. Yes PeteW, I have looked into it, and I have fitted a lot of Kingspan and cellotex, but generally someone else has been paying for it! Jablite is now "self-extinguishing" whereas kingspan and cellotex, are "fire retardent", but at the end of the day, they both burn, and the jablite lasts better than kingspan/cellotex, because the foil film on the expensive stuff is there not only to reflect radiated heat (of which, in most houses there is very little anyway) but also to maintain the gas pockets in the foam to give it its 25 year lifespan. By the time the insulation catches fire, I would be in the next county anyway!. Andrew, yes I know about the polystyrene/pvc reaction, and it doesnt take that long as I have seen some bits of recent loft wiring alredy melting into the polystyrene, which is one of the reasons all the wiring is coming out of the roof space. In the domestic end of the building, (which is an early victorian 2up and 2down now reroofed, windowed and pointed, well neartly) all the loft wiring is clipped out of the way.
Swarfnstuff, well I used to be that qualified and certified registered (but nowhere near expensive enough) electrician, but to be honest, wiring most worshop systems is hardly rocket science, there is a lot of information out there on how to do it properly, and it MUST be done properly! and in the UK today, lots of people are coming out of the armed forces with no experience in any engineering discipline and paying between £3500 and £5000 to be trained as domestic electricians in 5 WEEKS! I did a five year apprenticship and 3 years at Tech college!
Phil